The AOpen AX63 Pro mainboard
Thursday, November 11, 1999
The performance tests results
All tests were all performed under Windows98.
The system setup was as following:
Motherboard: AOpen AX63 Pro
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350mhz
Memory: 64mb of Mushkin PC133 SDram
IDE first channel Primary port: Quantum Fireball KA 9.1gig UDMA66
IDE second channel Primary port: Kenwood 48X True X
AGP slot: ATI Rage Fury 128GL
OS: Win98 4.10
DirectX 6.1
Note: all test were performed with the Turbo mode (105Mhz) enabled.
Winbench 99 CPUmark
Neck to neck, in terms of performance, all the motherboards above
use the VIA Apollo Pro133 chipset. As you can see, the AOpen AX63
Pro performs well, and secures a place near the middle of the pack.
Winstone 99
Once again, boards employing the VIA Apollo Pro are those used
for this comparison. While the AX63 take the lead at 434Mhz, it occupies
a more average position in normal operation. The 434Mhz results have been
included mostly to demonstrate the Overclocking abilities of this motherboard.
Video Sub-System Tests
As you can see, the AOpen AX63 maintains
its position at the middle of the pack.
Using Mushkin PC133 memory, we were able to push our PII-350Mhz to 434Mhz, allowing us for some more extensive Overclocking tests. As you can see, the results are excellent, and the AOpen AX63 takes confortably position at the head of the pack.
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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AOpen AX63 Pro slot 1 VIA Apollo Pro133
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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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4
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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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5
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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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5
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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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5
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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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5
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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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4
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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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5
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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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5
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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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5
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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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4
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Features supported
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ATA66
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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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SB-Link
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AMR
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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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2
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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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86 point out of 100
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Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
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The score obtained by the AOpen AX63 Pro was 86 out of a possible 100 points. Considering the severity of the new evaluation grid, I would say that the score obtained by this board point to its obvious quality.
The Weak Points
The AX63's weak points are as such: The user's manual is simply a quick installation guide, the 1500mfd capacitors would, in my opinion, be more appropriated at 2200mfd, 4 memory connectors - rather than 3 - would have offered greater latitude, and, finally, a bit more packaging material would keep the board from moving around in its shipping box.
The Strong Points
The AX63's strong points are these: Great performance, great stability, rich and varied features, an excellent versatility in Overclocking provided by PC133 memory support, support for Power Recovery Failure, hardware monitoring provided as a standard feature, an interesting software package, and terrific simplicity in installation, and use. Finally, an 80 wires ATA66 IDE connector is provided with the AX63 Pro, free of charge.
Conclusions
The AOpen AX63 Pro motherboard strikes me as being a very well designed product. Supple, and pleasant to use, with great performance, this board was truly a well crafted product. There is no doubt in my mind, that the AX63 Pro should stand as a front-runner in the minds of anyone looking to buy or replace a motherboard.
For additional information, visit AOpen's web site.
