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Developer: Chaintech
Release Date: Out now
Average Price: £150
First
impressions of Chaintech’s latest top of the
range Pentium 4 motherboard, the
9CJS ZENITH are more than impressive.
Manufacturers Specifications:
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Form Factor |
* ATX (305mm x 244mm) |
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CPU |
* Supports Intel Socket 478 CPU with
Hyper-Threading Technology
* Supports Intel Celeron/Pentium4
system bus at 400/533/800MHz
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Chipset |
Intel 875P + ICH5R, supports
Hyper-Threading Technology
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Main Memory |
* Four 184-pin DDR DIMMs up to 4GB
* Supports Dual-Channel
DDR266/333/400 ECC/non-ECC memory
and Performance Acceleration
Technology (PAT) |
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Expansion Slots |
One 1.5V AGP slot for 8X/4X AGP
Five 32-Bit PCI slots (v2.2
compliant)
One CMR (Chaintech Multimedia Riser)
for Chaintech Multimedia
Card (CMC 7.1) |
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Audio Subsystem |
* On-board 7.1-Channel audio
* 24-bit resolution audio format
support
* Sampling rates up to 96KHz
* Multi-channel AC-link supported
alternatively
* Supports SPDIF Out |
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Video Subsystem
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* Video 4X/8X AGP |
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UltraDMA IDE Ports
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* Supports PIO Mode 4 up to 16.6
Mbps, Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 and
Ultra DMA mode 5 up to 100MB/s with
Bus Mastering Bus-* Mastering
software drivers for all common
multitasking
operating systems |
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Embedded USB Controller |
* Three EHCI USB 2.0 Controllers
support total 8 USB 2.0/1.1 Ports
* Support USB 2.0 High-Speed Device
@480 Mb/s Transfer Rates
* Optional USB adapters for
additional USB2.0/1.1 ports
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On Board Super I/O Controller |
* ITE 8712 LPC I/O with system
monitors hardware
* Two UARTs support serial ports and
IR function (up to 115.2Kbps) for
HPSIR and ASKIR
* One SPP/ECP/EPP parallel port
* One floppy disk drive connector
supports up to 2.88MB |
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Embedded system monitoring |
* 8 external voltage inputs
* 2 temperatures sensing for CPU and
system
* 3 Fan speed (CPU, system and Case)
monitoring |
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Boot-Block Flash ROM |
* Award system BIOS support PnP, APM,
DMI, ACPI, & Multi-device booting
features |
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Software |
* Driver CD (Chipset Autodetect)
* (WinDVD 7.1CH included) Value Pack
2002/2003
* APOGEE Overclocking |
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Other Features |
Back panel I/O connector
* One PS/2 mini-DIN mouse and
keyboard ports
* Four USB Ports and two RJ45
connectors
* Two 9-pin D-SUB male Serial ports
* One 25-pin D-SUB female Parallel
port
* Audio Line-in, Line-out and Mic-in
jacks
Dual LAN
IntelR PRO/1000CT Network Connection
(Gigabit LAN)
* On-board Intel® 82547EI Gigabit
Ethernet Controller supports 2X
Gigabit performance through
Communication Streaming Architecture
and enable ASF 2.0-based secure
remote management
Fast Ethernet Controller
* On-board Realtek RTL8101L supports
10/100Mb Fast Ethernet
On-board SATA RAID Controller
Build-in * ICH5R supports 2 Serial
ATA devices for the highest data
transfer rates (1.5Gbps burst) with
RAID 0 solution
standard for high speed data
transfer
On-board VIA VT6306 IEEE1394 Host
Controller
* Serial bus data rates of 100,
200 and 400Mbps
* IEEE P1394a compliant and IEEE
1394
* Programmable ATA/ATAPI interface
supporting PIO modes 0-4, DMA modes
0-2 and Ultra DMA modes 0-4
On board connector for external
device
* Three 3x1 pin fan connectors
* 2x1 pin fan connector with housing
for Northbridge
* Two 5x2 pin USB connectors for
additional 2 USB2.0 ports, CIR and 6
in 1 Card Reader on CBOX3
* 6x1 pin Infrared connector
* 3x1 pin wake on LAN connector with
housing
* 3x1 pin wake on Modem connector
with housing
* 9x2 pin front panel connector
* 5x2 pin Segment display connector
for 2-digits Debug LED on
* 8x1 pin IEEE1394 connector with
housing for IEEE1394 port on CBOX3 |
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Packaged in an attractive if rather large
box the motherboard screams quality and
performance. Inside the box you will find
the motherboard itself, with a striking fan
on the north-bridge for added performance
and also style which is called for nowadays
with increasing numbers of people with side
windows on their cases looking for a bit of
eye-candy. Besides the motherboard, the box
also includes an impressive array of
accessories including:
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CBOX3 – A drive bay insert featuring a 6 in
1 card reader, temperature and boot-up port
code display, infrared receiver for the
Handigator,1 IEEE 1394 port, 2 USB 2.0/1.1
ports and 3 alternative colours of fronts
for differently coloured cases.
