I would like to start with the digital processor voltage regulator circuitry that has 14 phases on Foxconn BloodRAGE. In fact, we can’t claim that the more phases are there in the voltage regulator, the better, but this number is indeed very impressive. Besides, there is enough room around the CPU socket to accommodate large CPU coolers. Our only concern is the too close location of the memory DIMM slots, which may and most likely be in the way. We have already seen same close placement of these particular components on Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 and GA-EX58-Extreme mainboards, while ASRock X58 SuperComputer and Asus P6T mainboard offer a little more free room over there.

Things get even more complicated as Foxconn BloodRAGE only has three memory DIMM slots. This is not really that big of an issue, because the maximum capacity of 12GB of RAM is more than enough for contemporary needs and by the time you need more, new mainboards will already be available. However, DDR3 SDRAM specifics usually require installing the DIMMs into the pair of slots farther from the CPU socket. This way, even on Gigabyte mainboards where the memory slots are just as close to the CPU, the distance between the first DIMM and the processor socket will be way larger, thus leaving more room for a large CPU cooler. However, Foxconn BloodRAGE uses the available extra space for a three-phase memory voltage regulator. This regulator as well as shorter signal lines between the processor and the memory should theoretically ensure higher stability, especially during work at higher frequencies.

You may have noticed that there are doubled retention holes around the CPU socket. This is done to insure that you can install not only a special LGA1366 cooling system but also an LGA775 cooler onto Foxconn BloodRAGE. We have already seen this feature on Asus P6T mainboard. Well, not only Asus engineers came up with a solution like that. However, I doubt you saw the barely noticeable contact spots around the memory DIMM slots. Foxconn BloodRAGE  allows controlling seven important voltages on the CPU, memory and chipset, and using a “PCB Voltage Sensors” tester on these contact pads you can monitor these voltages. A terrific idea!

We were very curious about a large button with Quantum Force logo on it located next to the 24-pin power connector. This is the so called Force Reset Button. After adjusting the settings, the regular reboot may not always succeed, but according to Foxconn, by pressing the Force Reset Button you enable new initialization of the CPU, memory and chipset, which reduces the probability of a failed reboot.

Force Reset Button may come in quite handy sometimes, but the PC Speaker located right next to it produced some pretty annoying beeping after every system reboot. I could find neither an option in the BIOS Setup nor a switch on the PCB that could disable the speaker.

Now let’s move over to the lower part of the Foxconn BloodRAGE mainboard PCB. The Intel X58 Express chipset North Bridge allows all mainboards based on it to work with two graphics cards at full PCI Express 2.0 x16 speed. Two additional PCI Express x16 slots of black color allow installing two more graphics cards, but in this case they will work at half the speed. The board supports both: ATI CrossFireX as well as Nvidia SLI configurations. Besides the four PCI Express x16 slots, Foxconn BloodRAGE has one PCI Express x1 slot and one PCI slot.

ICH10R South Bridge supports six Serial ATA ports (black connectors) that allow building RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 0+1 arrays. The additional JMicron JMB363 controller provides support for up to two PATA devices and implements two eSATA ports on the back panel. The distinguishing feature of Foxconn BloodRAGE mainboard is two SAS ports (Serial Attached SCSI) implemented via Marvell 88SE6302 controller. Two SAS ports (red connectors) can also accommodate regular SATA-HDDs. Among indisputable advantages of Foxconn BloodRAGE mainboard we should also mention two BIOS chips and a set of jumpers used to switch between them, a two-digit POST indicator, color-coding of the onboard connectors and ports, a Power On and Reset buttons.

Besides the already mentioned two eSATA ports, the mainboard back panel also carries a PS/2 keyboard port, Clear CMOS button (you can disable it with a special onboard switch thus protecting yourself against accidental CMOS clearing), coaxial S/PDIF port, one IEEE1394 port (implemented via an additional T.I. TSB43AB22A controller, the second port is laid out as an onboard pin-connector), two network RJ-45 connectors (Realtek 8111C) and eight USB ports. The remaining four USB ports out of twelve supported by the chipset South Bridge can be implemented via onboard pin-connectors using the additional bracket with two USB and one more IEEE1394 ports bundled with the board.

Don’t be surprised to see no audio-jacks on the mainboard back panel. All of them have been moved to a separate SONAR X-Fi Xtreme sound card. According to the specifications, it is built around an eight-channel Realtek ALC889 codec. The only thing I think is missing is the optical S/PDIF.