FIC VL11PE - FIC VL11PE
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BIOS and Overclocking
You may have noticed we don't have any BIOS shots for you here today in this particular review. I do apologize for that but my reasons for not showing them are twofold. First, as I have stated earlier this is a pre-production motherboard that cannot be bought on the open market. And second; there just wasn't anything special about the VL11PE BIOS setup so instead of going in-depth I decided just to touch on it here briefly. Basically you get your standard AWARD BIOS options, slight overclockability via FSB adjustments and mild CPU and Memory Voltage adjustments. In keeping with the theme that this motherboard is not aimed at the hardcore enthusiasts out there, our highest CPU voltage attainable was 1.675V whereas stock voltage for the new Intel "C" CPU's is 1.55V. While 1.65V is still a nice little increase, it was not necessarily enough to keep us stable in any amount of significant overclocking. While we were able to boot into windows and run a few benchmarks at both 3.3GHz and 3.5GHz, the majority of benchmarking applications we used were simply not stable at all. Most notably SiSoft, UT2K3 and 3DMark01 SE. Although I did include some overclocking benchmarks for some of the other applications, I DID want to state for the record that this motherboard was not stable at all at those speeds recorded, but since we were able to complete those particular benchmarks, I felt it beneficial to show them, to give a good indication of what the FIC might be capable of should their engineers ever decide to enhance the voltage adjustments for this motherboard. I also suspect instability at overclocked speeds could be attributed to there being no 4-Phase Power solution such as we have seen on ABIT and other motherboards that are directly aimed for the performance enthusiasts out there. And admittently, while the extra voltage tweaks and 4-phase power options are nice to those of us in that crowd, the general public typically will not utilize those little extra's and may also simply prefer to pay a little bit less in the end for a good performing and rock stable solution at (dare I say) DEFAULT CPU speeds. Sometimes sites like ours get so wrapped up in overclocking and tweaking that we often do not stop to realize we are but a very small portion of general PC market.
So to conclude the Overclocking section of this review, yes, the FIC is capable of some very mild, and even sometimes stable overclocking. But if your the type that is simply looking for the best 3DMark score out there, or looking to purchase one of the lower speed P4's with intentions of consistently overclocking it in order to get better performance, this motherboard is simply not what your looking for.
Conclusion
Overall I would have to say my experience with the FIC VL11PE motherboard was a pleasant one. I had the opportunity to run the board at default CPU speeds for quite some time and not once did I ever experience any stability or compatibility issues. With a motherboard of this sort, you should expect to simply install it and forget about it. And while the VL11PE is not what your typical performance seeker is going to choose for his next motherboard upgrade, it is a very good piece of hardware in every sense of the word.
Initially I did not know what to expect from FIC in the way of performance and tweakability, and after looking at this product from the angle of the standard everyday user, this motherboard given it's low price, included options and rock solid stability and performance is a pretty safe bet. And since this is a pre-production board, I do look forward to what we can expect to see out of the final retail edition. From what FIC tells me, it will be much like it's bigger brother, the P4-875P MAX. FIC looks to follow in the footsteps of over manufacturers as of late and give a nice bright colored PCB and components. I particularly enjoy this as the plain old green or brown PCB gets kind of boring and a little bit of color inside the case should be a good thing. Especially if you have a modded case and case window.
Finally, lets cover a few highs and lows of this particular product to round out the review.
Highs
Great Intel 865G Chipset support and performance
Impressive performance at stock speeds
Onboard Video, LAN and Sound
Low Price
Very stable at default speeds
Lows
Well that about rounds it up. Overall I am very pleased with the performance of this motherboard and could easily recommend it to anyone out there save the hardest of overclockers. If your looking to build a great performing system with no intentions of overclocking and also looking to do it at a relatively low price, this is certainly a motherboard you'll want to put on your short list. And knowing FIC, you'll probably see this motherboard in quite a few OEM systems being build out there, which will surely be a good thing.
Final Comments on Springdale
Just a few quick observations of the 865 chipset vs. the 875. For those of you that don't know yet, the Intel 875/Canterwood chipset that has been released will be directly aimed at the desktop performance (enthusiast) and workstation environments and will of course have a bit higher cost to reflect this. The 865/Springdale has been released for the lower end, typical desktop user and, like the FIC VL11PE will have variations that provide on-board graphics which would make a good candidate for barebone systems and OEM's out there. I'll assume we may see Springdale pop up in some Shuttle or AMS LAN box barebone systems soon and that should be a good thing. Having a great performing system like this in a small form factor setup will be a blessing to many.
While Canterwood will be the easy choice for the "high-enders", Springdale is a worthy addition to the Intel chipset lineup and will benefit many many users out there looking for a great system at a great price.
We'd like to thank you for joining us here at OCAddiction.com today and hope you enjoyed the review. Want to discuss this or other reviews? Head to our forums. We'd also like to thank the First International Computer for graciously providing this review sample.
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