Foxconn announces "Mars" P35 motherboard

Motherboard maker Foxconn today officially announced the launch of what it claims is its first true overclocking motherboard. The Intel P35 'Bearlake' based MARS will be the first in a new product line called Quantum Force, which will be dedicated to overclocking and gaming enthusiasts.

The new board uses a specially-designed BIOS, dubbed Gladiator, which allows CPU voltage and frequency adjustments, DRAM voltage, north bridge voltage, south bridge voltage and a couple other fine tuning voltage settings. In addition, Gladiator allows overclock settings to be saved and features a recovery mode that automatically loads the last working configuration after a failure.

Foxconn’s P35-based mobo supports all Intel LGA775 processors with front-side bus speeds up to 1333 MHz, and can host up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR2 memory in dual-channel configuration – no DDR3 support, though. Other features include an x16 and x4 PCI Express graphics slots for compatibility with ATI CrossFire multi-GPU technology, six 3Gbps eSATA ports, an eSATA port, two Firewire and 12 USB ports, 7.1-channel high definition audio and Gigabit LAN.

Foxconn’s MARS is set to hit retail late September for a still-undisclosed price.