Specifications

Foxconn Black Ops
Market Segment High-End/Extreme Benchmarking
CPU Interface Socket T (Socket 775)
CPU Support LGA775-based Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, or Core 2 Quad Recommended
Chipset Intel X48 (MCH) Northbridge and ICH9R Southbridge
Front Side Bus Speeds Auto, 100 ~ 900 in 1MHz increments
DDR3 Memory Speed Auto, Nine Ratios dependent upon Strap Setting
FSB Strap Auto, 200, 266, 333, 400
PCIe Speeds Auto, 100MHz - 255MHz
PCI Speeds Synchronus or Lockable at 33.6MHz, 37.3MHz and 42MHz
Core Voltage Auto, 0.825V to 1.60V in .00625 increments + Voltage Multiplier to 2.44V
CPU Clock Multiplier 6x ~ 11x, downward adjustable for Core 2, upward to 31 for Extreme
DDR3 DRAM Voltage Auto, 1.418V ~ 2.873V in .038V increments, 1.50V standard
DRAM Timing Control Auto, Manual - 34 DRAM/Chipset Options (tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, tRFC + 11 sub-timings)
DRAM Command Rate Auto, 1T, 2T (mislabled - should be 1N and 2N)
NB Voltage 1.156V ~ 2.395V in .045V increments, 1.25v standard
SB Voltage 1.388V ~ 1.95V in .038V increments 1.05V standard
CPU VTT Voltage 1.20V to 1.725V in .075V increments, 1.20V standard
CPU PLL Voltage 1.395V to 2.446V in .33V increments, 1.5V standard
CPU Vdroop Compensation Enabled, Disabled
CPU GTL Individual Core Adjustments, Default, +31 or -31 steps in 1 step increments
NB Voltage Reference Default, +31 or -31 steps in 1 step increments
Dram Pull Up, Down & Ref Voltage Default, +31 or -31 steps in 1 step increments
CPU Clock Skew Control 0-1500ps in 100ps increments
CPU Clock Amplitude Control 700mv-1000mv in 100mv increments
Memory Slots Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots
Dual-Channel Configuration
Regular Unbuffered DDR3 Memory to 8GB Total
Expansion Slots 3 - PCIe 2.0 x16 (2 - x16, 1 - x4 electrical)
3 - PCI Slot 2.2
Onboard SATA/RAID 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - ICH9R
(RAID 0,1, 10, 5)
2 eSATA 3Gbps Port - JMicron JMB363
Onboard IDE 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives)
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 12 USB 2.0 Ports - 6 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers
2 Firewire 400 Ports - 1 I/O Panel, 1 via Header
Onboard LAN Dual Gigabit Lan
Onboard Audio 7.1 Channel HDA Plug-In Audio Card
Power Connectors ATX 24-pin, 8-pin ATX 12V
I/O Panel 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1X PS/2 Mouse
2 x eSATA
2 x SPDIF - Optical Out, Coaxial Out
1 x IEEE 1394
2 x RJ45
6 x USB 2.0/1.1
Fan Headers 6 - CPU, (5) Chassis
Fan Control CPU and Chassis Fan Control via BIOS
BIOS Revision G28


All manner of goodies are bundled with the Black Ops: a 120MM fan, a plastic dry ice cooling pot for the Northbridge, and a Plexiglas "benching table" for open-air use.


Software wise, we have the Aegis Panel, which allows on-the-fly FSB changes and adjustments for all primary voltage circuitry as well as monitoring and changing fan speeds for the processor, motherboard and Northbridge areas. We found the Aegis Panel quite useful for most situations, although when benchmarking at very high speed you'll probably find that Aegis Panel won't always open. In such situations, the use of SetFSB is advised.

Index Board Layout and Features
Comments Locked

32 Comments

View All Comments

  • Etern205 - Saturday, August 2, 2008 - link

    For those who wonder who is this Shamino person check out VR-Zone
    and for those with those Asus ROG boards in the motherboard disc there is a overclocking video with him in it.

  • at80eighty - Saturday, August 2, 2008 - link

    threadjack a hardware thread about Linux?

    get some sunlight! :p
  • sprockkets - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    Every foxconn board I've had either dies or is poorly made in software. My AMD nForce4 board could not shut down properly every so often, couldn't keep the correct time, and other things.

    Doesn't mean this board is bad hardware wise. But, if so many of their boards cannot keep the right time or report the right settings, that shows poor BIOS programming. Not wasting my money on the big generic OEM maker.
  • BPB - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    Only 6 SATA and 2 eSATA is not enough. I want at least 8 SATA for a board like this, then start talking eSATA.
  • strikeback03 - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    ICH10R only supports 6 SATA, so not like you could have more than 6 drives in a RAID array anyway. If you really need more drives than that, why not a card?
  • NicePants42 - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    [quote]The water-cooling top plate is anodized aluminum. Contrary to "popular belief", the chances of galvanic corrosion with this setup are miniscule and there should be no cause for concern. Galvanic corrosion can take years to manifest, and a suitable additive in some distilled de-ionized water should provide ample protection.[/quote]

    I appreciate that the author was astute enough to include specific information about the material of the top plate, however, the reader is left to his/her own assumptions regarding the material of the water block itself - sure, it looks like copper, but so did the cooling solution on the popular ABIT IP35-Pro.

    I also find the author's defense of anodized aluminum out of place; if we are to assume (as the article seems to suggest) that only the top plate is made from aluminum, while the rest of the block is made from copper, it seems that the use of aluminum is indefensible, regardless of how technically correct the author's assertions on galvanic corrosion may be. Why, after spending all the money on high quality components, gobs of included 'extreme benchmarking' extras, and a large copper cooling solution, would the designers decide that they couldn't afford the extra dollar for a copper top plate, but would rather introduce the possibility (however remote) of slowly destroying any attached liquid cooling solution?

    Galvanic corrosion can take years to manifest? For how many years have people been paying over $120 for PA120.3s? Or $40 for MCW60s? Or $75 for a D5 Vario, etc? I, for one, would think that the author would better serve his readers by questioning the use of potentially harmful materials, (especially when the use of such materials appears to be unjustified) rather than presuming to dictate the reader's priorities concerning such.
  • iop3u2 - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    I was waiting for a foxconn ad the last few days and you sure as hell didn't disappoint me.
  • tayhimself - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    Who needs a $500 Mobo? I am really confused as to the people buying this stuff.
  • NicePants42 - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    It generally helps to check Newegg before posting about price.

    Considering that many current X48 motherboards are selling between $250 and $300, $330 after MIR is hardly unreasonable for this board.
  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link

    "extreme benchmarking"

    ROFLMAO! What a bunch of losers

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now