Fic FB11 440BX
Thursday, October 19, 2000
The performance tests 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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Fic FB11 440BX
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1AA42
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Intel 440BX
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none
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Processor
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Memory
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Hard disk drive
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Graphic card
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Intel CuMine 866Mhz
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128Mb PC133 CAS2
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Quantum KA 9.1
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GeForce 256
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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 4.11.01.0368
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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 to use
Corsair 128Mb Sdram PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Mushkin 128Mb Sdram PC133 CAS2
Micron 128Mb Sdram PC133 CAS2
Transcend 128Mb Sdram PC133
Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Winbench CPUmark99
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81.00
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Business Winstone99
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32.83
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Content Creation 2000
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32.6
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Bapco Sysmark2000
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Benchmark
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Official Run
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183
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Video sub-system tests
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Quake2 version 3.20
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 866Mhz
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 897Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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181.55 FPS
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181.68
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Quake3
Test 1.08
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 866Mhz
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 897Mhz
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|
800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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101.7 FPS
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101.5
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As with most cases, it wasn't possible to Overclock the system very high. We were able to push the system to 138MHz before it would have become necessary to switch our memory's CAS latency from 2 to 3 - something that would have negated any gains made by upping the FSB any further.
Disk sub-system tests
Our results here prove that the Fic FB11 does not suffer for the fact that it comes only with ATA33 support as a standard feature. In fact, the FB11's results were quite consistant with those obtained by boards that support ATA66.
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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3
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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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Heatsink space around CPU
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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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1
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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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3
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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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5
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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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4
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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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4
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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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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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4
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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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4
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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
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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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4
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Features supported (suite)
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Sensor
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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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1
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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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3.5
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Features supported (suite)
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RAID
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Alarm
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Jumperless
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L2 latency adj.
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IRQ assign.
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3
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Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
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73.5 points out of 100
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Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
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Conclusions
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The weak points
No BIOS option for adjusting the Vcore voltage
Fan connector located too close to the CPU
A somewhat weak electrical system
Mediocre stability
Restricted space for a CPU heatsink
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The strong points
Excellent performance
Integrated hardware monitoring
2 ISA slots
Excellent software bundle
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For more information, visit Fic.
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