The board has one peculiarity: it's supplied with a panel for a 5" bay. In
all other respects, despite the package looking like a suitcase, this is an ordinary
solution of the low price level. We have tested a preproduction sample with minimal
accessories.
Accessories:
- Package: plastic case with a handle;
- Smart Panel II with 2 USB, Audio-In/Out connectors, a serial port, LEDs and
a BIOS chip selection button (disabled in this model).
The layout is typical; and its small width brings in several downsides: audio-ins
are in front of the PCI, and the IDE RAID are behind them; also, some connectors
are placed along the left side of the board. It can be difficult to reach some
jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are not shown on
the textolite.
The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates
12 capacitors of 2200 uF.
The following controllers are integrated:
- audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities and Avance Logic
ALC650 AC'97 codec supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors for front
audio outputs;
- network controller based on the Realtek RTL8100BL
chip and supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX.
Thanks to the ITE IT8712F-A
Smart I/O controller the board supports (and have connectors) a smart card reader.
Non-unsoldered connectors: none.
The system monitoring is supported by the
ITE IT8712F-A chip. What is controlled:
- processor voltage, +1.5,
+3.3, +5 and +12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby
- speed of 3 fans;
-
temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor) and the board (a built-in sensor).
There
are 2 connectors for adjustable and 1 for unadjustable connection of fans.
Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 2 DDR SDRAM; expansion
slots - AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x190
mm.
Adjustment
can be carried out with:
| jumpers and switches |
Jumper to clear up the CMOS |
|
| Jumper to set a FSB frequency |
Auto/100/133 MHz |
| Jumper for starting up computer from a PS/2 keyboard |
|
| Jumper for starting up computer from USB keyboard |
|
| Jumper turning the audio controller on/off |
|
| Jumper turning the network controller on/off |
|
| BIOS based on the AwardBIOS 6.00PG from Phoenix |
Setup of memory timings |
+ |
CAS Latency, Active To Precharge Delay, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS
Precharge |
| Setup of memory frequency |
+ |
Auto, DDR266, DDR333 |
| Setup of AGP bus |
- |
|
| Setup of PCI bus |
- |
|
| Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses |
- |
|
| Manual assignment of interrupts |
- |
|
| Changeable FSB frequency |
+ |
100-165 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Changeable CPU multiplier |
+ |
x8-x50 |
| Changeable core voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable memory voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable chipset voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
- |
|
We used the BIOS 1.2 as the latest available version.
This
is a typical budget model that provides the minimal chipset's capabilities. However,
taking into account the chipset's might (one of the best in its class) and supplied
Smart Panel II we can expect this model to become quite popular.
Test
results:
