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AOpen AX45-V SiS645


Date
: 04/14/02 – 10:13:28 PM

Author
:

Category
: Motherboard

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: AOpen
Price: $80

Introduction

When the P4 was launched, the only way to use it was in combination with Intel's very own i850 chipset. This chipset required the use of very expensive RDRAM (also known as RamBus) and most people were holding of because of the pricetag. Because Intel was unable to release a DDR chipset because of their contract with RamBus, they only had the i845 chipset supporting PC133 memory. What the end users really wanted was a P4 chipset that would support the affordable and excellent performing DDR memory. VIA was the first to jump this bandwagon, and they released the P4X266 (soon the P4X333 will be out!). At the end of 2001, Intel was able to release their own DDR chipset: the i845D was born. The Pentium 4 became an affordable option for many people and sales went up. Up to a few months ago, Intel and VIA were the sole chipset manufacturers who had a P4 DDR chipset available. This is where SiS steps in: they also built a P4 DDR chipset and in the past few weeks motherboard manufacturers have released several boards based upon the new SiS chipset. SiS' chipset is more or less a value solution, but for a value chipset it is certainly a very powerful one! AOpen was one of the first manufacturers who had a motherboard available, and Overclockers Online had tortured it through hell and back, just to see how it would hold up with the competition. The board listen to the name
AX45-V
and should be an interesting piece of silicon for many of you …

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Processor
- ASIC: SiS 645 / 961 Chipset
- Architecture: 6 PCI slots +1 AGP slot + 1 * CNR
- Max. Main Memory: Max. 3GB DDR266 SDRAM or 2GB DDR333 SDRAM for 184pin DDR DIMM*3
- DIMM Type: 64/128/256/512MB/1GB
- On Board LAN: Realtek RTL8100BL LAN controller onboard for 10/100Mbps Ethernet(optional)
- On Board Sound: Realtek ALC201 AC97 CODEC onboard
- BIOS: Award Plug and Play 2Mb Flash ROM BIOS
- On Board I/O:
2 Serial Ports (UART 16C550 Support)
1 Parallel Port (SPP/EPP/ECP Support)
2 Channel E-IDE (Mode 4 and Bus master Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Support)
1 Floppy Drive Connector (1.2/1.44/2.88MB)
2 Universal Serial Bus Ports
1 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port (optional)
1 PS/2 Mouse Port
1 PS/2 Keyboard Port
Game/Midi Port ,Speaker-Out ,Line-In , Mic-In
- Onboard Connector: IrDA , CPU FAN, FAN2, FAN3, CD_IN, MODEM_IN , FRONT AUDIO , Dr. LED, WOL, WOM, Additional 4 USB Ports (via optional cable)
- Battery: 3V Lithium Battery
- Green Function: Yes
- Board Size: 305mm x 218mm, ATX Form Factor

The AX45-V is a very "clean" motherboard, meaning the board doesn't look like everything is cramped on it. Of course you can install all socket 478 Pentium 4 processors on it, both Wilamette (256kB cache) and Northwood (512kB cache) CPU's. There are three memory slots onboard, supporting a total amount of 3GB PC1600/2100 or 2GB 2700 DDR memory. As you can see the SiS chipset officialy supports DDR333, making it ready for Intel's 533MHz FSB Pentium 4's. The northbridge is the SiS645 chip whereas the southbridge is called SiS961.

Expansion won't be a problem with the AX45-V: it has a total of 6 PCI slots, 1 AGP 4x slot and CNR slot in case you have one of those cheap modems or soundcards laying around. Next to that, AOpen decided to equip the board with a AC'97 onboard sound chip which is more than sufficient for people who just listen to mp3's or play a game every now and then. Onboard LAN is also available (optional!) so you won't lose a PCI slot to a NIC either … starting to wonder how on earth you're going to fill all those slots?

On the IDE side, the board comes with the default IDE ports supporting up to 4 IDE devices. I don't need to mention that UDMA100 is fully supported. Unfortunately, there is no RAID controller onboard. If I'm not mistaken, AOpen does not offer RAID as a feature on any of their motherboards.

With USB being popular nowadays, the AX45-V comes with two of them, with two additional USB connectors being available. This means you can have up to 6 USB ports, not too shabby. I would love to see some USB 2.0 ports on here because the available USB 1.1 ports won't hack it when dealing with high-bandwidth devices like hard drives, digital video camera's, …

That pretty much covers the specifications of the AOpen AX45-V. The list is not as long as usual, but that's because AOpen choses not to install a truckload of gadgets and features on their motherboards. AOpen targets a wide public with its motherboards, and except for the power users out there, people are not willing to pay extra for stuff like RAID, FireWire, … when they will never use it. Stability is what AOpen's aims for, and as the review will show AOpen is good at that :). Now let's take a closer look at the layout shall we?

