This is one more board of the Apogee series with typical accessories, an altered
layout (as compared with the i845E based model) and good tools for overclocking
and tweaking. Accessories: - Package of a stylish design
with a handle;
- Documentation: user manual in English;
-
Cables: 2 ATA66/100/133 and FDD - they are covered with green cambric to improve
ventilation inside the case;
-
CBOX2 panel with 4 USB 2.0 ports and Audio-In/Out;
- Bracket with
Rear and Bass/Center connectors;
- Body Theater headphones with emulation
of 4.1 audio system;
- Thermo grease;
- 4 :
- drivers;
- user guide;
- Apogee Overclocking Utility;
-
Norton Internet Security 2002;
- Norton Antivirus 2002;
-
Adobe ActiveShare;
- Adobe Acrobat Reader;
- Adobe eBook
Reader;
- ImageMore;
- ThizLinux 6.0 (Asian & European
version).
There are the following shortcomings in the layout: audio-ins are too close
to the back panel and too many connectors between the DIMM slots and the board's
edge (it makes difficult to handle the memory modules). It can be difficult to
reach some jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown
on the textolite. The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates
8 capacitors of 3300 uF and 3 of 1800 uF. The following controllers are
integrated: - audio controller based on the C-Media CMI8738/PCI-6ch-LX
chip supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors for front audio outputs
and for SPDIF;
- network controller based on the Realtek RTL8100B
chip supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX;
Thanks to the ITE IT8712F-A
I/O controller the board supports (and have connectors) a SmartCard Reader.
Non-unsoldered connectors: IDE RAID controller and its connectors, FireWire
controller and its connectors, AC'97 codec, serial port, POST controller.
The system monitoring is supported by the ITE IT8712F-A chip. What is controlled:
- processor voltage, memory, 1.5, +3.3, +5 and +-12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby
-
speed of 2 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/ 6 PCI/ CNR;
I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x230 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 |
+ |
AGP(PCIx2) = Synch., 66, 75, 88 MHz |
| Manual assignment of interrupts |
- |
|
| Changeable FSB frequency |
+ |
100-200 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Changeable CPU multiplier |
+ |
x8-x50 |
| Changeable core voltage |
+ |
1.1-1.85 in 0.025 V steps |
| Changeable memory voltage |
+ |
Default, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.1 V |
| Changeable chipset voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
+ |
Default, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1 V |
We used the BIOS of 01.11.2002
as the latest available version.
The board offers a nice accessory pack and overclocking and tweaking settings
together with the base set of peripherals' controllers. If you need a full-featured
solution, then look at the model of the
Zenith series.
Test results:
|
|
