ECS PX1 Extreme 965P Motherboard Review :: Setup and Installation

Setup of a motherboard is second nature to me by now with the hundreds of motherboards I've installed over the years. Upon opening the motherboard box and checking to see that all components are present that is supposed to be present, I mounted the motherboard on the open-air test station we use for motherboard testing.

CPU installation went without a hitch. The installation of Intel's retail cooler on the Pentium 670 we use for motherboard reviews went without hassle as to the heatsink on the rear of the board. Installing a LGA-775 CPU is easy, just remove the cap, open the lever, raise the guard and insert the CPU. There's only one way to insert the CPU if you need to apply pressure, you're likely installing it backwards.

The ECS PX1 Extreme has four DIMM slots. To install memory in Dual Channel mode you need to install like memory in color coded DIMM slots. Two of the DIMM slots are colored orange the other two purple. The Crucial Ballistix DDR2 667MHz memory we use for testing went into slot 1 and 3 to enable Dual Channel mode.

The next step was to install the 7900GT video card we use for motherboard testing. This is where I turn on the computer for the first time. A minimal boot with just the memory, video card and CPU installed allows me to go into the BIOS setup screen and change the settings I need before installing the hard disks and the CD-Rom. The system proceeded to boot with no problem at all.

ECS did not include a F6 boot disk for Windows install with their bundle. To make a disk you need to use the Driver CD included with the bundle. To set up the two hard disks in RAID 0 modes, I enabled RAID in the BIOS and hit Ctrl+I on boot to enter the Intel MATRIX storage utility.

I generally like to use a motherboard I'm reviewing for two weeks or more as my primary computer to see if there are any issues with compatibility or problems with different computer components. The ASUS 8800GTX fit without difficulty, though it did block the FDD port. I also installed a ATI X1950XTX card and a TV Wonder card with no difficulty.

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