Foxconn motherboard: options and reviews

This review will be devoted entirely to such a computer component as the Foxconn motherboard model N15235. It is on the example of this component will be given the strengths and weaknesses of the products of this manufacturer. This will give advice on the purchase of its products.

Short information about the company Foxconn

The assembly of various electronic devices under the order is the main specialization of the company Foxconn. Motherboards, graphics adapters, memory modules, smartphones, mobile phones - this is not a complete list of equipment that is manufactured on the production facilities of this company. And in the list of customers Foxconn and there are Apple, and "Asus", and "Gigabyte", and MSI. Having such rich opportunities to assemble and test the manufactured equipment, this company decided to expand the scope of its business. So there was a series of motherboards under the brand Foxconn. One of them is N15235.

For the creation of which PCs fit this motherboard?

At the time of its release, the motherboard Foxconn model N15235 was aimed at installing the most productive processors. Also, there was the possibility of completing such a computer system with a high-performance graphics adapter. All this in total allowed to create on the basis of this solution the most productive personal computers. It could be a workstation, a graphics station, and a gaming computer capable of running any existing at that time most demanding toys. This same motherboard could successfully act as a link in the PC of middle and entry level. Only in this case it was not entirely justified to use such an expensive and functional computer component. Its main purpose is to create high-performance computer systems.

Location of the components of the motherboard

Foxconn motherboard This model is made in the form factor "microATiks". Its dimensions are 9.6 inches by 8.0 inches. Almost in the middle of the top part of the product is the LGA 775 processor connector. To the left of it is a power supply system for the CPU, which consists of several solid capacitors and semiconductor stabilizers. Even further, at the very edge of the board, interface wired ports are located. To the right of the socket are grouped 2 slots for installing RAM, followed by power connectors and IDE drives. Directly below the CPU socket for the CPU installation is the north bridge of the chipset. Slightly below it are the expansion slots. To the right of them are located the south bridge, the battery "BIOS" and the ports of connection SATA-drives. Here, at the very edge, is the connector for switching the front panel of the PC case.

Chipset and its characteristics

On the set of two chips is based motherboard Foxconn N15235. Description This product indicates that the northern bridge in this case is G31 from Intel. The key component of it is the memory controller. The thermal packet of this silicon crystal was 17 W, and the system bus frequency in this situation could be 800 MHz / 1066 MHz / 1333 MHz. As the southern bridge in this case, ICH7 enters. Its main task is to connect peripherals and controllers in expansion slots.

Socket. What processors can be installed in it?

An impressive list of central processing units for the LGA 775 socket is supported by the Foxconn N15235 motherboard. The description of this product indicates the presence in this list of all chips, oriented to installation in this processor socket. The most productive solutions of this platform are quad-core "Cor 2 Quad". Step below, from the position of speed, are located "Cor 2 Duo", in which the number of computational units is reduced to two. An even lower level of performance was in the CPU of the Pentium Dual Cor line. The number of cores they had was exactly the same, but the frequencies were reduced and the cache memory was cut. The most affordable chips with two compute modules for LGA 775 were "Celeron Dual Cor". Their cache was even smaller than that of the older CPUs. And the frequency was further reduced. Segment of the same single-core processors was occupied by Pentium 4 and Celeron. Any of the models listed earlier by Intel's chip could be installed in such a motherboard. But still, given its positioning and level of functionality, it was preferable to use it in combination with 2 and 4 core CPUs of this platform.

Peripheral set

The list of wired interface ports on this motherboard was as follows:

• 2 ports PS / 2 format for connecting to a PC manipulator (it was green) and a keyboard (for this purpose a purple port was used).

• One COM port (its second name is serial) and one LPT port (or, as it is also called, parallel). With their help, it was possible to switch various I / O devices to a computer system (plotter, scanner, printer).

• 4 ports of the "YUSB" format, if necessary, could replace the COM port or LPT-port for connection to a computer system of similar input / output devices.

• Also this product was equipped with one RJ-45 port for connecting the PC to the computer network.

Expansion Slots

An excellent set of expansion slots included the motherboard Foxconn N15235. Its characteristics indicate the presence of such of them:

• PCI Express 16 X is the only and basic slot for installing a discrete graphics accelerator, which processes the images displayed on the display.

• Also this motherboard was equipped with one PCI Express 1 X slot. The most recent modifications of additional controllers (for example, a TV tuner) should be installed in it.

• But to install outdated controller modifications, this product was completed with 2 PCI expansion slots.

Concerning the expansion slots of this board, one important feature should be noted: if you use a high-performance video card in the system, which occupies 2 expansion slots at once, then it will be impossible to install an additional expansion controller in the PCIExpress 1 X slot.

RAM

Only modules of the same type of RAM were supported by the Foxconn motherboard N15235. The characteristics indicated support for DDR2. And it was possible to install only the slats "DDR2-667" and "DDR2-800". It was preferable to use the latest modification of RAM, which allowed in practice to obtain a certain speed increase. The maximum amount of RAM that could be installed in such a computer system was 4 GB. This limitation was primarily imposed by the CPU, which could maximize the amount of RAM. The controller itself was a key component of the north bridge of the chipset. It was two-channel. Accordingly, the use of two slats with 512 MB instead of 1 module per 1 GB made it possible to obtain an even greater speed increase, which could reach 15 percent.

Connecting the front panel of the system unit

As it was mentioned before, the front panel of the PC case of the PC is connected in the lower right corner of the motherboard. All necessary designations are marked next to the corresponding connectors. So this is unusual for the background of similar products can not stand out this motherboard Foxconn. The connection is provided for the following elements of the front panel:

• Speaker (system alarm speaker for events).

• Power Switch.

• Power LED (indication of PC activation).

• Reset Switch (forced computer reboot button).

• HDD LED (indication of hard disk or solid state drive operation).

Power supply and power supply of the motherboard

Connecting the motherboard Foxconn N15235 To the power supply is carried out by two connectors at once. One of them is the ATX12V, which consists of 24 contacts. The second one in this case provides additional power to the central processing unit and consists of only eight contacts. Also, when equipping a PC with a high-performance graphics accelerator, it was necessary to connect the third power connector to it.

Reviews

To successfully conquer the market of computer electronics, low cost and tempting technical specifications equipped its products Foxconn. The motherboards of this brand in this regard were no exception. And it is these two plus owners and distinguished from N15235. But the minus she had only one: when installing a productive graphics accelerator it was impossible to install an additional controller in the adjacent expansion slot.

Price and actuality

The characteristics of the Foxconn motherboard of this model were really impressive. Her cost was lower than that of direct competing products. This led to the fact that it is not so rare in a PC based on LGA 775 you can find such a solution. But now this hardware platform is outdated morally and physically. Its capabilities at best will be sufficient only for solving problems of an average level of complexity. But the most demanding application software on such hardware will not exactly work. Even the manufacturer, in the person of Intel, recommended that owners of such PCs switch to more recent processor connectors LGA 1150 or LGA 1151. Finally, it should be noted that such a motherboard, together with a processor and a cooler, can now be purchased for 1200-1500 rubles.

Results

Foxconn model N15235 motherboard was one of the best solutions for creating high-performance PCs based on LGA 775. Now this processor socket is obsolete. Therefore, the owners of such computer systems are advised to make an upgrade and switch to more recent hardware.