AOpen AX4B Max P4 Mainboard

USB 2.0 support is going to be increasingly important as this standard becomes mainstream.  Why you ask?  Well, did you know that USB 2.0 transfers data up to an almost supersonic 480 mbps?  To put this in perspective; think about a 10/100 LAN.  Most LANs run at 10 mbps and some at 100 mbps.  My home network is a 10 mbps set up, which means USB 2.0 is 48 times FASTER.  I may need a helmet for devices running at these speeds.  The AX4B-Max provides for four USB 2.0 ports that are backwards compatible to the current USB 1.0/1.1 standards.  Four additional USB 1.0/1.1 ports are on board bringing the total up to eight.  Below you can see the two ports on the board's rear, the second USB jack adding two more ports, and the third pic with the blue ports, shows you the two USB 2.0 jacks bringing our port total up to eight.

     

With USB having a firm hold on us as it does, eight ports may not be as overkill as you think.  I have six USB devices on my personal computer at this moment.

The AOpen Die Hard BIOS is a nice option that enlists having two BIOS chips.  If your machine becomes unusable from a bad setting in the BIOS or from a Virus that may attack the BIOS coding itself; you have a way out.  There is a jumper you can flip to bypass the original BIOS chip and defer to the backup BIOS chip allowing you to get back on your feet.

 

Dr. LED is an eight light panel that has a LED correspond to each of the following: CPU, Memory, Video, PCI, Audio, HDD (hard drive disk), KB (keyboard), and Boot O.K.  The appropriate LED lights up should the system fail at that point in boot up.  This is an optional feature.  

The AOpen “Watch Dog Timer is a safety feature that reads the last system POST.  If the system fails the POST, the Watch Dog Timer resets the system to redetect and enable the CPU’s default settings. 

Doctor Voice II is present as a standard feature.  Dr. Voice does exactly what you would think.  If your box fails to post, the Dr. Voice program will "tell" you with a limited range of descriptors what the problem is in a very concrete manner.

With the AX4B-Max you have the ability to flash the mainboard's BIOS from within windows.  Flashing a BIOS for a mainboard is now easy enough for your mother to do for you.

On board Dolby 5.1 audio complete with a S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) jack for all you sound nuts out there.  I have become a fan of onboard sound of late being that the quality is now there.

 

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