DFI AK74-AC VIA KT133A
Friday, January 05, 2001
Test Results
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Motherboard
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BIOS
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Chipset
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Drivers
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DFI AK7-4AC
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?
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VIA KT133A
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VIA 4-en-1 4.23
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Processor
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Memory
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AMD T-Bird 1.2Ghz DDR266
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128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2
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Hard disk drive
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Graphic card
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Quantum Fireball KA 9.1Gig
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Chaintech R191 GeForce 2 GTS 64Mb DDR
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Operating system
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Built
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Video drivers
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DirectX
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Windows98
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4.10 1998
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Nvidia 4.12.01.0618
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7.0a
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Color
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake2 3.20
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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bi-linear
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Color
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake3 1.08
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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Tri-linear
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Suggested memory
Corsair 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2
Mushkin 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2
Mushkin 128Mb HSDRAM PC150 CAS2 = Tested
Micron 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Transcend 128Mb SDRAM PC133
Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Winbench CPUmark99
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107
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Business Winstone99
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35.23
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Content Creation 2000
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36.03
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Bapco Sysmark2000
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Benchmark
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Official Run
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212
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Video sub-system tests
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Quake2 version 3.20
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1.2Ghz @ 1.2Ghz
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AMD Athlon
Classic @ 1263hz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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276.50 FPS
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276.70
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Quake3
Test 1.08
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1Ghz @ 1Ghz
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1.2Ghz @ 1263Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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154.8 FPS
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158.53
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It didn't prove possible to Overclock our FSB past 140MHz. As you can see, Quake 2 saw only a modest gain, while Quake 3 Test 1.08 saw a more signifigant difference in performance. In any case, we have to say that this is the fastest performance we've ever seen under Quake 3.
Disk sub-system tests
Overall Quality Evaluation
The evaluation table below shows both the strong and weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remind you that performance is not the sole purchasing criteria in a motherboard. Most of today's motherboards exhibit performance very close to each other, so we need additional information in order to help us distinguish the real advantages of a motherboard compared to its competitors. This is exactly where this evaluation table comes in handy.
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Feature
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Evaluation
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Design Originality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Circuit Board Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Component Layout
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Capacitiors
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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CPU Retention Mechanism
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Amounts of Expansion Slots
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Amount of Memory sockets
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Ease of installation
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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BIOS Setup Design
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Performance
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Overclockability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Stability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Bundled Software
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Bundled Hardware
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Users Manual Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Packing Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Features supported
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ATA66/100
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PC133
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Wake On LAN
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Modem ring
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Pwr Fail Res
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5
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Features supported (suite)
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Sensor
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AMR/CNR
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Mouse Pwr On
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Susp. to RAM
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Susp. to Disk
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3
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Features supported (suite)
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IRDA
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SCSI
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Keyb. Pwr On
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Hardw. mon.
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Vcore adj.
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4
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Features supported (suite)
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RAID
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Alarm
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Soft Menu
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L2 latency adj.
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IRQ assign.
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2
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Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
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77 point out of 100
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Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
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Conclusions
The weak points
BIOS offers few features
Impossible to manually assign IRQs
Little hardware included
Average software bundle
The strong points
Support for DDR266 CPUs
Independant memory bus
Integrated hardware monitoring
Integrated AC"97 sound-card
Comments
DFI could do a lot better with the AK74-AC, at least in our opinion - not because it is afflicted with serious problems, but because of its overall lack of refinement. With a bit of effort, DFI's engineering team could easily put together a product capable of competing with Abit's, and come up with a much better BIOS. The quality of the BIOS counts for a lot, and the AK74-AC's lacks a good number of features; something which clearly cost it in its final score. In the end, it's the AK74-AC's unfriendly, underpowered BIOS that has counted against it in our books, but DFI still has plenty of opportunity to improve upon this point, and come out as a winner.
For more information, please visit DFI.
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