Intel D945GCLF2D motherboard review

optikalefx · 05-14-2009, 04:53 PM

Some forum members were already talking about this mobo but I thought I would shine some light on the subject. I had a chance to play a little bit with it and see if it's working etc.

Basically here are the intel specs:

Form factor Mini-ITX /micro-ATX compatible (6.75 inches by 6.75 inches [171.45 millimeters by 171.45 millimeters])
Processor Integrated Intel® Atom™ processor 330 with a 533 MHz system bus
Memory

* One 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
* Support for DDR2 533/667 MHz DIMMs
* Support for up to 2 GBΣ of system memory

Chipset Intel® 945GC Express Chipset and
Intel® I/O Controller Hub 7 (ICH7)

This document is intended for Original Equipment Manufacturers and BIOS vendors creating Intel I/O Controller Hub 7 (ICH7) Family based products. This document is the datasheet for the following:Intel 82801GB ICH7 (ICH7), Intel 82801GR ICH7 RAID (ICH7R) and Intel 82801GBM ICH7 Mobile (ICH7-M).

File Type/Size: PDF 6758KB
Audio Realtek* ALC662 audio codec (5.1 channel HD audio)
Video Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and optional S-video output support (only available on D945GCLF2)
I/O Control SMSC* LPC47M997 based Legacy I/O controller for serial, parallel, and PS/2* ports
LAN Support 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN subsystem using the Realtek* LAN adapter device
Peripheral interfaces

* Eight USB 2.0 ports
* Two Serial SATA ports (3.0 GB/s)
* One parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support
* One serial port
* One parallel port
* PS/2* keyboard and mouse ports

Expansion capabilities One PCI Conventional* bus connector

Related products
Processors

* Intel® Atom™ processor

Chipsets

* Intel® 945GC and
ICH7

I tested this board with the following config:
- 80 gig seagate SATA hdd
- 300 w power supply
- 2g of DDR2 800MHz Buffalo ram (1 stick)
- Dell mouse and keyboard (both usb)
- memorex external DVD via usb

The board was able to install XP Home flawlessly, and so far, is very quick. Startup time 46.8 seconds and shutdown time was 8.5 seconds.

You can't look at this board without comparing it to the previous LF2 model.
Unfortunately the only thing I was able to find, along with others here on the forum, the S-Video is the only difference. The previous model has it and is priced on newegg for 79.99 and this model doesn't have priced at 76.99 on newegg.

So it seems for $3 less you can get a board without S-Video. Why not include DVI or display port on the next model?

So here are some pics to document my journey through this mobo.

BigIg · 05-14-2009, 05:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by optikalefx

- 2g of DDR2 800MHz Buffalo ram (1 stick)

Just as a small note, this board only supports DDR2-667 so DDR2-800 is underclocked automatically.

optikalefx · 05-14-2009, 07:33 PM

Yea that's all I had sitting next to me :/

BigIg · 06-12-2009, 11:26 PM

It actually underclocks ram to DDR2-533.

I've played with this board and performance is more than good enough for CarPC environments.

pyr0 · 06-13-2009, 08:48 PM

just a quickie, it uses the same chipset as my MicroATX board, being a D945GTP, slightly larger obviously, but with the same chipset i can reassure people interested that it has GREAT onboard sound (7.1 and optical for the full sized board, only 5.1 for ITX) but the onboard graphics are also rather good for anyone crazy enough to be gaming on ya 7" LCDs :P

will post 3dmark scores for onboard just for ****s and giggles

3.3k+ isn't bad for onboard, and for older games 2-3 years ago this would work reasonably, should you actually have something larger than a 7" monitor/LCD

---

zxylon · 06-16-2009, 10:50 AM

Just out of curiosity, what are the odds of getting a D.O.A. board? I got mine and had it sitting in my room still wrapped up until I finished inside my car but when I plugged it all in the other day I got nadda. It turned up and physically went through the boot process but I got no visual and no boot process. Ran through a bit of troubleshooting with a friend and basically got told I got a nice paper weight. He said my processor is toast. Is there anything I could do with this at all besides get another board? Or at least is it worth anything to try and fix it? Thanks!

HiJackZX1 · 06-16-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by zxylon

Just out of curiosity, what are the odds of getting a D.O.A. board? I got mine and had it sitting in my room still wrapped up until I finished inside my car but when I plugged it all in the other day I got nadda. It turned up and physically went through the boot process but I got no visual and no boot process. Ran through a bit of troubleshooting with a friend and basically got told I got a nice paper weight. He said my processor is toast. Is there anything I could do with this at all besides get another board? Or at least is it worth anything to try and fix it? Thanks!

That doesnt sound like a processor problem, but rather bad RAM. I would first try new RAM then if it doesnt work, officially name the board DEAD.

zxylon · 06-16-2009, 01:35 PM

I did try new ram and hooked it up to a regualr pc powersupply in the house. Poop, it's dead.

HiJackZX1 · 06-16-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by zxylon

I did try new ram and hooked it up to a regualr pc powersupply in the house. Poop, it's dead.

How long ago did you buy it? You may be able to RMA it directly through INTEL. You have to pull up a reciept though, but if its within a year, your fine.

zxylon · 06-18-2009, 09:38 AM

I bought it from mp3car store but I'm not sure if I have the paperwork still and I'm not sure if it's within a year. I'll try to contact them today. That'd be awesome if they helped me out with that. Either that or I'll end up selling one of my subs and make a run to Fry's and get another one. Maybe get one with another port so I can run my sound card and my wireless internet card too. Got a modem app on my iPhone and really good wireless router so I'll be trying to mess with that too

Thanks for all the help and info!

vull · 10-25-2009, 03:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by BigIg

It actually underclocks ram to DDR2-533.

I've played with this board and performance is more than good enough for CarPC environments.

only D945GCLF2 will support 667MHz ram then?
no option for D945GCLF2D in bios to use higher speed ram?

someone should make the pics smaller?

jessekilner · 11-04-2009, 03:52 PM

I have this sitting in front of me and can't get the audio driversw to work. they install but it dont work.

XP SP3 fresh new everything, all other drivers are working from original cd, no internet connection on this one as I have wifi only, my laptop had this issue wondering if it's UAA driver issue.. (Universal Audio Architecture) its as a PCI device unknown on this Intel, anyone have the same issue?

RonsRed88 · 11-05-2009, 10:21 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jessekilner

XP SP3 fresh new everything, all other drivers are working from original cd, no internet connection on this one as I have wifi only, my laptop had this issue wondering if it's UAA driver issue.. (Universal Audio Architecture) its as a PCI device unknown on this Intel, anyone have the same issue?

I have the same board and the drivers disk that came with it worked flawlessly. I don't recall having to do anything special to make it work.

I did NOT load any of the "bonus" software. I believe there is a readme file in the root directory of the CD.

Ron

jessekilner · 11-05-2009, 10:58 PM

thats strange indeed.. I updated bios, and all drivers via internet today... and still had unknown PCI device..with no audio... completly new PC with XP SP3 disk works flawless on laptop.. anyways I got the UAA drivers form microsoft and it worked (HIGH defnintion bus) thats what the PCI device was.. im dissapointed nothing documented on this..

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