Foxconn's WinFast 755FXK8AA-8EKRS
The Board & Layout
Foxconn's WinFast 755FXK8AA-8EKRS is not the flashiest motherboard we've ever seen, but it makes up for it with a very good physical layout. It seems like Foxconn focused their attention on the board's physical layout, rather than figuring out which colors go best together...
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The WinFast 755FXK8AA-8EKRS has a very clean layout, with very little that we didn't like. The 755FX Northbridge is passively cooled with a basic aluminum heatsink, but the SiS964 Southbridge is left bare. This may seem like a negative to some folks, but neither chip got very warm to the touch throughout our testing, so additional cooling is not necessary. The 20-Pin ATX power connector is located along the front edge of the board, behind the DIMM slots, and the 4-Pin 12v power connector is situated between the rear I/O panel and CPU socket. Both power connectors are in good locationa, and shouldn't pose a problem if clean case wiring is a top priority. And while we're talking about power, it's also worth noting that the WinFast 755FXK8AA-8EKRS has a 3-Phase power array, which isn't very common on affordable motherboards of this type.
The IDE and floppy connectors are also mounted parallel to the front edge of the board. And the 4 DIMM slots behind them are color coded in blue and yellow, and support up to 4GB of RAM. Please note, however, that the 755FXK8AA-8EKRS will run at DDR333 speeds when all four DIMM slots are populated. With 2 DIMMs installed though, the board will run at DDR400 speeds. Below the floppy and IDE connectors, at the lower corner of the board, you can see the SiS964 Southbridge and Silicon Image SATA controller, surrounded by four SATA connectors. The 755FXK8AA-8EKRS supports RAID 0 and 1 configurations through either one of these controllers. Along the bottom edge of the board, beneath the 5 PCI slots and single AGP8X slot, you'll find all the case connector header surrounded by a plastic shroud, and all of the unused headers for the additional USB, Firewire and audio ports available.
Gigabit Ethernet duties are handled by a Realtek controller, and audio capabilities come by way of Realtek as well. Their ALC850 codec, which is quite capable, is used on the WinFast 755FXK8AA-8EKRS. This board supports 7.1 discreet channels of audio, including S/PDIF inputs and outputs. The audio connectors can be seen in the rear I/O panel, alongside 4 USB ports, a single Firewire port, one serial and one parallel port, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, and a lone RJ45 jack.
