AOpen EX65 SFF PC Review - Motherboard Layout
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As the illustration above shows, the motherboard’s layout is in line with what’s quickly becoming the industry standard design for SFF systems. From top to bottom (back to front), we can see the back panel’s components, including FireWire, audio, and USB connectors. Moving down, we see the AGP 8x slot (blue), PCI slot (yellow), 478-pin CPU slot (white), Intel 865 Chipset + ICH5, SATA connectors (burgundy), RAM slots (dark blue), IDE connectors (black and dark blue, and front panel connectors.
The UX4SG-1394 motherboard is based on the Intel 865 chipset, which was designed specifically for the XCube. It supports Socket478 processors (Pentium 4) with FSB speeds of 400, 533, and 800MHz, with and without Hyper-Threading. (It should be noted that BIOS updates provided by AOpen cannot be installed when Hyper-Threading is turned on.) According to the included manual:
[The] Intel 865G chipset [does not] support Willamette or Celeron (0.18u) processors. [The] Northwood processor [will] detect the clock ration automatically, [and] you may not be able to adjust the clock ration in [the] BIOS manually.
[Editor's Note: the manual is not translated particularly well, so I've taken the liberty of fixing a few grammatical mistakes within this statement.]
On the bright side, AOpen has flaunted the fact that this system will support a 3.2GHz processor. It's surprising that an SFF system with a 220W PSU can handle such a hot, power-hungry processor, but reports show this system performing flawlessly under those conditions. (Our own tests had this system running steadily with a 3.0GHz P4 with Hyper-Threading turned on.) AOpen has taken steps to ensure that this system runs at acceptable temperatures, and it shows.
In addition to the processing capabilities, the system is also equipped to handle up to 2GBs (2x1GB) of DDR266, 333 and 400 SDRAM (or PC2100, PC2700, and PC3200 respectively), and can work in the dual-channel mode, if the modules are identical. What's really interesting is the system's Performance Boost Engine (PBE), which can be turned on in the BIOS setup. The PBE, when turned on, speeds up memory timings and results in an increased subsystem performance. (In short, AOpen's included a way for users to get more bang from their RAM.) Note that only non-ECC DDR RAM is supported. Also, those with 800FSB processors should make sure to note that if using DDR333 RAM, the RAM will only go up to 320MHz. This is an Intel-related limitation, according to AOpen.
Alongside the Intel 865G, the system relies on the ICH5 chip as the South Bridge, supporting two ATA100 channels, two SATA150 channels, and six USB 2.0 ports (of which only four are used). The board also offers gigabit Ethernet, six-channel sound as implemented by the AC'97 ALC650 codec from Realtek, and three FireWire ports.
Truly, the EX65 is a marvelously equipped machine, starting first and foremost with the UX4SG-1394 at its core.
Next: The BIOS >>
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