Thursday, November 11, 1999

Introduction

At our very beginnings, we had the pleasure to analyze an AOpen motherboard in our very first review. Some time has passed since then, and we haven't had the chance to revisit that pleasure.
So, it is with great joy that I present an analysis of the AOpen AX63 Pro motherboard, which, as its name suggests, makes use of the VIA Apollo Pro133.

That said, let's skip past the pleasantries and head to the main event with our analysis.

The Features

This board's expansion capabilities are similar to most modern boards in its 5/2/1 design. This translates to 5 PCI slots, 2 ISA slots, and 1 AGP port. Also, there are three 168-pin DIMM sockets. However, DIMM slot number 3 is only 256Mb of memory, then, accoring to AOPen, the board memory capcity is 512+512+256 or 1.28 gigabyte of main memory.

Configuration of the AX63 is effected totally within the BIOS submenu "Chipset Features Setup".

Within this menu, we may: adjust the clock frequencies, choose clock multipliers, and adjust the processor's core voltage. Finally, a pair of jumpers (JP23 and JP29) permits the user to choose the range of clock frequencies available in the BIOS menu. Choices available include: automatic frequency adjustment by the system, 66Mhz to 83Mhz, 90Mhz to 124Mhz, and 124Mhz to 155Mhz. Within the BIOS, it is also possible to adjust the memory speed to that of the front side bus and to add or subtract 33Mhz from that frequency. For example, you can set your processor to operate at with a FSB of 133Mhz, and subtract 33Mhz from that frequency in order to employ PC100 memory.

As mentioned, the processor's core voltage is also adjustable via a BIOS function. The processor's voltage can be set to a level between 2.0 and 2.2v.

Available clock frequencies, according to the user's manual, include: 66/75/78/81/83/90/95/100/105/110/112/113/115/117/118/120/124/126/133/135/137/138/140/142/144/150 and 155Mhz, with clock multipliers available between 1.5X and 8X in steps of 0.5X.

Suite: Additional Features