I. Introduction

The name IntelŪ needs no introduction, as the company is a well known and biggest supplier of microprossor in the world. They are also a know company when it comes to spearheading technologies in the network and chipset worlds, delivering exciting innovations for use in both the home and office computing. Recently, they have been introducing more and more new products into the market, along with their transformation from being a microprocessor manufacturer, into a platform company. One interesting product that they pushed into the market is the release of the motherboard that I currently have in my torture chamber: an IntelŪ Desktop Board D101GGC, a board targetted for the value segment and aptly grouped in the "Essential" series of motherboard.

What makes this motherboard a very interesting product is that, this is the first ever IntelŪ branded board (i.e. IntelŪ themselves built), that is comprised of 3rd party products. While this combination of different parts is fairly common in the likes of 3rd party vendors like Foxconn, Asus, and AOpen, this is unusual for IntelŪ since they will forego using their very own chipset technology on their own branded boards.

Will this IntelŪ board be able to live up with IntelŪ's renowned capability to make great products? Will this be plagued with issues and incompatibilities found on low-end products? My torture chamber eagerly awaits...

II. Specification

While this board is within the "Value" segment, Chipzilla still went ahead and made this board full featured, with support for newer 3xx, 5xx and 6xx series of processors, and not to mention the newer Dual Core solution in 8xx series of CPU.

As mentioned earlier, this motherboard uses ATi chipset with integrated graphics. The integrated X300 graphics sports the following features:

• Integrated Radeon* X300* based graphics solution
• Memory is shared with system memory
• Up to 4GB system memory (with up to 256MB reserved graphics memory)
• Users can set maximum automatic memory to share with steppings of 32MB, 64MB, 128MB and 256MB. If more memory is needed, it is allocated dynamically through system memory by the driver.
• Full DirectX* 9.0 Support (Vertex Shader v2.0 and Pixel Shader v2.0)
• Supports resolutions up to 2048x1536 @32bpp
• SmartShader* 2.0 allows complex, movie-like 3D effects
• SmoothVision* 2.1 improves image quality through anti-aliasing using multi-sampling algorithm with support for 2,4, and 6 sample

CPU
• Support for an IntelŪ PentiumŪ D Processor in an LGA775 socket with an 800 MHz system bus
• Support for an IntelŪ PentiumŪ 4 Processor in an LGA775 socket with an 800 or 533 MHz system bus
• Support for an IntelŪ CeleronŪ D Processor in an LGA775 socket with a 533 MHz system bus

Chipset
• ATI* Radeon* Xpress 200 Chipset
• ATI RC410 Northbridge with Integrated X300 Graphics
• ATI IXP 450
Front Side Bus
• 800MHz / 533MHz

Memory
• Single Channel Support
• 2 x 184-pin DIMM sockets support max. 2GB DDR 400/333 non-ECC memory

Expansion Slots
• 1x PCI Express* x16
• 1x PCI Express* x1
• 2x PCI

Storage
• 2x ATA-133 (four IDE devices)
• 4x Serial ATA
• One diskette drive interface

LAN
• RealTek* 8101L 10/100 Ethernet LAN controller

Audio
• IntelŪ High Definition Audio RealTek* AL861 Codec
• 2x5 onboard header for front panel audio
• Flexible 6-channel audio

USB
• 4x on the back panel
• 4x on the front panel via 2 internal headers
• Backward compatible with USB 1.1

BIOS
• AwardBIOS* for Intel resident in the 4 Mbit FWH

Back Panel I/O Ports
• 1x VGA port
• 1x parallel port
• 1x serial port
• PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
• 4x USB ports
• 1x RJ-45 Ethernet connector

Internal I/O Headers
• 2x USB headers for 4x USB devices
• 2x5 onboard header for front panel audio
• CPU / Chassis / Power FAN connectors
• Chassis Intrusion

Power Connectors
• 24-pin ATX Power connector
• 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector

Support CD
• 1x IntelŪ Express Installer CD (Drivers and Software)

Accessories
• 1x Quick Reference Poster
• 2 x Serial ATA cable
• ATA 100/66 cable
• Configuration Label/li>
• Backplate I/O shield

Form Factor
• Micro-ATX (9.6 x 8.6 inches)

Overclocking Features
• None

Other Features
• Hardware management/monitor
• Three fan sensing inputs used to monitor fan activity
• Voltage monitor
• Processor Temperature monitor
• Power Management
• Support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
• Suspend to RAM (STR)
• Wake on USB and PS/2
• PME# wakeup support
Warranty
• 3-year limited warranty

Time to give it a closer look...