Any experience with the Foxconn ELA?

U

unhappy_mage

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - October 2005
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Jun 29, 2004
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I want to put the following cards into my machine, and need to find a motherboard that will hold them.
  • LSI RAID controller: x4, 1 slot wide
  • ATI TV tuner: x1, 1 slot wide
  • Second tuner: x1, 1 slot wide
  • Second video card: x16, 2 slots wide
  • ATI HD4670: x16, 3 slots wide
The ELA is only $50 AR, and I can place the cards in it in the order listed. However, I'm somewhat suspicious: why is it so cheap?

I'll be using a Q9400 and 4 1GB sticks of memory, and not overclocking anything. I understand there's a PCI Express switch involved, so the slots all run at x8, but I don't think this will be a problem. I don't have either of the "second" devices yet, but I'm planning on getting them and I can keep them within the constraints.
 
I've read some reviews online. Many say while the position of the north bridge is innovative, the performance in overclocking is mediocre.
 
Yeah, I read four or five reviews. I don't care about overclocking, and it looks like everything else is pretty solid.

Heck, it's only $70. I'll give it a shot.
 
unhappy_mage said:
Yeah, I read four or five reviews. I don't care about overclocking, and it looks like everything else is pretty solid.

Heck, it's only $70. I'll give it a shot.
Click to expand...

Good luck. Actually I'm also interested in the mobo if my RMA gigabyte doesn't work out.

But one fact really appalls me. If you look at the mobo, you see many wavy signal lines from the main pci-e slot to the north bridge. This is never seen on other motherboard. A new design or some amateurish approach?

127459.jpg
 
I got the board yesterday and put it in. So far I've populated it with:
  • LSI RAID controller: x4 in x16 #1
  • ATI TV tuner: x1 in x1 #1
  • ATI HD4670: x16 in x16 #2
The second tuner device is on its way, it looks like it'll go in x1 #2 just fine.

My existing installs of Windows 7 and Linux didn't behave with it, but I was expecting that, so I did a reinstall to the release version of Windows 7 and Kubuntu Jaunty. Both worked fine initially, but the Linux ATI drivers crash the machine when they're installed. No surprise there, I guess.

The board is fine to work with except that it doesn't let me use my ludicrously large heatsink on it (the northbridge is too close to the CPU socket) so I'm stuck with the stock Intel cooler for now. The memory slots also have the usual problem where a card in x16 #1 interferes with adding or removing memory. The BIOS appears to lack a "Press F12 to choose boot device" which is perhaps the most annoying lack ever.

Other than that, it seems like a fine board. Games still run at full speed at 720p (maximum resolution of my projector) on my 4670.
 
Trace routing is certainly very interesting. My best guess is it is done that way to:

A) to make sure all the trace lengths are the same to eliminate timing issues and there are no sharp bends or "corners" to set up signal reflections. Actually a very good design if done correctly.

B) Or it was done by an idiot.

But looking at how the traces "wave" for no apparent component avoidance reason and curve gently to make the needed 90deg turns I think its A.


hmm decent looking cheap board, lots of fan headers, looks like all solid caps, power and reset buttons, looks like 8 phase power and decent memory power , glad you mentioned it as it seems like a good cheap board for utilty work.
 
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