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From the
previous page's shots, you were probably wondering
what sort of cooling the P4 requires. Well,
although we are not familiar with the specific
standard that Intel will set, we can show you the
setup that came in this system.
Click
for full view
Coupled
with a large high speed fan, this copper based unit
really draws the heat out of the P4. The unit
that was installed in our system does look somewhat
"prototype" like but never the less, it
performs well. This may or may not be the form
factor of the official "retail" heat sink,
once the P4 is shipping in high volume to the mass
market in the retail channel. Of course, there
are many form factors of retail sinks today either
way.
 |
| Point
of Interest - ATX12V |
| More
power Scotty! We simply must have more
power! |
|
D850GB
Layout - Two New Connectors - Click for full view
By now, you may have noticed that there are a few
more connectors on the motherboard than perhaps you
are use to seeing. That is because the Intel
D850GB Motherboard utilizes the new
"ATX12V" specification to implement its
power distribution. There are two more power
connectors in addition to the standard ATX connector
for the motherboard. The 12 Volt source
connector has been added as well as something called
the "Auxilary Power" connector. This
last connector looks like one half of an AT power
connector. Here is a mechanical drawing of the
ATX12V connector specification.
In
short, if you don't have one of these new power
supplies in your system, with these additional
connectors and outputs, you will have to upgrade
your power supply as well, if you decide to move up
to a Pentium 4. Folks may not look too kindly
on this but remember, we are talking about a
platform change here. In a way, it almost
comes with the territory. However, many of the
recent products based on the ATX 2.03 spec, like
the Enermax units sold at Outside Loop Computers,
in fact have the 12V and Aux connectors available as
well as more than enough power to handle the job.
Since
we're on the subject of power, let's hit the button.
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| Running
with the 1.5GHz. Pentium 4 |
| Some
things change and some stay the same |
|
The
BIOS of the D850GB Motherboard is somewhat
"plain vanilla" in comparison to some of
the very sophisticated interfaces of P3 models from
various manufacturers these days. Regardless,
there are two screens that were worth the trip into
the setup.
BIOS
Screen Shots - Click for full view
A
keen sense of the obvious will tell you that yes
indeed we have powered up a Pentium 4 system at
1.5GHz. However, only the most astute reader
may notice that in the shot on the right, there is a
section called "Intel Rapid Boot".
As the name suggests, this feature allows the
BIOS to skip memory tests and other system checks
that delay boot up of the system. With Rapid
Boot enabled, the system boots significantly quicker
than any Pentium 3 or Athlon system we have tested
to date.
Initial
Tests, SiSoft Sandra 2001 and Productivity Apps
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