AOpen AK89 Max / AK86-L (AMD 64) Mainboard

AOpen AK86-L (VIA K8T800)

The first board on the grill will be the AOpen AK86-L.  The AK86 model is actually offered in two forms the ‘L’ and the ‘N’ model.  The only difference between the two is the ‘L’ model incorporates a Gigabit LAN for you high speed home networking types.  Included in the AK86-L package was a driver and utility disk, Serial ATA driver disk, a copy of Norton AntiVirus 2003, installation poster and very comprehensive manual, IDE cables, Serial ATA cable, SATA power adapter and rear I/O plate.  Let’s break down the board specs before we go on.

Specifications (AK86-L)

• Processor: Supports AMD Athlon 64 CPU

• Chipset: VIA K8T800 Northbridge / VIA 8237 Southbridge

• Memory: Three DIMM slots, official support for DDR400.

• Max memory three gb

• On board LAN: Realtek Gigabit PCI LAN Chip

• On board Audio: Realtek AC'97 CODEC 5.1 Channel

• On board NIC: Realtek RTL8110S 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN

• IDE: Integrated ATA133

• Serial ATA: Two ports SATA150 VIA VT8237 controller (RAID 0, 1)

• Internal I/O: One floppy connector, eight USB 2.0 ports (four external ports, two internal connections allowing for four additional ports), two ATA 133 connectors, two SATA150 connectors, CD in, Aux in, Case open connector, S/PDIF connector, no Firewire connectors.

• AGP: One AGP 8X slot

• PCI: Five PCI slots

• Board Size: 305 x 210mm

Layout and Features (AK86-L)

The AOpen AK86-L presents as a somewhat smaller board that measures 305 x 210mm.  Three DIMM slots supporting DDR400 sit to the right of the 754 pin CPU socket.  While the Athlon 64 processors have been out for a while, they haven't been out long enough that super sized coolers are offered that could present a mounting problem.  I mention this because while the six low ESR capacitors sitting to the left of the socket look to be close, at present they are not in the way of any heatsink mounting.

     

Four fan headers adorn the AK86-L which are placed strategically around the board.  With the SilentTek technology that AOpen is employing to control fan speed, I for one want to be able to take full advantage of this.  By clicking on the pic below we have marked the placement of these headers with a yellow circle.

The ATX power and 12v power plugs rest between the capacitors and I/O panel as you can see above.  We did not experience any difficulty with cable routing or other interference with them in this position. 

AOpen has gone with a passive cooling solution for the VIA K8T800 Northbridge with their recognizable shiny aluminum heatsink.

Two ATA133 connectors reside at the bottom right of the board with the two SATA ports parallel to their left.  (We'll go into SATA and RAID in more depth on the AK89 Max board.)  The floppy connector is just below these at a 90 degree angle to the IDE channels.

  

As far as the NIC and audio are concerned, both the AK86-L and the AK89 Max share the Realtek RTL8110S Gigabit LAN and the 5.1 channel Realtek ALC655 CODEC AC 97.  Below you can see the two internal connections for USB3 and USB4 bringing the total possible USB connections up to eight.  One thing you won't see is an IEEE 1394 connector.  This is an item whose usefulness really depends on your needs.  I for one never have had a need to use Firewire but I do know some digital video types who do.  It should be pointed out that this is not an oversight on the part of AOpen but rather something the VIA VT8237 Southbridge doesn't provide for.

BACK                    NEXT

Page 1 - Introduction
Page 2 - AK86-L  Layout and Features
Page 3 - AK86-L  BIOS
Page 4 - AK89 Max  Layout and Features
Page 5 - AK89 Max  Layout and Features (cont)
Page 6 - AK89 Max  BIOS
Page 7 - Benchmarking  Productivity
Page 8 - Benchmarking  Gaming
Page 9 - Overclocking and Conclusion