Overclocker Cafe - AOpen AX4G Pro P4 Mainboard Review

AOpen AX4G Pro P4 Mainboard

Manufacturer: AOpen
Supplied by: AOpen
Price: ~$110

By Dean Barker (9/21/2002)

Introduction

The Intel 845G chipset has come to provide the performance the 845D and 845E chips left us longing for. It does this partially through its “unofficial” ability to utilize DDR333 (PC-2700). I get a kick out of all the unofficial memory speeds. DDR400 and 433 are out now and DDR333 has yet to be made an official standard. Official, unofficial, who cares? The 845G chip and DDR333 are rumored to be a very hot combination.

AOpen, never one to be left behind, have produced a 845G based board, calling it the AX4G-Pro. What AOpen has done with their board is to rake it through the feature isle to provide high end performance with numerous usable features to broaden the board's appeal to both retail and OEM markets. We wish to thank the folks at AOpen for sending a sample of their new board for us to put through its paces.

What you get

When you first look at the box, you see that AOpen is sticking with the see through box top packaging. Small wonder, as AOpen uses jet black PCB to produce their boards. As you can see in the pics, these sharp looks are worthy of a few cool points of their own accord.

Included with the board are two ATA100 IDE ribbon cables and a floppy drive ribbon cable, all of which are jet black. A driver and utility disk as well as a copy of Norton Anti-Virus 2002 are included. As we have mentioned before, not all Anti-Virus programs are XP compatible. Norton 2002 is. A rear I/O plate is here so you can take advantage of the on board 5.1 Dolby sound and on board video as the standard plate won't fit. The AX4G has six USB 2.0 ports so an additional USB bracket is included so you can use at least four of the USB ports without having to pick up an additional USB expansion bracket. An exceptionally thorough manual is here along with the AOpen installation poster. The installation poster is fantastic! A down and dirty what you really need to know from the manual on one large sheet.

Specifications

Let’s have a look at the white paper.

CPU: Supports 533MHz FSB Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 Processor
ASIC: Intel 845G chipset
Architecture: 6 PCI slots +1 AGP slot + 1 * CNR
Max. Main Memory: Max. 2GB DDR SDRAM for 184pin DIMM*3
DIMM Type: 64/128/256/512MB/1GB
Official unofficial support for DDR333
On Board VGA: Integrated 2D/3D Graphic Engine on board
On Board Sound: Realtek AC’97 CODEC on board (5.1 channel)
On Board LAN: Realtek LAN controller on board for 10/100Mbps Ethernet
On Board I/O:
1 Serial Port (UART 16C550 Support)
1 VGA Port
1 Parallel Port (SPP/EPP/ECP Support)
2 Channel E-IDE (Mode 4 and Bus master Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Support)
1 Floppy Drive Connector (1.2/1.44/2.88MB)
2 Universal Serial Bus Ports
1 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port
1 PS/2 Mouse Port
1 PS/2 Keyboard Port
Game/Midi Port, Speaker-Out, Line-In, Mic-In
Onboard Connector:
IrDA , Wake-On-LAN , Wake-On-Modem, CPU Fan, Fan2, Fan3 , CD_IN, AUX-IN , COM2, S/PDIF, FRONT AUDIO, Dr. LED, Chassis intrusion connector, Additional 4 USB 2.0 Ports (via optional cable)
Board Size: 305mm x 218mm, ATX Form Factor