The release of Intel's Core 2 Duo processors seems to have heralded the official start of the next generation of hardware must have upgrades.  Fortunately there are a wide variety of affordable options to help ease this transitions effect on your budget.  ABIT Universal's new IL9-Pro is designed to bring you up to speed with everything you need to upgrade without emptying your wallet.

     ABIT's packaging is dominated by the image of an anime style graphic and the IL9-Pro's motto: Thunder Up, Move Ahead.  Fortunately, the eye catching box also clearly displays the Intel 945P/ICH7 chipset and support for Socket 775 Intel processors.

     Like all ABIT boxes, the IL9-Pro does a nice job of providing all of the specs you might consider when buying a motherboard right on the box.   ABIT also highlights some of the more desirable features like the onboard HD 7.1 Audio support and a 1000Mb Ethernet port. 

Features:

Chipset
- Intel® 945P / Intel® ICH7R Express Chipset

Memory
- 4 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support DDR2 667 memory up to 4GB
- Supports Dual Channel DDR2 667 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory

LAN
- On board 10/100/1000M LAN

Audio
- On board HD 7.1 CH Audio CODEC

Expansion Slots
- 1 x PCI-E X16
- 1 x PCI-E X16 (PCI-E X4 bandwith)
- 1 x PCI-E X1
- 3 x PCI

Internal I/O
- 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88 MB
- 1 x Ultra DMA 100/ 66/ 33 IDE connector
- 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connector
- 2 x USB header (support 4 ports)
- 1 x FP-Audio, 1 x CD-In

Back Panel I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
- 1 x Serial Port, 1 x Printer port
- 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN connector
- 7.1 CH Audio connector ( Line-in/ Surround, Line-out, MIC-in, Rear Surround, Center/ Woofer)
- S/PDIF Out

Form Factor
- ATX form factor 305 x 244mm
- PCB Color: Blue

RoHS
- 100% lead-free process and RoHS compliant

Intel 945P Express Chipset

The Intel 945P chipset is marketed as part of Intel's mainstream chipset family.

     The Intel 945P Express Chipset delivers outstanding system performance through high-bandwidth interfaces such as dual-channel DDR2 memory, 1066/800 MHz system bus, PCI Express* x16 graphics port and PCI Express x1 I/O ports, next generation Serial ATA and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity. In addition, the Intel 945P Express Chipset includes support for Intel® Active Management Technology, the next generation of remote client network management for business. -Intel