Monday, September 11, 2000

Introduction

Lately, we've been deluged with a virtual flood of Socket A motherboards, here at the lab, most of whom have been equipped with the Via KT133 chipset. Fic is one of the manufacturers we've received test units from, and their AZ11 fits firmly into the category we've become so familiar with. Seeing that is a slightly larger board than most, we quickly realized that Fic's AZ11 does require a very spacious casing to be properly housed. However, following a long tradition at Fic, the AZ11 is also accompanied by a wide range of utilities & applications, and also possesses few novel features that we'll soon be describing for you in detail...

The features

The Fic AZ11 is expandable via its 5 PCI slots, and single AGP port; no ISA slots to be found here. There are also 3 168-pin DIMM sockets, which are capable of supporting upto 1.5GB of PC100 or PC133 memory. One might also note the lack of an AMR slot in the description, but, all told, most users will scarcely notice the absence. On the other hand, the lack of ISA slots may cause a bit of consternation, as ISA cards still have a large following in the PC world. It's therefore interesting to note that the KT133 possesses an internal PCI-to-ISA bridge that would have made the addition of an ISA port no more costly to Fic than the simple addition of a connector - something there is ample space for...

Configuration of the Fic AZ11 is accomplished both from the BIOS, and from the on-board jumpers. On the board itself, one may find - for instance - the FSB Speed Select jumper, which allows the user to force the system's Front-Side Bus speed to either 100MHz, or 133MHz. At present, this isn't exactly the most useful selection of FSB settings, of course, as there isn't a single Athlon on the market that supports a 133MHz FSB. Another jumper, named the Magic Tuner, apparently allows users to change the processor's core voltage, though by what amount is anyone's guess: the user's manual makes no mention of that little fact... Within the BIOS menu labeled "Frequency/Voltage Control", one finds the option to change the FSB frequency from a selection ranging from 100MHz and 133MHz, including: 100Mhz, 102Mhz, 104Mhz, 106Mhz, 107Mhz, 108Mhz,109Mhz,110Mhz, 111Mhz, 112Mhz, and 133Mhz. For our part, we suspect that a little more latitude in between 112MHz, and 133MHz would have been much appreciated.

Unfortunately, there are no BIOS options that provide the ability to alter the processor's core voltage.

Finally, within the "Chipset Features Setup" menu, there exists an option permitting the memory bus to be set to a frequency 33MHz higher or lower than that of the FSB.

Technical details

The space that is provided in and around the processor socket is rather snug, and will not permit for the installation of particularly large heat-sinks; so be forewarned.

The memory slots were positioned far enough from the AGP port that the memory retention bars never came in contact with the graphics card.

The standard audio plugs were present, but - contrary to the norm - there was no sign of a joystick port in the usual position directly below the former.

Around the processor socket, the are 12 1500Mfd capacitors, which we think is a bit weak. 2200Mfd capacitors would have been alot better.

The processor socket's retention bar is made of plastic. There is also a need to make extra certain that the CPU pins are correctly positioned, and take special care when setting the bar so as to avoid any damage.

Next: Additional features.