Layout and Features

Even though AOpen has added many more features to the AX4PE, they have retained what has become their standard motherboard layout with 1 AGP, 6 PCI and 1 CNR slot. Like their other recent mainboards, the AGP slot comes equipped with a retention clip with the idea being that it will keep the video card from inadvertently coming out, how it would do this I don't know, but it's there.

The 3 DIMM slots for the memory provide support for DDR 333, but unlike previous boards tested here, each bank will only support up to 512 MB. Below the CPU shroud is the standard oversized passive heatsink for the 845PE chipset. Event though the size is a little bit of overkill, it still looks nice and provides no interference with anything else on the board. As we take a look at the rear I/O panel you'll see that the basic design is somewhat modified to incorporate the added features of this board. But AOpen thoughtfully includes an I/O plate in the package. Along with the standard PS/2 ports, are 4 USB and 1 LAN port as well as the plug ins for the onboard sound via the Realtek AC97 codec.

Included in what are becoming standard features for AOpen are several very useful features. Among these are AOpen's Watch Dog Timer and Doctor Voice II. I find the Watch Dog Timer a very nice feature, especially if you intend to overclock the board since it will automatically revert to default BIOS settings in the system fails to POST. Also a nice feature is their Die Hard BIOS which utilizes 2 separate BIOS chips. And once again you can avoid flashing the BIOS from DOS and instead use the EZ Win Flash.

Next we move onto the added features of this board. When I said this board was loaded I really meant it. Not only does the rear panel have 4 USB ports with support for USB 2.0 but the board also contains connections for 2 more USB 2.0 ports giving you a total of 6 USB devices to be connected. Wait a minute, I'm not done yet. AOpen has also included onboard support for IEEE 1394 (better known as FireWire).

Even though Serial ATA is still in it's infancy, AOpen has thought to include connections for 2 Serial ATA drives with onboard control via the Promise controller. Providing transfer speeds of 150 MB/s with up to 300MB/s in the coming years, Serial ATA is definitely a plus.

Next we have what is probably my favorite feature of this board. Deciding that more is better, AOpen has provided not the normal 2 IDE channels but 3, with one of them supporting ATA 133 transfer speeds. This is definitely a plus in my book since I am not very adept at either SCSI or RAID configurations. Utilizing all 3 IDE channels you can attach up to 6 IDE devices, Yeah BABY!

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