Test: Foxconn Blackops - UK

Specifications

The Blackops uses a specially designed 8 phase digital powersupply for the cpu. In laymans terms there are 8 valves to deliver the steam needed to drive the cpu, and the control is very precise.

The loss of power in the digital circuits is supposedly 25% less than what can be achieved using conventional analogue systems. This helps ensuring stability and thus higher overclocking potential.

To take care of the sound bit, a Realtek ALC885 chip with 7.1 channels is used. Foxconns version is called SONAR, and is placed on an add-on card. The one major advantage by having a separate soundcard is the noisereduction. Electric signals from the PCI bus ao. cannot influence the soundchip as much as if it was mounted on the motherboard itself. Foxconn promise a signal/noise ratio of 106dB. Typically a standard on-board solution will have around 90dB.

But, what really sells this board is the special made cooling solution on the chipset. It is basically a copperblock with a bunch of cooling fins at the bottom.

The clever part is, that you can mount different accessories to enable passive/air cooling, go for a water setup, or go crazy with some dry-ice or LN2. A total of four options with the same cooler. More on this later on.

Also on the features list, is the option for using three ATi graphics cards i CrossfireX configuration. There is room for 8GB DDR3 memory, and of course support for the latest Intel 45nm cpu's. Here is a complete list.