| Intel D975XBX2 Spec Sheet |
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| Part Number |
D975XBX |
| Manufacturer |
Intel |
| Chipset |
Intel 975X
Express ICH7R |
| North Bridge |
Intel 82975X MCH |
| Socket |
LGA775 Socket |
| Processor Types |
Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Extreme Quad Core, Core 2 Duo, Pentium 4, Pentium D
|
| Number of CPUs |
1 |
| Front Side Bus |
1066/800/533MHz |
| Memory Type |
DDR2 |
| Memory Channels |
Dual |
| Maximum Memory |
8GB |
| External Graphics |
PCI Express x16 |
| IGP |
None |
| South Bridge |
Intel 82801GR ICH7R |
| Audio |
8-channel |
| IDE |
100/66/33 |
| SCSI |
None |
| SATA |
3.0 GB/s |
| RAID |
0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 |
| LAN |
10/100/1000 |
| Firewire |
IEEE 1394a |
| USB |
USB 2.0 |
| BIOS |
AWARD |
| Form Factor |
ATX |
| |
The Intel 975XBX2 is called the BadAxe2 motherboard by Intel and their fellow enthusiasts and in many ways this is a true statement as the board does have some very nice features. Early 975XBX boards were incapable of using Intel's new Core2 CPUs due to the PWM requirements of the new CPUs. The new BX2 board supports all current Intel CPUs including the Core 2 Extreme, the Core 2 Duo, the Core 2 Extreme Quad Core, the 9xx series (65 nanometer), the 8xx series (Dual Core), 6xx series (64-bit CPUs), the 5xx series (Pentium 4) and Celeron D processors. Basically the whole bunch of Intel's current CPU lineup is supported on this motherboard.
There are four available DIMM slots present on the BadAxe2 motherboard. Intel has certified this board to work with both DDR2 533/667MHz unbuffered ECC and non-ECC memory. The BadAxe2 board works with DDR2 800 MHz memory, but the support is not official by Intel. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported by the 975XBX2 board. 32-bit operating systems can only address 4 GB of memory, meaning to get 8 GB to work; you need to have Windows XP 64-bit or Linux an OS supporting this much memory. The memory slots are placed on the board in a location that does not block or hinder the VGA cards and the general layout of the board is one that offers little resistance to the user as far as board headers and connections go.
Multiple GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) support is important to the high-end enthusiast gamer today. AMD and NVIDIA have competing solutions for dual graphics called Crossfire and SLI respectively. NVIDIA has prevented other manufacturers from supporting SLI on their chipsets, but ATI has allowed others to support Crossfire, this in the hope that more people would buy two of their cards in order to run that technology. Intel introduced support for Crossfire in the 975X chipset. The 975XBX2 board has 3 PCI Express full-length slots. This allows the user to install three video cards for up to 6 monitor support. The board also supports Crossfire using two of the three available slots. SLI is unfortunately not supported as well, but no board made for the public is able to do this feat.
The onboard audio on the 975XBX2 is based upon a Sigmatel High Definition Audio CODEC. HDA replaced the AC'97 standard in 2004 when Intel launched their LGA-775 platform. Today, virtually every motherboard on the market supports HDA. Sonic Focus technology helps the Sigmatel CODEC deliver crystal clear audio. The clarity with Sonic Focus is very clear compared to when Dolby Digital processing is used. One of the major differences between the 975XBX2 board and the 975XBX is the SATA controller. The 975XBX had a Silicon Image SATA RAID controller. The 975XBX2 has a Marvell SATA controller. 8 SATA ports are supported by the 975XBX2 board with four on the ICH7R Southbridge, and four on the Marvell controller. Intel's ICH7R supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD modes. AHCI is also supported.
