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Update: We have made a correction to Page 2 of the article. We originally stated that CrossFire was not on the Foxconn 975X7AA, but this was incorrect. The 975X7AA does support CrossFire. More details are on Page 2. Our apologies.

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Foxconn is one of those silent behemoths of the computer industry. Take a look at your PCI slot, or CPU socket, or PS/2 ports -- chances are that at least one, or all, of those components are made by Foxconn. These guys are huge in the OEM suppliers market, but they're itching to make some great strides in the consumer/retail segment as well.

Up until now, Foxconn has been, for the most part, relegated to that value/entry segment of the market. The enthusiast/SLI/overclocking stuff has all been left to the big boys. Foxconn is now following suit with the likes of ECS, and they've changed their business tactics to try to snag a piece of that high-end pie.

We here at Neoseeker have been lucky, and we've received one of Foxconn's first entrees into the high-end/enthusiast market in the form of the Foxconn 975X7AA motherboard. Sporting a speedy Intel i975X chipset and featuring dual PCI-Express X16 slots, it's clear that Foxconn is not targeting the 975X7AA at the budget system builder, but rather the same crowd that ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, and that other entire clique have been targeting for years.

Intel's relatively new i975X is nearly identical to its predecessor, the i955X. The only distinction between the two is support for dual PCI-Express x16 graphics slots on the part of the i975X, which leads to the gravy on your mashed potatoes -- ATI-ratified CrossFire support. ATI-certified CrossFire-compatible 975X chipsets have been making their rounds, and our 975X7AA is one in a series of new boards popping up that make use of this great new chipset.

The i975x is being touted as Intel's high-performance solution to everything from multimedia, to gaming, to business. We're pretty excited to see how Foxconn has made use of this chipset in their new 975X7AA board, so let's put it under the microscope, shall we?