Click to view largerThe first thing that caught my eye as I unboxed the GA-7DPXDW was not that the platform was Aqua in color. Ok maybe that was the first thing but if you look at the platform picture you will see that this platform has an onboard Promise IDE RAID Controller. To this point this is the first dual AMD platform that I have tested with this type of support. Gigabyte is definitely aiming for the Server/Workstation market and the addition of this feature just might help persuade buyers their way. The cost of IDE harddrives has been dropping like a rock. You can outfit a raid with four 40GB 7200rpm IDE drives for around $250. There are many that will state that an IDE raid can't hold a candle to SCSI but if you compare price to performance an IDE raid isn't really a bad option. Plus the Raid gives you advantages other than speed.
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The layout of the GA-7DPXDW is very clean and straightforward. The power connectors are located in the upper left hand corner of the platform. Having these connectors up and out of the way prevents the necessity for creative harness routing. Another advantage of this connector location is the fact that the power harnesses will not interfere with the internal airflow of the case.
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While looking at the power connector you can't help but notice all the capacitors. Gigabyte has done a good job of keeping capacitor row clear of the sockets and connectors. But the spacing is still tight if you are looking to mount a monster heatsink. Typically I run a set of Volcano II's as they provide adequate cooling and fit even the tightest of configurations. One question that seems to be asked after each review is "Does the board have heatsink mounting holes around the sockets"? The answer is YES. There are mounting holes for each socket BUT again be careful as to the heatsinks you are looking to mount because of the socket spacing. You can also see the surface contact thermistors responsible for reporting CPU temps.
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Gigabyte has chosen to utilize active cooling on the GA-7DPXDW 's AMD-762 Northbridge chipset to help insure platform stability. Other manufacturers felt comfortable running passive heatsinks. These passive heatsinks were only warm to the touch even while the platform was overclocked. Again the addition of active cooling is another small step in the quest to get a bite on the market.
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If you look to the upper right corner of the platform you will see four DDR memory slots. These four slots allow the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW to support up to 4.0GB of Registered DDR Memory Only. This placement of the memory slots helps to eliminate a conflict between the memory slots and other platform components. However it should be noted that due to the size to the platform I would recommend installation in a larger mid-tower case. I have been using the Enermax BB-1030 cases as of late. These are roomy cases and it is easy to lose site of the space requirements of a larger platform.
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The placement of the IDE and floppy connectors on this platform is in the lower right hand corner close to the edge. At first glance this looked to be the ideal spot as it puts the connectors close to the associated drives and this prevents the need for long IDE cables. While installing the four-drive raid I tried to use my 18" rounded cables. The close proximity of the connectors caused the protective tubing of the cables to spontaneously unplug from the second drive in the chain on either channel. Not a good thing while setting up the raid and installing the OS. To alleviate this issue I used the provided flat IDE cables and all was well again. The flat cables are more flexible and allowed me to bend and flex as necessary.
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In addition to the AGP Pro slot, Gigabyte has chosen to provide what seem to be the standard 5 PCI slots. Two of these slots are configured for the high-speed 64bit/66mhz while the remaining three slots are the standard 32bit/33mhz. If you look at the PCI layout, a single 32bit slot separates the two 64bit slots. By doing this Gigabyte provides more space to work with while running your high-end RAID cards for example. Of the platforms I have tested so far again this is the first platform to use this type of layout. Yet again Gigabyte is paying attention to the details.
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The GA-7DPXDW platform has included several other items with the end user in mind. In addition to the usual keyboard, mouse, printer, Com and USB (onboard) ports the GA-7DPXDW also offers integrated audio and 10/100 LAN. This makes for a neat and clean package that has everything you need and you do not lose the use of any of your standard PCI slots. As you can see from the picture below the port layout is a bit different. Not to worry as Gigabyte includes a case port faceplate to accommodate the layout.
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That is a look at the layout of all the major features on the GA-7DPXDW but there are other things that you will need to know to get this baby up and running. In addition to the two-heatsink fan headers Gigabyte also includes two case fan headers. One header is located just to the right of the ATX power connector and the second is in the lower right corner below the bottom RAID connector.
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During our tour of the platform you may have noticed several jumpers scattered about. Let's take a look at these jumpers, as you will need to know about several of them in order to get the full potential from your GA-7DPXDW. The first of these will be JP13. JP13 is located just right of the Northbridge fan connector center of the platform. This jumper is responsible for setting the system bus frequency to either 100/133MHz. With pins 1-2 closed the system bus frequency runs at 100MHz. With pins 2-3 closed the system bus frequency is set to run at 133MHz.
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The next jumper to pay close attention to is JP4. Located just to the left of PCI slots 2 and 3, this jumper is responsible for activating the onboard LAN. By default it should be set to pins 1-2 closed which enables the LAN port.
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Just below the bottom RAID connector is a pair of jumpers, JP2 and JP3. These jumpers control the onboard Promise Raid Controller. When looking at these jumpers you might assume that JP2 would be on top and JP3 on bottom. This is not the case. For some reason Gigabyte has reversed the two placing JP3 on top and this can lead to several minutes of confusion while setting up the RAID controller. Even more confusing is the little manual that comes with the GA-7DPXDW. The diagram shows JP2 with an indicator of 3 and JP3 as diagram indicator 2. Sounds silly I know but several people have transposed these jumpers and numbers while reading the booklet. With this in mine pins 1-2 of JP2 are responsible for enabling the Promise Controller and JP3 sets the controllers mode of operation. When pins 1-2 are enabled the controller is set to ATA-100 mode for normal operation. When pins 2-3 are enabled the controller is set to RAID mode and is ready for end user configuration.
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In the event you choose a setting that is out of range for your setup and the platform hangs or simply will not boot, JP11 located just above the end of PCI slot 3 is the jumper for you. As you well imagine this jumper is for resetting the Bios to factory defaults. Always handy to know where this one is while adjusting memory timings and overclocking.
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Other jumpers that may be of interest are JP8 located just left of the 12V four-pin power supply connector and JP9 located at the bottom right corner of PCI slot 5. These jumpers activate USB1 and USB2 wakeup function. JP1 located just above and to the left of the USB2 connector controls the buzzer feature of the platform.
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So now that you have an idea of what the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW has to offer lets take a look at the official list of specifications from Gigabytes website
