AOpen
AX4GE FM (Intel 845GE) Mainboard
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Quality and speed of modern mainboards from the industry heavyweights have
been on the same level for a long time already. That is why the only way to attract
users is to offer something exclusive. This board is a very good example of that.
Accessories:
- Package of the standard design;
- Documentation: poster with brief installation steps in English;
- Cables: 1 ATA66/100/133 and FDD ;
- FM tuner module with antenna;
- Bracket for the rear computer panel;
- 2 CDs containing:
- drivers;
- user guides for a number of company's boards in PDF;
- system monitoring utilities;
- DirectX 8.1;
- Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.05;
- AOConfig;
- AOModify;
- AOpen EzSkin;
- Pro Magic 6.0;
- DocuCom Reader (for reading PDF files);
- E-Color;
- Norton Antivirus 2002.
Standard downsides don't make this board handy in assembling: audio-ins and
connectors along the left side of the board make it difficult to plug in cables.
IDE and FDD connectors placed behind PCI slots worsen ventilation and prevent
installation of full-sized PCI cards. A video card inserted may lock memory modules.
It can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is already installed.
Their functions are shown on the textolite. The 3-channel switching voltage
regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 3300 uF and 2 of 2200 uF. Controllers
integrated: - audio controller based on the chipset and Avance Logic
ALC650 AC'97 codec; 5.1 audio system supported, front audio inputs/outputs and
SPDIF connectors provided;
- Realtek RTL8100BL based network controller
with 10BaseT/100BaseTX support.
Technologies supported:
- AOpen JukeBox FM (CD playback and FM tuner without the OS booted);
-
Die Hard BIOS (a connector for a back-up BIOS chip provided);
- Dr.Voice
III (voice messages on problems during the OS booting).
+5 V supplied
in the StandBy mode is indicated with the onboard LED. One more LED blinks while
the POST procedure is running and gives steady light on its completion. On
the back you can see a plate that prevents twisting of the textolite in case of
powerful CPU coolers.
Non-unsoldered
connectors: none. System monitoring is supported by Winbond W83627HF-AW
chip. It controls: - processor voltage, +3.3, +5 and +12 V;
-
speed of 3 fans;
- temperatures of the processor (built-in sensor)
and the board (two built-in sensors).
There are 2 connectors for
adjustable and 1 for unadjustable connection of fans. Brief board's
characteristics: memory slots - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 6 PCI/
CNR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x220 mm.
Settings:
| jumpers and switches |
Jumper to clear up the CMOS |
|
| Jumper turning PC Speaker on/off |
|
| Jumper selecting a mode of Die Hard BIOS function |
Rescue/Normal |
| Jumper turning on/off the network controller |
|
| Jumper selecting a language mode of Dr.Voice III |
4 Chinese dialects :) |
| BIOS based on Phoenix AwardBIOS 6.00PG |
Setup of memory timings |
+ |
CAS Latency, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge, Active to Precharge
Delay |
| Setup of memory frequency |
+ |
DRAM/CPU=Auto, 2, 2.5 |
| Setup of AGP bus |
- |
|
| Setup of PCI bus |
- |
|
| Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses |
- |
|
| Manual assignment of interrupts |
- |
|
| Changeable FSB frequency |
+ |
100-247 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Changeable CPU multiplier |
- |
|
| Changeable core voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable memory voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable chipset voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
- |
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We
used the BIOS R1.03 as the latest available version. This is the only
board I know which carries an FM tuner. In all other respects, this is ordinary
good solution with some rudimentary settings and overclocking capabilities, and
a modest accessory pack (to retain a low price with the FM tuner). Test
results:
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