Albatron PX875P Pro Motherboard

Albatron have accomplished a lot in the relatively short time that they've been making motherboards and videocards; the company has good foresight, and that has helped Albatron win over consumers in an already crowded market. It also helps that Albatron have taken to producing well equipped mainboards which often feature IDE/Serial ATA RAID controllers, IEEE 1394 and even high end audio chipsets as standard.
What happens then to those consumers who don't want fully loaded motherboard? Why should they spend the extra money for features that aren't really needed? For example, my main PC has an IDE RAID controller, onboard 5.1 channel audio, IEEE 1394 and onboard CSA Gigabit LAN... but they all sit idle. They're nifty features to have, but if I could have gone with a motherboard without them for a lower price, I would have.
That brings us to the new Albatron PX875P Pro motherboard, a i875P based system that is built for someone who wants all the performance of the Canterwood chipset, but has no need for any of the other features. With a competitive price point, this makes it a good option for paired down office PC's or school computers.
The PX875P Pro motherboard supports all current 533 MHz and 800 MHz FSB 'Northwood' Pentium 4 processors, including the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. The manufacturer also states that the PX875P Pro also supports the 'Prescott' Pentium 4 core - which is known to be more power hungry. That the PX875P Pro supports Prescott is quite significant, as not every i865PE/i875P based motherboard on the market right now does. This is due to the higher power requirements, which are estimated to be close to 130W.

he only real extra features of the PX875P Pro include a 3Com Gigabit LAN and 5.1 channel audio. The board layout is good, for instance there's decent space between the Northbridge and AGP slot so using vidoecards with third party heatsinks, like the Zalman ZM80C-HP is a possibility.
As usual, Albatron have labelled the various headers and ports on the PCB clearly. If you're confused about where to connect something, say the IrDA header, the DIY installation guide or manual will show you. The manufacturer has located the power supply components on the top edge of the PCB, so even the ATX12V power connector is well out of the way. I'm sure there are quite a few readers who will be happy to know that don't need to remove the videocard to install system memory either. :-)
The clear CMOS jumper is easily accessible, which makes everyone's life easier if you push the board too far when overclocking. There are three fan headers, including one just above the AGP slot next to the Northbridge, perfect for those thinking about active third party cooling.
The Albatron PX875P Pro comes equipped with the Intel ICH5 Southbridge, which offers a pretty good feature set. This motherboard could easily suit enthusiasts or IT managers looking to build quick office PC's on a budget.
With that in mind, active cooling on the Northbridge would have been ideal too. This is especially evident with Albatron suggesting that the board can do 1200 MHz FSB on the box! It's hard to hit 300 MHz with any board, let alone with one that has a passively cooled Northbridge chipset.
The reason for this is that when the Northbridge reaches high temperatures it seems to have an affect on the memory controller. Speaking from personal experience, I notice that at high FSBs (over 320 MHz), I cannot run my memory at tight timings if the i875P chipset is too hot. If the Northbridge is cooled down, things improve right away.