Flexus Technology, under the Freetech brand name, is a fairly recent entry to the motherboard market. Founded in 1990, we're just now seeing their boards popping up everywhere. In their quest for success, their boards have been making the review rounds, including a stop in the AnandTech labs. We checked out their VIA MVP4 based P5F110. Today AnandTech puts the i440BX based P6F107 through its paces.

New Anand Tech Report Card Rating
82/C

The Good

One look at the Freetech P6F107 shows a board that looks fairly standard in today's market. This Socket-370 board features a 5/2/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration, complemented by 3 DIMM slots. Optional integrated Creative Labs ES1373 PCI audio provides basic audio functionality for those that don't need 3D positional audio (ie most non-gamers).

The ATX specification is also closely followed with all major components strategically placed to minimize cable clutter and provide the most room to work around the board. All HDD/FDD connectors are located where they should be, right at the front of the board, so that no cables are forced to run over the CPU and/or memory. The ATX power connector is unfortunately located at the back of the board, next to the Socket-370. That means that the power cable will have to run over the CPU and memory, reducing airflow to the CPU and cluttering up the inside of the system. The front panel connectors will prevent the use of a full length card in one ISA slot, while one PCI slot is blocked by a fan connector.

Four 1500uF and two 1000uF are given the responsibility of supplying power to the CPU. This is significantly less capacitance than used by most other manufacturers and probably contributed to the below average stability of the P6F107 in both overclocked and non-overclocked configurations. A typical heatsink is mounted on the i443BX northbridge chip via thermal tape.

A nice touch is the addition of diagnostic LED's on the board. One green and one red LED are located right next to the front panel connectors. Depending on which LED's stay on or blink, one of three different problems can be diagnosed - CPU/motherboard failure, memory failure, or video failure. When both LED's remain off, there is no trouble. This can of course come in quite handy for system builders

A closer look reveals that there are only two jumpers on board, one for disabling the onboard sound and the other for adjusting the AGP divider. The AGP divider can be set to be controlled by the state of BSEL (known as B21 on Slot-1 CPU's) or manually set to 2/3. The rest of the CPU setup is left to the Award BIOS. The CPU settings are under "Chipset Features Setup" with settings for clock multiplier and FSB frequency. Those FSB settings are numerous and include 66 / 75 / 83 / 100 / 103 / 105 / 110 / 112 / 115 / 120 / 124 / 133 / 140 / 150. Most of the higher speeds are useless as overclocking a 66MHz FSB multiplier locked CPU too much above 100MHz FSB is virtually impossible. But for those of you willing to try, settings above 124 are available with a 1/4 PCI ratio to keep things as close to spec as possible. That PCI speed is reported right next to the FSB speed in the BIOS. All settings are available with any CPU installed, but don't forget to set the AGP divider via the aforementioned jumper if you're trying to overclock a 66MHz CPU (such as any current Celeron) to 100MHz or above. The rest of the BIOS is the standard Award 4.51PG fare, with a slight twist. The twist, literally, is that the BIOS menus are all flipped from their normal positions - ones that are normally on the right side of the screen are on the left and vice versa.

Power management consists of pretty much the standard stuff these days. Wake on LAN and wake on modem ring headers are available to allow the system to power on in the presence of network activity or incoming call. The BIOS can be set to turn on the system at a specific time. The CPU fan can be shut off when the system suspends to quiet things down a bit. Full ACPI support is included for additional power management options under an ACPI compliant OS, such as Windows 98 or 2000.

Hardware monitoring is provided courtesy of the Winbond 83783S hardware monitoring chip. This is a stripped down version of the 83782D chip that differs in the number of voltages monitored (6 vs 9), external temperatures (1 Vs 3), and fans (2 Vs 3) that are monitored. As such, just two fan headers are included on board. The voltages measured are Vcore, 3.3V, +/- 5V, and +/- 12V. The CPU temperature is read via a fairly slow reacting thermistor in the middle of the CPU socket.

The only paper documentation that arrives with the board is a single quick reference sheet that includes just enough information to get up and running. The full manual is on CD and is pretty average. That CD is generic for all Freetech boards and includes manuals, drivers, and utilities for all their motherboards.

The Bad

The biggest problem with the P6F107 is stability. It's below average at both non-overclocked and overclocked speeds. As noted above, this may be due to the overly frugal use of capacitors around the CPU socket.

As usual, there's still no sign of voltage tweaking options from most manufacturers, including Freetech. Another oversight by many manufacturers is also found here - the ability to assign a specific IRQ to a particular PCI slot. This has been a boon for many users trying to sort out fully loaded situations, but something Freetech users will have to do without for now (although there is always the possibility of a BIOS upgrade to add it). Finally, as many other motherboard manufacturers have omitted, there is no option for resuming power if AC power is lost.

Only a single sheet of paper is included with the P6F107, a quick reference that serves to get you up and running with information about CPU settings, memory, and front panel connectors. Unfortunately, we still miss a real paper manual and that quick reference guide does nothing to help the first time system builder install the board.

Finally, Freetech warns in that manual and quick start guide that PCI slot 4 cannot be used with a bus mastering device if the onboard audio option is enabled.

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 64MB Mushkin SEC Original PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 64MB Memory-Man SEC Original PC100 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin SEC Original PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Memory-Man SEC Original PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com

The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

The Final Decision

If you're looking for an inexpensive, but still full featured Socket-370 board, the Freetech P6F107 should definitely be considered an option. Expansion and features are quite good for a Socket-370 board. However, if you do choose it, the biggest problem might be finding it. Unfortunately for Freetech, there's nothing that really makes the P6F107 stand out from the crowd and for just a few bucks more, a more stable board from a more well known manufacturer can easily be had.

How it Rates

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.