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Summary

The following is an abridged version of the more in-depth article. If you are looking for more detail and test results, please see here.

Today we are looking at the Intel 915P offering from Chaintech with the V915P board. Following their value mentality, Chaintech has chosen to use DDR RAM to make your upgrade path a little easier instead of using more expensive DDR2 RAM. The Chaintech Zenith V915P is a good product that balances essential functionality with price. Because it does not implement some key features like RAID, SPDIF output, or Firewire, the Zenith V915P is more appealing to those customers looking to get core functionality without extra unneeded features inflating the price. So if you're looking to save some money on the latest Intel chipset and can live without some of the other features, then this product is for you.

Performance

	Chaintech V915P (i915P) - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR
	Intel i915P with DDR2 - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR2
	VIA K8T800 Pro - Athlon 64 3200+ (754 pin), 1GB DDR
	NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra400 - Athlon XP3200+, 1GB DDR

	Chaintech V915P (i915P) - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR
	Intel i915P with DDR2 - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR2
	VIA K8T800 Pro - Athlon 64 3200+ (754 pin), 1GB DDR
	NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra400 - Athlon XP3200+, 1GB DDR

	Chaintech V915P (i915P) - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR
	Intel i915P with DDR2 - Pentium 4 560E, 1GB DDR2
	VIA K8T800 Pro - Athlon 64 3200+ (754 pin), 1GB DDR
	NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra400 - Athlon XP3200+, 1GB DDR

The Chaintech Zenith V915P has real competitive performance compared to the more expensive DDR2 implementation of the Intel 915P chipset. With a few exceptions, for the most part the Zenith V915P matches the DDR2 version which should make many of you happy since you can keep using your old DDR RAM and expect some decent performance. So if you're looking to upgrade to LGA775 and PCI Express, the Chaintech Zenith V915P fits very well!

Conclusion

Overclocking and enthusiast support is decent with a full compliment of basic features like voltage and frequency controls. Memory tweaks are limited to your four basic settings which should be enough for most of you. There are no special BIOS features like fan speed controls, or dynamic overclocking like that seen on Asus or ABIT boards. However, the Chaintech V915P does overclock pretty well to 240MHz on stock cooling.

Overall the Chaintech Zenith V915P is a decent no nonsense board. It has all the basic functionality you need and skips on some advanced features to save you money. It goes without saying that you will find other competitive motherboards with more features on the market, but the V915P is worth considering if you want an easy upgrade path to PCI-Express and LGA775 without breaking the bank.

Strong Points:	Other Considerations:
Lower priced compared to other 915P boards Performed about the same as DDR2 915P Intel HD Audio compliant Decent compliment of enthusiast features and overclocks fairly well	Missing some advanced features: RAID, SPDIF output, and Firewire. Warranty undocumented. Confirm coverage with your retailer. Overclocking often required rolling back to a stable setting before advancing. Use caution if using Wasay software on the bonus CD.

Feel free to use our PriceGrabber service to find great deals on this motherboard!

 

Click here for the Detailed Review