AOpen AX4SG MaxII Motherboard

Name: AOpen AX4SG MaxII Motherboard
Brand: AOpen

by Tom Laverriere — Thursday, May 06, 2004, 03:00 PM EDT

Introduction and Specifications

For those of us that like to piece together our own computer systems from the ground up, deciding which piece of hardware to buy can tough. With more and more companies coming to market with competitive products, its never easy to choose which component best suits both your needs and budget. And it's not like one component will take care of everything, so there are numerous decisions to be made for motherboard, video, audio, RAM, Drives..etc.

Instead of having to make decisions on a handful of different pieces of hardware, the AOpen AX4SG MaxII motherboard has a few of them covered for you. With onboard graphics and sound as well as a slew of other capabilities, this motherboard can certainly be classified as an "all-in-one solution" for several base system requirements. But AOpen didn't stop there, as they left room to pack in quite a bit of performance. The AOpen AX4SG MaxII incorporates the immensely popular Springdale Chipset by Intel, featuring support for all the latest Intel Pentium 4 processors and dual channel memory. However, slapping the label "Max" onto a product does not guarantee performance or success, so today we will show you if the AOpen AX4SG MaxII motherboard has what it takes to compete in a crowded motherboard segment.

AOpen AX4SG MaxII Motherboard

Specifications

CPU
Intel Pentium 4 CPU Socket 478 800MHz FSB

Supports next generation Prescott CPU

Chipset
Intel 865G Northbridge

Intel ICH5 Southbridge

Front Side Bus

800/533/400 MHz

Memory
Dual Channel Mode

Support DDR400 [PC3200]

4 x DDR DIMM

DIMM Type: 64/128/256/512MB & 1GB

Max 4GB

Graphics

Integrated VGA Engine in chipset

8X AGP Slot

Support ADD Card

IDE

Integrated ATA100 and Serial ATA Controller

Silicon Image Serial ATA Control Chip [Support RAID 0,1,0+1]

Max Disk: 144,000,000GB [by 48 bits LBA spec]

Audio
Realtek AC'97 CODEC on-board

7.1 Channel surround sound

LAN

Integrated Intel Gigabit LAN Controller

IEEE 1394
Agere 1394 Control chip

Integrated Agere PHY

USB 2.0

Integrated 8 USB2.0 ports

Slots
1 x AGP

5 x PCI

Storage & Back Panel I/O

1 x Floppy Drive Connector (Support one floppy disk device only)
2 x ATA100 IDE Channels
6 x Serial ATA Channels

1 x PS/2 Keyboard

1 x PS/2 Mouse

1 x VGA Port

1 x COM Port

1 x Printer Port
1 x Audio I/O
1 x LAN Port

1 x Speaker Out

1 x Line-In

1 x MIC-In

4 x USB 2.0/1.1 Ports

On Board Connectors

1 x Front Panel

1 x Front Audio

1 x CPU Fan

1 x System Fan

1 x Chassis Fan

1 x Power Fan

1 x Power Temperature Connector

1 x Case Open Connector

1 x CD-IN

1 x SSR_OUT

1 x IrDA

1 x EX Sound Connector

1 x COM2

1 x Game Connector

2 x IEEE 1394

4 x USB 2.0/1.1

BIOS Feature

Award PnP 4Mb Flash ROM BIOS

2nd Flash ROM for DieHard BIOS

Software & Utility

Acrobat Reader
AOconfig utility
EzClock Utility
EzSkin Utility

EzWinFlash Utility

Norton Anti-Virus 2004

Online eBook Manual

SilenTek Software

WinBIOS Utility

WinDMI Utility

Accessories

1 x Easy Installation Guide

1 x Enhanced Full Pictured Manual

1 x Bonus Pack CD Disc

1 x Norton Anti-Virus CD Disc

1 x Silicon Image Serial ATA Driver Diskette

1 x Floppy Disk cable

1 x 40-wire IDE cable

1 x 80-wire IDE cable

2 x Serial ATA cables

2 x Serial ATA power cables

1 x Game Port + COM2 cable

1 x IEEE 1394 + USB 2.0 cable

1 x EX Sound Module

1 x Back Panel I/O Shield

1 x CPU Retention Module

Form Factor

ATX Form Factor (305mm x 204mm)

As you can see, labeling this motherboard "Max" is certainly not a stretch of the imagination. Sporting the 865G Northbridge and ICH5 Southbridge chips, among a plethora of other features, this motherboard is fully loaded. And for those of you looking for a variety of connectivity options, this AOpen motherboard will not leave you hanging. Both Firewire and USB 2.0 are included in this package, as well as Gigabit LAN, on board graphics, on board audio and finally RAID 0 and RAID 1 support. To sum it all up, this board isn't short on anything and seemed impressive right out of the box. We think it's time for a closer look at all these goodies. Let's get a little more up close and personal with the AOpen AX4SG MaxII motherboard.