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

The memory clock is adjustable for DDR266 through DDR400 with an auto setting also available.

Voltage settings were unfortunately a bit of a disappointment.  Our test Athlon 64 3000 processor has a default voltage of 1.5 volts.  The max end of the CPU voltage adjustment range was 1.55MHz.  The DDR voltage range was likewise disappointing.  The north end of things was 2.7 volts.  In our last memory review, the Corsair DDR550 we tested had a default voltage of 2.75MHz.  Granted this is DDR550 memory being measured with a DDR400 board but I would be remiss in not pointing this out.  AGP voltage offering was what we expected and was adequate.

     

The last thing in the BIOS we want to cover is the Silent BIOS/Hardware Monitor screen.  The SilentTek and SilentBIOS features are both something that many users will take advantage of.  In the screen shot below you will see what the SilentBIOS looks like.  It gives you the option to select what percentage (between 50 - 100) the fan will run at POST, during OS boot up and if you want to run the fan under "Smart Control" or at Full speed.  What was unusual was that it only displayed the CPU fan when it is supposed to display both the CPU fan and SYS fan.  This was also the case with the SilentTek software.  The SYS fan would not show up as an option to enable the program to take control of it as the user manual and online manual said it should.  Not an end of the world issue but worth mentioning.  I should note that I can't find where any other site reviewing this board had a similar issue.

AOpen AK89 Max (nForce3)

Next up is the AOpen AK89 Max board.  The AK89 Max is built around the NVidia nForce 3 chipset.  The AK89 has every feature of the AK86-L with the sole exception of having two less USB ports.  It goes further by adding several additional goodies to really sweeten the pot.  Let's start with the specs then we will list out what items come with the nForce based board that you won't find on its VIA powered counterpart.

Specifications (AK89 Max)
 

• Processor: Supports AMD Athlon 64 CPU

• Chipset: NVidia Crush K8 (nForce3)

• 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 and SATA Controller

• Serial ATA: Two ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1)

• Internal I/O: One floppy connector, six USB 2.0 ports (four external ports, one internal connections allowing for two additional ports), two ATA 133 connectors, four SATA150 connectors, CD in, Aux in, Case open connector, S/PDIF connector, two Firewire connectors.

• AGP: One AGP 8X slot

• PCI: Five PCI slots (one self powered)

• Board Size: 305 x 244mm

What else you got?

Being that we have already gone over the AK86-L and that the AK89 Max adds features on from there let's look at what you get with the NVidia based board you don't get with the VIA.

The most obvious extra is the Silicon Image SATA controller.  Its integration on the AK89 Max includes four SATA connectors.  Aside from the obvious ability to run four SATA drives independently you also get some expanded RAID options.  RAID 0, aka Stripping, is performance oriented by dividing data up between different disk drives thus balancing the load.  RAID 1, aka Mirroring, is oriented toward redundancy.  Data is written identically or 'mirrored' on multiple drives.  If one disk drive fails your data remains intact on the other drive.  The price you pay for this redundancy is obvious, two identical 120gb drives will give you 120gb of storage instead of 240gb if you were not mirroring the drive data.  If you have ever lost a drive with critical data on it you will agree with me in saying this is a small price to pay for safety.  The AK89 Max has four SATA connectors which allows you another option.  This being RAID 0 + 1.  Here you get the best of both worlds.  Data is balanced between two drives giving you the performance benefit while these two drives are then mirrored to two other drives giving you the security of having redundant data.  Save your allowance because remember you need four disk drives to do this.

The AOpen Die Hard BIOS II is another step by AOpen to keep your computer safe.  The Die Hard BIOS is a redundant BIOS chip on the board.  If for some reason your BIOS becomes corrupted by a virus making your machine unbootable a jumper can be moved to have the computer run off a back up BIOS chip.  Once you are running, change the jumper back and flash the corrupted BIOS back with the appropriate BIOS you can get from the AOpen website.

One of the five PCI slots on the AK89 Max is a Self Powered PCI Slot.  Self powered meaning that it runs off a 3.3v power circuit independent of the other slots.  This is billed as keeping "the loading issue" from having high powered SCSI or independent RAID cards hogging the juice on one PCI slot.
 

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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