Foxconn Mars Living Review

[supershanks]

Foxconn Mars Living Review

"A Mars Today helps you work rest and play"
Mars Bar Picture Courtesy of Mars
Intro & Index
Sorry couldn't resist that title. Was going to get Clunk to sing it , but he bottled it Not sure of course yet whether it's right either, so we'll see.

Anyway in this review we'll be looking at the Foxconn Mars Launched last year around August, it's Foxconn's 1st serious foray into the Enthusiasts market. It's launch was somewhat eclipsed by the hype surrounding the X38 chipset launch.
So it's back to P35 for me which will give an interesting , after 2 x38 boards , to review how the chipsets compare and maybe lay a few myths that have developed.
Links
FOXCONN MARS first to support 0.5 multipliers at least my E8400 should work.
Interactive MARS overclocking tutorial with Shamino
Foxconn Mars OverClocking Bios Template

If you rate it please :-
Thanks.

Index
1) Intro & Index
2) Manufacturer's Specifications
3) 1st Impressions - The Package
4) 1st Impressions - The Board (1 of 2)
5) 1st Impressions - The Board (2 of 2)
6) The Bits & Pieces
7) Heatpipes , Mars Secret Panels Revealed & Lifting tHe Heatpipes
8) Bios 1
9) Bios 2
10) Gladiator Bios 1of3
11) Gladiator Bios 2of3
12) Gladiator Bios 3of3
13) The Build
14) 8x470 & half multi issues
15) Option ROM Issue & Jmicron Controller
16) Old Board Blows
17) Conclusion
18) Secret Panels removing NB covers
Clocks, Benches & Settings
19) 8x450 1.4125vc 1:1.20 1080Mhz
20) Various Clocks & Banches
21) 470x8 - Crunch Clock

[supershanks]

Foxconn Mars

[supershanks]

Well packed,


Box is large & deep, quiet a nice style.


Nice Chart of features



Box is a sleeve so inner slides out to reveal
Board details shown through winmdows, looks quiet stylish.


Opening the inner box the motherboard is sitting securely in a clear single piece Lid and Tray


Continued.....

[supershanks]

Looking very solid & classy, also very heavy


Southbridge area:-
The heatpipes are secured by screws rather than push pin, a big plus imo


Closer in , we can see low profile buttons on the long edge of the board:-
right to left:-
Clear Cmos Jumpers
Clear Cmos Button
Reset Button
Power on Button
Colour Coded Case Connections
Sata Ports - I like the position of these , connection is much easier than the horizontal style, as you can see where the lead is being plugged in. The ports are

nicely placed out of the way.


PCI Slots
2xPCI-E x16 (Red full x16 Blue x16 (electrical x4) , 2x PCi-E x1, 3x PCI.

Checkout the view through the NB Cooler


Continued.....

[supershanks]

Rear Panel
Left to Right:-
Top: PS2 USB port
Bottom: PS2 Keyboard
Optical SPDIF Out
Coaxial SPDIF Out (at first glance resembles a wifi antenna socket
E-Sata 2 Port
Bottom 2 x3 USB Ports
Top: 1394 a Port, Lan Port
Audio


CPU Area
Nice clean Cpu Area


Memory Slots
24 Pin PSU Connection

Floppy (red) & IDE sockets. Nice touch Cylinder on left is the Buzzer, for audio beep codes. quiet a nice distinct sound,

[supershanks]

Filling the bottom of the box under a white card insert we find a variety of bits & pieces:_

The bits are sitting on the opened Quick Install guide


There's a bit of fun with the tattoos etc., Had to look twice at this
Ancient Greek Dog tags

Some utility, with a PCI Bracket with 2 more USB & a 1394a Port. (brings rear usb ports to 8)

A bit of class A fan


Manual is usual but the downloadable version is a pleasant suprise

Mars Mars

Downloads The PDF Manual is in colour.

[supershanks]

I'm not usually a fan of heatpipes, usually taking them off and using after market solutions.
This is only the second board where the heat pipe solution looks effective. The first was the Gigabyte X38 DQ6. In both cases the heatpipes are substantial, copper

based wuth Southbridge and Northbridge blocks screw mounted to motherboard.

I weighed the Gigabyte board in order to convey the substance of the heatpipes Check out the Heatpipes
The Mars weighs in at about 995gm a little lighter but still in the heavyweight division


The Mars has a pretty unique Northbridge heatsink , in shape it looks a lot like an old gypsy caravan

There is method to the design when coupled to the optional fan.




Fitting is fairly easy the lugs go on the outside of the NB casing clicking in to the recess in the NB.


Side view

Front view

Rear view


You can see the design idea more from the last shot . Extending from the NB heatsink heat rises through the vertical vanes The air tunnel behind the fan carries the
heat out of the end towards the rear of the case. I must admit i liked DFI LT X38-T2R LanParty nb cooling solution, but it has it's drawbacks. In comparison i think

this is quiet an innovative & elegant solution.

Mars Secret Panels Revealed

[supershanks]

Bios

I's unusual that a Post splash screen does anything for me, Usually see it 1st post & turn it off. Do the same with this, but thought it was decent enough to be

worth a mention.


It's a strange Bios this, it's got some good overclocking features in the Gladiator section. It also has some settings I haven't seen for a long time. System Bios

Cacheble , Memory Hole at 15M-16M.

Main Bios Screen
No surprises usual Award Screen


Standard Cmos features


Advanced Bios Features


Advanced Chipset Features

[supershanks]

Bios

Integrated Peripherals


Integrated Peripherals - OnCip IDE


Power Management


PnP/PCI Configurations


PC Health Status

[supershanks]

Gladiator Bios (1of3)
As you might guess from the name this is where it all happens

Gladiator Bios- Main Menu

1st 4 lines are to respective sub screens.

Overclock phase select gives 3 settings, [OC Disabled] Huh : [Manual O.C.] Yep that's us :[ Instant Overclock]
CPU Clock Ratio Unlock - Just [Enable]/[Disable] Like the P5K [Enable] to change multi from default.
CPU N/2 Ratio - Allows 0.5 CPU Ratio. Had it enabled and running for a while before i realised what it was Applies to 45nm CPUs. So if you set a CPU Multi of 8

then set this to [Enable] the multi will be 8.5

CPU Clock v Memory Speed (note uses same notation as Gigabyte 1:2 = 1:1 etc .,


CPU Features

Usual Culprits here