Foxconn Renaissance Review

Brand: Foxconn
Supplier: Foxconn
Website: www.foxconnchannel.com
RRP: TBA

Review By: NAG Magazine (April 2009)

THERE WAS A TIME when, if someone said Foxconn, one thought of low-end motherboards, graphics cards, and other OEM products. However, if you now ask most enthusiasts or gamers what names or images come to mind when you say Foxconn, you will hear names like Blood Rage, Dreadnaught, BLACKOPS, Mars, Avenger and sometimes - depending on who you are - even people such as Saaya or Shamino. These are all from Foxconn’s Quantum Force family - one of the most well-known family of products for enthusiasts.

So, you might think the Foxconn Renaissance is from the Quantum Force family, but it is not. It borrows many of the features that are embodied by the Quantum Force products, but this motherboard is, as Foxconn says, for the digital lifestyle. This is evident in not only the features that the motherboard comes with, but the design as well.

What you see where the X58 Northbridge cooler is supposed to be is not a speaker, nor is the silver knob on the Southbridge for volume control. No, these are coolers fashioned in such a way as to fit in with the whole digital lifestyle theme of the motherboard. Aesthetically, we’re not sure if it works and it most certainly doesn’t stand out like the Blood Rage, but given its apparent target market, it would be counterproductive for it to look like the Blood Rage.

The Renaissance motherboard features a six-phase PWM power circuitry for the CPU; not quite up to the levels of the 14-phase system found on the Blood Rage, but then again, these things tend to make very little difference for the vast majority of users. It’s not fair to say this motherboard is a cut-down Blood Rage. It is priced very similarly, which begs the question: why would any person interested in a home entertainment computer spend so much on the motherboard? The truth is: it’s more of an alternative than anything else.

It features 3-Way SLI, 4-Way CrossFireX, has a virtually identical BIOS to the Blood Rage, supports higher memory speeds and a higher capacity with a maximum of 24GB of memory that can supposedly operate at 2,000MHz. Therefore, in some ways, it can be said to be better than any other X58 board from Foxconn, but where it really stands out - and what probably warrants the motherboard its name - is the audio controller.

As with many other motherboards, it’s based on the high-definition audio codec, but controlled via the aptly named “Harp” audio module, which supports DTS Connect, Dolby Digital surround and Dolby Digital Live! The most impressive aspect is not the features and connectivity options it allows, but the claimed 110dB SNR, which makes it ‘better’ than some high-end discreet sound cards and most certainly better than the vast majority of motherboard audio solutions. Other than that, it is pretty much what one would expect from a high-end X58 motherboard, and especially a high-end motherboard from Foxconn. In terms of performance, it is what you would expect. Reaching the magical 200MHz BCLK proved to be a process in itself, but once there, the motherboard was very stable. Getting anything above that was unsuccessful - most likely because of the early BIOS more than the motherboard simply being incapable of reaching the speed.

Overall, the Renaissance is just as capable a motherboard as one would expect. It’s unlikely to ever set any records, but then again, not many motherboards can boast an audio module with a 110dB SNR. This is a high-end motherboard, so those who may want to do some overclocking but are more concerned about having just about every single feature the X58 chipset provides and a little bit more, should seriously consider this one.