Page 3 : Layout

Layout

Like I said before, the AX45-V looks very slick. One of the reasons why the board looks as good as it does is the black colored PCB. AOpen has a name for that: "Black Beauty". Combined with the silver chipset heatsink, you get a cool looking board.

The CPU socket has enough room around it to be able to fit large heatsinks. No capacitators sitting in the way or anything of that sort. AOpen does score a bad point with their memory slots placement: our VisionTek GeForce 3 test board was blocking the first memory slot.

The ATX power connector is placed on the right side of the motherboard, approximately in the middle. Although I prefer to see the power connectors at the top of the board, this is my second choice.

The IDE ports are installed vertically and are sitting right underneath the power connector. The floppy connector is installed horizontally at the right bottom of the board. This might be a problem if you are using i.e. AOpen HQ08 full tower case: the floppy drive sits at the very top of of the case. With the connector being located at the very bottom it is clear that you'll need a very long cable ;).

Page 4 : BIOS

BIOS

The AX45-V comes with the regular Award BIOS that can be found on many motherboards. This is not a point of critism because I really like these BIOS'! Since AOpen is not aiming at the hardcore tweakers market with this board, there isn't that much you can alter through the BIOS.

Since Intel hardlocks their CPU's, changing the multiplier is totally out of the question. If you want to overclock, the front side bus is your only way out. On the AX45-V you can set the FSB to a value between 100MHz and 133MHz with a few FSB options to choose from. Memory:FSB ratio settings are fairly plentiful, however. Overclocking often means increasing the core voltage of the processor in order to achieve higher speeds. To my dispite, AOpen did not include voltage regulating options on this board. If you want to increase the voltage of your P4, you will have to use a conducting pen or a thin metal wire and connect a few pins together.

Apart from that you can adjust the memory setting: CAS and all the other options are at your disposal. Again, increasing DDR voltage is not an option with this SiS based board, but most likely you will not need it because the highest obtainable FSB is 133MHz (or 533MHz thanks to the quadpumped bus of the P4).

All in all, the AX45-V's BIOS offers all the options you require to run your system, but no extras.

Page 5 : Overclocking

Overclocking

Since this ain't a die hard overclockers motherboard, overclocking capabilities are not really important. But still, I wanted to see if the board would be rockstable. I installed my precious P4 1.6A in it and set the FSB to 133MHz. The system powered up immediatelly and no stability problems were found during several torture tests consisting of loops of Prime95, 3D Mark, SiSoft Burn-In Test, Hot CPU Tester, …

When you come to think of it, the above results are fairly "normal" because the board officially supports a FSB of 133MHz and I don't have to add that the 1.6A overclocks like a charm.

Page 6 : Testing

Testing

The time has come to run a truckload of benchmarks and see what the AX45-V can do for us. How will the SiS chipset hold up? Is it really worth it? Let's find out!

Test System

- AOpen AX45-V motherboard
- Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz and Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz processors
- 256MB Crucial DDR PC2100 memory
- VisionTek GeForce 3 video card
- Western Digital 20GB 7200rpm UDMA100 hard drive
- Accton 100mbit NIC
- Windows 2000 Professional + SP2

MadOnion's 3D Mark 2001

MadOnion's 3D Mark 2001 SE

Quake 3

Demo 001

Torture Demo

Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark

As you see, the SiS chipset is performing pretty good. The memory scores are better than the Intel 845 chipset but RDRAM still takes the lead. In 3D performance, SiS is falling behind but not too hard … All in all this board performed very good!

Page 7 : Conclusion

Conclusion

The AOpen AX45-V is a very stable motherboard that will do just as advertised. It performs very well and the SiS chipset did manage to impress me. In fact, it is a very good alternative to the Intel 845D chipset and should be considered as one of the better DDR platforms for the Pentium 4 currently available. If you are looking for a motherboard that comes loaded with features, this board is not for you! It lacks onboard RAID, expert BIOS settings and it is not intended as an overclockers motherboard thus lacking voltage options and high front side bus speed selections as well. This board is designed to offer a stable, well performing platform for the Pentium 4 and that's just what it does! If you're in the market for a stable and simple P4 board with DDR support, the AX45-V is what you need! And it looks good too ;).