AOpen AX4PE Max (845PE)

Final Words

AOpen has engineered quite a nice 845PE motherboard. There's certainly enough competition in the 845PE market that would make it difficult for any 845PE motherboard to really stand out, but we can say AOpen has done a pretty good job regardless.

For those looking for a feature-filled motherboard, the AOpen AX4PE Max easily fits the bill; it comes with FireWire, USB 2.0, Serial ATA RAID, sound, LAN, and room for future expansion. This whole package is expected to debut for just $145 or so in the next couple of weeks. For this price, there isn't too much to complain about.

However, for tweakers, this isn't the best 845PE motherboard available, although not too bad in general. The AOpen AX4PE Max contains somewhat weak voltage tweaking options such as a VDIMM max of just 2.65V and a VAGP ceiling of 1.6V. However, Vcore is adjustable as high as 1.85V. There's plenty of FSB room available as well, with an option for as high as 248MHz FSB. As our overclocking results proved, this board is good for overclockers too, but again it's nothing we haven't seen from the other 845PE motherboards.

All in all AOpen has done a great job with AX4PE Max. However, it will have a tough time competing with other 845PE solutions in certain segments. In the enthusiast segment for example, Epox's 4PEA+ brings a bit more to the table than the AOpen AX4PE Max is able to provide, and at an expected debut price of $140 to boot. In addition, AOpen will have an even tougher time competing against Intel's D845PEBT2 in the high-end OEM segment, yet another 845PE board expected to debut at $140.