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One of the more
beneficial new technologies to appear in the last year is
Double-Data Rate RAM. The benefits of this technology
has become widely known and as a result, widely adopted my
most major motherboard and videocard manufacturers.
When it was initially introduced, price differences between
standard SDRAM and DDR were fairly large. However with
recent price drops in the market, DDR has become a far more
economical and widely adopted solution. Allowing for
superior performance with current technologies and memory
prices now equivalent to SDRAM, DDR has solidified its place
as a leading RAM technology.
Trying to
develop a motherboard that would maintain top rate
performance and stability,
DFI has
adopted the AMD 761 Northbridge, but there is more to the
equation. Along with a solid, yet economical RAM
solution, DFI has also opted to marry technologies from both
AMD and
VIA to
come up with, what they hope will be a solid performer at a
respectable cost.
Tonight we will
be taking a look at the latest AMD based creation from DFI,
the AK76-SN. Combining the AMD 761 Northbridge
with the VIA 686B Southbridge, as well as DDR RAM, DFI has
produced what promises to be one heck of a motherboard, even
without a slew of "bells and whistles." So without
further discussion, let us take a look and see what
comprises the DFI AK76-SN...
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Specifications and Features Of The DFI AK76-SN |
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All the bells and
whistles... |
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Chipset
AMD 761 / VIA 686B
CPU Socket
Socket A
CPU Supported
200/266 MHz Alpha EV6 FSB for AMD Athlon /Duron
processor 600MHz~ 1.2GHz and faster
Memory
2 DDR DIMM sockets
max. 2GB (unbuffered) or 4GB (registered)
Supports PC200/266 and ECC DDR SDRAM
BIOS
Award / 2Mbit
PCI IDE
Dual PIO mode 3/4 EIDE channels up to 4 IDE devices
UltraDMA/100 transfer rate up to 100MB/sec
Super I/O
2 x NS16C550A compatible UARTs
1 x SPP/ECP/EPP parallel port
External Connectors
2 x USB
2 x DB-9
1 x DB-25
1 x PS/2 keyboard
1 x PS/2 mouse
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Internal Connectors
2 x external USB
1x IrDA
2 x IDE
1x Floppy
1 x ATX power
4 x fan
1 x WOL
1 x WOR
Hardware Monitor
System/Processor temperature
Voltage
Fan speed Power
Management
ACPI and OS direct power management
Wake-on event: RTC/Modem/LAN
Expansion Slots
1 AGP slot (Supports 4x/2x AGP)
6 PCI slots
Other
Overclock Cruise
Form Factors
ATX, 4 layers
30.48cm x 22cm
12 inch.x 8.66 inch.
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The
AK76-SN package comes complete with one floppy cable, one
ATA100 IDE cable, a Users Manual, a CD containing all
necessary drivers, and a complementary mouse pad.
Being a company that focuses on producing a quality product
rather than loading up their box with extras, there is
little to discuss here. The box came with what we
would expect, as well as a nifty round mouse pad.
Quality and Setup...
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