AOpen AX64Pro Apollo Pro 133A Slot-1 ATX

The Bad

Our biggest problem with the AX64Pro is with its expansion capabilities. With only 4 PCI slots, the AX64Pro is only slightly ahead of its baby brother, the MX64, which is a microATX board. Consider the fact that the ATX standard support 3 more slots than microATX, and it's clear that there is no good reason for the AX64Pro to be hampered in this manner. Four PCI slots is enough for many users, but for others it's simply unacceptable. Ideally, AOpen would remove the ISA slot and put the AMR slot in that shared position, while adding two more PCI slots for a total of 6. At the very least, they should add a 5th PCI slot since it would not require the removal of anything.

Another disappointment we had with the AX64Pro was the slightly below average performance we encountered when compared to other 133A boards with our benchmark suite. While its only a few percentage points behind the average, it is between 5 and 10 percent slower than the class leaders. The BIOS is still revision 1.00 and the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset is sensitive to BIOS tweaks, so we still have hope that performance will improve in the future. For now, the AX64Pro is penalized slightly for this.

It should be noted that, while CPU core voltage adjustments in the BIOS is a great feature for overclocking, the AOpen does allow you to select any voltage, regardless of the CPU installed. This makes it all too easy

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Corsair
Purchase Website: http://www.corsairmicro.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com