Best mATX board
Written: Mar 13 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 8 usb2.0, 4 memory slots, auto-hyperthreading, unattended driver installation for secure and non-secure PC's
Cons: no labels or symbols on back port bracket, location of power connector
The Bottom Line: Absolutely the best micro ATX board in the world.
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| rshiroma's Full Review: Intel Desktop Board D865GLCL Motherboard |
After purchasing and installing 43 of these boards, I'd have to say that this is the Mother of all mATX boards. Along with a zero percent failure rate (all 43 have been zero so far), it comes packed with everything you will ever need including full auto-sensing support for Hyperthreading CPU's. Everything is onboard except for a 56k modem jack. You have sound, lan, usb2.0, ps2, parallel, serial, and video. The onboard video card is actually quite powerful. I had my doubts about it until I ran complex apps like Autocad's Land Desktop and a few high end 3D video games. Large 19" & 20" LCD monitors have no problems with it even for those that rotate 90 degrees. The onboard audio is sweet, crisp and accurate enough for those who use the Altec ATP3, Logitech Xtrusio DSR100, and the HK Soundsticks.
But the most surprising aspect about this board is the way Intel packaged the drivers! Yes, the drivers. You can have all the drivers and included software install autonomously even on a secure network domain which requires user authentication after each reboot. The CD installer prompts you for a temporary logon and p/w and goes to work for 5 minutes. When you return, everything is up and ready.
Other motherboards such as Asus have the ability to autonomously install its drivers however, they do not login for you if on a secured workstation. Also, I've had major problems with Asus's memory stability. I don't know if I had a bad batch, but I've had to return a whole boatload of those things. Aopen boards also auto-install its drivers but they have been giving me shutdown problems in 2k and XP.
Other nice features about the GLCL is the number of USB ports it comes with. A whopping 4 on the back with two additional interior connections for 4 more. Install this puppy in the Athenatech A301BS case and you'll wow the socks off of all those who lay eyes upon it. Another whopping number are the 4 memory slots - yup, 4 for an outstanding 4GB of memory. Unheard of on mATX boards.
Also onboard are digital and analog connectors for the CD/DVD drive as well as an auxilliary connection, standard floppy/IDE ribbon connectors plus two SATA connectors for the new SATA hard drive standard, intrusion connector for the case, front/rear/CPU fan connectors, and one alternate power led connector for those of you who have cases that require the 3-prong power led connection instead of the standard 2-prong.
There are two bad features about this board that I do not care for. Although they do nothing to impact performance or durability, it does bother me somewhat. The Intel boards (nearly all models) do not have labels or symbols etched onto the back port template. Thus, I have to use a sharpie ultra and write: keybd mouse parallel com1 video lan usb etc etc. The other irritating feature about this board is the location of the power connection. Intel placed it right behind the 3.5" cage where the hard drive and floppy usually go. Surrounding this thick connector is the memory slots, the floppy ribbon connector and the IDE 1 & 2 ribbon connectors. This causes a very tight mess of cable nightmare.
Apart from that, this board rocks in quality, features and power. I have had absolutely no problems with this board - even with cloned hard drives from other Intel models! Instant boot allows 1-second boot-ups even with a SCSI card (I have the Adaptec 2940U for my film scanner) and hotkey powerup for keyboard triggered power on. If you're looking to build a first class system, look no further than the 865GLCL.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 121.00
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Epinions.com ID:
rshiroma
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Member: Randy Shiroma
Location: Hawaii
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 4 members
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