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Handigator – A remote control that offers
the function of a mouse, hot key to Internet
access (browser, E-mail, etc.) and WINDVD.
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CMC with 7.1 channel audio - Chaintech
Multimedia Card which fits right into the
CMR(Chaintech Multimedia Riser) integrates
all multimedia functions within one card,
including two IEEEE1394 ports, three Audio
7.1 channel surround, and one SPDIF port for
your digital audio output.
If you are simply looking for a motherboard and
nothing more then you may feel that the extras
included may be a bit over the top but
personally I think the extras are a nice added
touch and I can see how they can be useful in
certain situations.
And for those of you who want to gain those few
extra MHz from you processor, Chaintech provides
you with their own overclocking software. This
provides you with a much friendlier environment
for overclocking than from within the blue
screens of your BIOS.
Setup of the board was pretty standard and in
general there was plenty of room apart from
between the CPU fan and the Northbridge fan
which did make installing and removing the fan a
little tricky but this wasn’t a major problem.
In benchmarking the board performed exceedingly
well in comparison to my current motherboard
which performs reasonably well it’s self. Here
are the setups used:
Setup No. 1
Chaintech 9CJS Motherboard (Intel 875P chipset)
Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) 2GHz overclocked to
2.5GHz
512MB PC133 DDR
120GB IMB Deskstar Hard Drive
Stock Cooling
Windows XP Home SP1
Setup No. 2
Jetway 845CA (Intel 845 chipset)
Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) 2GHz overclocked to
2.5GHz
256MB PC3200 DDR
120GB IMB Deskstar Hard Drive
Stock Cooling
Windows XP Professional
The results are as follows:
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Setup No. 1 achieved the following: |
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PCMark
2002
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SiSoftware Sandra 2004
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Setup No. 1 achieved the following: |
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PCMark
2002
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SiSoftware Sandra 2004
 |
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Quality: |
10/10 |
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This motherboard provides
incredible performance for those seeking
that extra bit of power |
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Price: |
10/10 |
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A fabulous looking
motherboard which is necessary for the
growing number of cases with side windows. |
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Installation: |
10/10 |
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The full array of features
you expect to find on any high-end
motherboard are to be found on the 9CJS
along with a few extras such as the rounded
IDE cables and bay insert with remote
control that nice round off the overall
package. |
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Compatibility: |
10/10 |
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No expense has been spared in
bringing you a motherboard that is
manufactured to the highest standards and
will stand up to the tests of time. |
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Updates: |
10/10 |
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Chaintech have a good record
for updates so expect this product to be
functioning at its best for a long time to
come. |
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Overall :
50/50
Chaintech has
provided a truly impressive
motherboard that provides
all the features required by
today’s ever-demanding PC
user and is guaranteed to
leave you grinning at the
end of the day. |
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