Foxconn H67A-S H67 Sandy Bridge Motherboard Preview

Packaging
The H67A-S comes in a standard Foxconn box that we’ve seen on the likes of previous boards in the past including the A7DA-S 3.0 AM3 motherboard that we looked at back in February 2010. It clearly denotes the name of the board, tells us that it’s EuP ready, that it’s Windows 7 compatible and that it comes supplied with Norton security suite.

A barcode sticker can also be seen which gives clear information on the main features of the motherboard including its use of the H67 chipset, socket LGA1155, has a DVI-D connector, PCIe 2.0 compatibility, supports DDR3 1066/1333/1600/2200(OC), has USB 3.0, 8 channel audio, Gigabit LAN and also has 2 x SATA III ports and 3 x SATA II ports too.

The back of the box gives information on the main features and explains through them in various different languages. We are told the board has a dedicated on-board chipset which controls and monitors the system performance, increase performance when you need to, reduce noise and energy consumption when you don’t and also about the digital power delivery which reduces heat whilst improving reliability.

Other features we’re told about really stress about the new features of the Sandy Bridge processors including the complete protection for the CPU, automatic fan speed adjustment, exclusive power channels for graphics cards giving extra performance, superBIOS with its double BIOS features for protecting you against BIOS corruption as well as the easy install updates with one key press and system power LED for use when debugging as well as a fancy new Windows-based BIOS updater.

The last feature that the box talks about is the unlimited CPU multiplier which is really going to appeal to the enthusiasts and be a big hit for the overclockers due to its ability to give you a lot more headroom when overclocking your CPU, but obviously we can’t comment on the performance or any of these figures as of yet, until the launch date, which is said to be just after CES. Sorry folks, but you will just have to wait a little bit longer.

When opening the box up, the first thing you are greeted with is the motherboard in an anti-static bag, and below this and underneath the protective cardboard is the accessories including a very bland I/O panel, but we expect the P67 and especially the Quantum Force branded boards to give some more stylish options when it comes to this. You also get two red SATA data cables, driver and utility CD, quick installation guide with full diagram and layout of the board with description and installation instructions for CPU, memory, expansion cards, power and also peripherals.

Also included with the motherboard is a full English user guide complete with specification list, features, detailed instructions on all the new features with added pictures explaining installation in more detail and exactly how to navigate through the BIOS and use the new features too. This includes the bundled software, RAID configuration and even a little bit about overclocking within Windows.