Intel 945P Motherboards: Going from Hopeless to Enthusiastic

EPOX 5LDA+GLI: Features

Epox designed a generally acceptable board layout with most major connections easily reached. The board is lacking most clearance issues and was very easy to install in our mid-size ATX case. Epox did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors.

The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can easily be changed with a full size video card installed in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors newer ATX case designs that place the power supply at the bottom of the case. Due to the location of the 24 pin ATX power connector, it can lead to power cable management issues in the CPU area and possibly block airflow.

The Intel ICH7R IDE port connector is located near the edge of the board and did not present any connection issues in our mid-size ATX case.

The Intel SATA II ports are conveniently located below the ICH7R chipset and above the primary IDE connector. The SATA II ports feature the new clamp and latch design. Epox did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections.

The floppy drive port connector is placed along the bottom left edge of the board and could create cable management issues in tower cases. The CP80P post port debug LED and BIOS chip are located to the right of the floppy drive connector. The additional power on and reset buttons are located in between the BIOS chip and the Intel SATA II ports.

The Intel USB connectors, IEEE1394a connectors, and Com2 serial port are located along the left edge of the board and are a tight fit when utilizing the bottom PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located to the left of the Intel ICHR7 chipset.

The board comes with (2) physical PCI Express x16 slots, (3) 32bit PCI slots, and (1) PCI Express x1 slot. The layout of this design offers a very good balance of slots and allows for numerous add-in peripheral cards.

In between the two x16 PCI Express slots is the single x1 PCI Express slot. This configuration could potentially render this slot useless when utilizing the first x16 PCI Express slot. We did not have any issues utilizing this slot with video cards containing single slot cooling systems, yet we were unable to install a network card upon installation of a NVIDIA 6800 Ultra in the x16 PCI Express slot. Regardless, the layout of this area is organized better than the Asus P5LD2 Deluxe.

Returning to the CPU socket area, we find ample amount of room for alternative cooling solutions. We utilized the stock Intel heat sink, but also verified several aftermarket cooling systems that would fit in this area during our tests. However, due to the large MCH heatsink, installation of certain cooling solutions could be problematic.

The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets are passively cooled with heatsinks that do not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests. Epox places the four-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of most aftermarket cooling solutions. The five-phase switching power design is visible in this picture.

The rear panel contains the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel port, LAN (RJ-45) port, and 4 USB ports. Located below the parallel port and to the right of the PS/2 ports are the Coaxial S/PDIF and Optical S/PDIF ports. The audio panel consists of 6 ports that can be configured for 2, 4, 6, and 8-channel audio connections.

The BIOS options are acceptable on the 5LDA+GLI, with memory voltage to 2.15V, and a wide range of chipset, bus, and vCore voltage adjustments. Memory ratios are limited compared to the nForce4 Intel Edition boards, but Epox did provide a variety of settings. The board fully supports manual memory timing adjustments or allows for an Auto setting that will set the memory to the SPD settings. This Auto setting will adjust the memory timing settings automatically when the system is overclocked.