Foxconn launches Mars mission to wow overclockers

IFA 07 Mobo maker Foxconn will next month release what it claimed was its "first true overclocking motherboard", the Intel 'Bearlake' based Mars.

Foxconn's Quantum Force Mars mobo

Due to be released under Foxconn's new Quantum Force brand, Mars uses a specially designed BIOS, dubbed Gladiator, to adjust processor voltage and frequency; frontside bus frequency; Northbridge and Southbridge voltages; memory voltage and more.

Gladiator allows overclock settings to be saved and features a recover mode that automatically loads the last working configuration after a failure. Mars also comes with Aegis Panel, a Windows system monitoring and warning utility.

The P35-based mobo supports all Intel LGA-775 connected processors, including upcoming 45nm 'Penryn' parts. The board can operate at the standard FSB clocks of 800, 1066 and 1333MHz, and can host up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR 2 memory in dual-channel configuration.

The board has a x16 and x4 PCI Express graphics slots that can worth with AMD's CrossFire multi-GPU technology. There are two more x1 PCIe and three PCI slots for other add-ins; six 3Gbps eSATA ports capable of hosting RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 configurations; an eSATA port; two Firewire and 12 USB ports; 7.1-channel sound and Gigabit Ethernet.

MARS is set to ship from late September, retailing for around £125.