ECS P4M800PRO-M V2.0 (VIA P4M800 Pro chipset) for Core 2 Duo/Extreme Intro 1/5
Bluetooth 24 Nov 2006

ECS P4M800Pro-M v2.0

It has been sometime since we review a entry level board. In this review, we take a look at ECS's P4M800Pro-M v2.0. It is a board that utilitises the older VIA P4 chipset that supports single memory channel. P4M800Pro-M as its name already indicates is based on the VIA integrated video chip P4M800Pro that comes with Integrated S3 UniChrome Pro 2D/3D Graphics. This chipset is a bit dated but ECS used it and paired it up with 8237R+ south bridge to rise its 'value'. Not only does it support the large range of LGA775 1066/800/533 FSB series of Intel processors. It can also support the new series of  Intel Core 2 Duo and Extreme processors namely the Intel E6XXX series of processors.

ECS understands that most users are not ready to fork out large sums of money to buy the latest hardware. This board gives you the flexibility to use back your old DDR400 sticks instead of the more expensive DDR2 modules. As mentioned earlier, it comes with built in Integrated S3 UniChrome Pro 2D/3D Graphics which is probably good enough for a entry level PC. The graphics performance can be boosted with an AGP card. It is a pity that a PCIe slot is not implemented to make it future proof.

In the next few pages, we take a look at the options available on board and see how the board performs in DDR vs DDR2 mode.

Specifications

CPU LGA775 socket for latest Intel Core 2 Duo / Pentium D / Pentium 4 / Celeron D processor
FSB 1066/800/533 MHz
Support Hyper-Threading Technology
CHIPSET VIA® P4M800Pro & VT8237R+
North Bridge: VIA® P4M800Pro
South Bridge: VIA® VT8237R Plus
GRAPHICS Integrated S3 UniChrome Pro 2D/3D Graphics
Share memory : 64MB
MEMORY Single-channel DDR memory architecture
2 x 184-pin DDR DIMM socket support up to 2 GB
Support DDR400/333 DDR SDRAM or DDR2 533/400 DDR2 SDRAM
EXPANSION SLOT 1 x AGP 8X slot
3 x PCI slots
STORAGE Supported by VIA VT8237R
Supported by VIA VT8237R Plus
-- 4 x Ultra DMA133/100/66 devices
-- 2 x Serial ATA devices
RAID0 & RAID1 configuration
AUDIO Realtek ALC655 6-Channel audio CODEC
Compliant with AC'97 2.3 specification
LAN VIA® VT6103L 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet PHY
REAR PANEL I/O 1 x PS/2 keyboard & PS/2 mouse connectors
1 x Parallel port (LPT1)
1 x Serial port (COM1)
1 x VGA port
4 x USB ports
1 x RJ45 LAN connector
1 x Audio port (Line-in, Line-out, Mic-in)
INTERNAL I/O CONNECTORS & HEADERS 1 x 24-pin ATX Power Supply connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V connector
1 x FDD connector
2 x IDE connectors
2 x Serial ATA connectors
2 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 4 USB Ports
1 x Buzzer
1 x IrDA for SIR header
1 x Front panel switch/LED header
1 x Front panel audio header
AUX-in header
CD in header
CPUFAN/SYSFAN connectors
SYSTEM BIOS AMI BIOS with 4Mb Flash ROM
Supports Plug and Play 1.0A, APM 1.2, Multi Boot, DMI
Supports ACPI revision 1.0 specification
FORM FACTOR Micro-ATX Size, 244mm*244mm


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