AOpen Socket 754 Mainboards' Details Emerged

Dom · Sep 16, 2003, 12:35 AM

We are getting closer and closer to the 23rd of September and massive AMD Athlon 64 availability and continue our brief exploration of mainboards for AMD 64-bit desktop microprocessors. AOpen, the company known for its mainboards with vacuum tubes for better audio quality – started to advertise its Socket 754 mainboards in Japan during the weekend.

What is very interesting about AOpen mainboards is that one of them – the MK-89L – uses the micro-ATX form-factor. This is the first mainboard for AMD Athlon 64 microprocessors described here that is intended for relatively small cases, not huge Full-ATX mainboards.

All mainboards designed for the 64-bit Athlon CPUs boast a number of features typically found on advanced mainboards. This is not a big surprise since the Athlon 64 chips this year will, in general, be acquired by enthusiasts, who require feature-rich products. For this matter AOpen’s micro-ATX MK-89L based on nForce3 150 is a bit unique because of its form-factor and also because it lacks a certain important options, such as Serial ATA-150. This one, obviously, seems to be targeted on “ordinary” end-users, not hardware maniacs.

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Sep 16, 2003, 12:35 AM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	AOpen Socket 754 Mainboards' Details Emerged We are getting closer and closer to the 23rd of September and massive AMD Athlon 64 availability and continue our brief exploration of mainboards for AMD 64-bit desktop microprocessors. AOpen, the company known for its mainboards with vacuum tubes for better audio quality – started to advertise its Socket 754 mainboards in Japan during the weekend. What is very interesting about AOpen mainboards is that one of them – the MK-89L – uses the micro-ATX form-factor. This is the first mainboard for AMD Athlon 64 microprocessors described here that is intended for relatively small cases, not huge Full-ATX mainboards. All mainboards designed for the 64-bit Athlon CPUs boast a number of features typically found on advanced mainboards. This is not a big surprise since the Athlon 64 chips this year will, in general, be acquired by enthusiasts, who require feature-rich products. For this matter AOpen’s micro-ATX MK-89L based on nForce3 150 is a bit unique because of its form-factor and also because it lacks a certain important options, such as Serial ATA-150. This one, obviously, seems to be targeted on “ordinary” end-users, not hardware maniacs. More Info...