Overclocker Cafe - Foxconn G9657MA

Foxconn G9657MA Motherboard

Manufacturer: Foxconn
Supplied by: Foxconn
Street price: $115

by Brian Tiller (12/11/2006)

Introduction:

We've had quite a few experiences with Foxconn here at the 'Cafe and have found their motherboards to be top notch. They have been in the PC components business since 1981 and have plants and offices worldwide. They have a full lineup products from cables to video cards, from power supplies to motherboards. Today, we get the opportunity to check out one of their new Core 2 Duo boards, the G9657MA. The full name of the board is actually the G9657MA-8KS2H, with the trailing numbers/letters denoting the features that this specific board is sporting. So let's take a quick look at what we've got from the spec sheet.

Specifications:

CPU: Intel Socket LGA775 - Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Duo, Pentium EE, Pentium D, Pentium 4, Celeron D.
Chipset: Northbridge - G965
Southbridge - ICH8
Front Side Bus: 533/800/1066
VGA: (1) PCI Express x16
Integrated Intel Graphics Accelerator
Expansion slots: (1) PCI Express x16
(1) PCI Express x1
(2) PCI
Storage: (1) ATA 133 IDE Connection
             (1) FDD
             (4) SATA II (Internal)
             (1) e-SATA II (External)
Memory: Four DIMMs - Dual channel DDR2 667/800 (4GB Max)
Onboard 7.1 channel RealTek audio
Onboard Marvell GB Ethernet
Optical S/PDIF out
USB 2.0
Special Features: SuperRecovery, SuperBoot, SuperBIOS-Protect, SuperStep, Fox Live Update, Superspeed, Ratio Free, Fox One
Form Factor: microATX

Considering that fact that this is a microATX board that would normally appeal to HTPC builders and your standard run of the mill Internet surfers, it still offers plenty of features.

What you get

In addition to the motherboard, there is a base package of included items. No, there aren't a lot of frills here, but Foxconn intended it to be this way in order to help keep the price down.

Besides the two SATA cables and power adapters, we have two IDE cables, FDD cable as well as the manual, driver disk and quick setup guide. What I'm wondering though is why there are two IDE cables as there is only one IDE connection on the board itself.