AOpen AK86-L UPDATE: Uncommonly Good
by Wesley Fink on March 30, 2004 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
When Athlon 64 was first introduced, the motherboards that we saw were generally loaded with every option that could be crammed on the board. With the Athlon 64 sporting the memory controller on the CPU, manufacturers tried very hard to make their product stand out with features. There were a few notable exceptions, like the FIC K8-800T value board, but most of the boards were top-end with prices to match.A lot has changed with Socket 754 since September 23, 2003. New, lower priced Athlon 64 CPU's like the 3000+ and 2800+ have appeared. The introduction of the 3400+ has also pushed the price of the 3200+ down to a much more affordable level. With the new Socket 939 to be introduced in May, we expect Socket 754 to become even more of a value board. This will be even more the case when mainstream Socket 939 products are introduced. In the end, Socket 754 will likely displace Socket A and become the bang-for-the-buck boards in the Athlon 64 family.
Why all this positioning? Simply because the AOpen AK86-L is the perfect board for the new Socket 754 reality. It is currently selling for below $100 on-line, and that certainly qualifies the AK86-L as a good value. Value, however, is more than price, and here, the AOpen AK86-L delivers like no board that we have evaluated to this point. Enthusiasts love a well-priced motherboard that they can take to the moon in performance, and the AOpen certainly qualifies here. With the latest 1.06M BIOS, you get a full assortment of tweaking options - including lower multipliers. Memory timing options are outstanding, and unlike most K8T800 boards that we have tested, the AOpen AK86-L is just as happy as you could want at 2-2-2-6 timings at DDR400. This makes the AK86-L a superb choice as a motherboard for that screaming Athlon 64 system. It even includes Gigabit LAN and SATA RAID in a board selling for around $100. The AK86-L was also an outstanding overclocker in our tests - with a processor that has been nothing special in the overclocking department.
Does this mean that the AOpen AK86-L is the perfect Athlon 64 motherboard? Unfortunately, it isn't - at least not yet. The board is faster than average, and a very good performer as a stock motherboard. It also has every tweaking option that we could want, but the ranges on some of the available options are just too limited. Memory voltage only goes to 2.7V where 2.9V to 3.0V would be much better; CPU voltage is also very limited at the top end, going from an excellent low of 0.8V to just 1.55V. The AMD stated limit of 1.7V would be preferred at the top. Fortunately for potential buyers, most of these "wish list" items can be accomplished with a BIOS update - if AOpen chooses to do that. The PCI/AGP operates on ratios and is not really a lock as we see on Intel boards, and for those of you who have to have Firewire, it is not available on the AK86-L.
Motherboards are often a world of cookie-cutter sameness. The AOpen AK86-L stands out in that world as a great value and wonderful performer. It comes just at the time when everyone is looking for value in Socket 754 boards. There is no board out there for the price that delivers the combination of features, flexibility, and performance offered by the AOpen AK86-L. If you are looking for a Socket 754 motherboard, the AOpen AK86-L is highly recommended. With a few more BIOS revisions, it could easily become our Editor's Choice among Athlon 64 motherboards.
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howminn - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
I've got that board and am having hell with it. No matter what agp card, no matter what memory and in which memory slot, the board won't switch the monitor back on after restart. Which means it is not possible to install an OS onto it.I've returned the original board and bought another one, both boards have displayed the same trouble, and have both displayed cmos checksum error, default values loaded. Batteries have been changed, still no solution.
The vendor to whom I RMA'd the board have not given me any feedback as to what is wrong.
Has anybody else seen this before? Please!
cowdog - Sunday, April 4, 2004 - link
Good to see the update with information that AOpen "opened" up the bios options! Good job AOpen!Ditto what #14 said about the AK89 Max. Come on AOpen, don't overlook your nForce3 150 board!! DDR to 3.0v, cpu to 1.8v, fsb to 300Mhz. That would make my day, esp if AOpen also put that hyper-active watchdog on a shorter leash.
Ronnie - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - link
Hey TrogdorJW, I also have the MSI K8T Neo and found that OCZ pc3200 works great for my setup, I tried some kingston hyperx pc-4000 with no luck.elixia - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - link
Hey AMD4ME2, I had that problem on an old FIC motherboard. I simply pinned the power cable to the power supply and plugged it in. It will not hang in front of the CPU and block airflow this wayResh - Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - link
There was mention of a new board revision (as opposed to BIOS version). Could AT post the number codes for the new and old rev. to help us in purchasing?Thanks!
AMD4ME2 - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
I'm a bit confused by the wording of the location of the ATX power connectors. they look to me like they are behind the processor blocking air flow, at least in my case they would be.Chuckles - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
There is an error on page one (Index)."Adjustments for memory voltage have now been extended from 2.5V to 3.0v in 0.5v increments. This is an extremely wide and useful range for users trying to get the most from their memory."
Should be 0.05V instead of 0.5.
Pumpkinierre - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
I posted my question on Feb.16(#12) and got my answer on March 30th (#13). Its never too late. Thanks for the follow-up.Venomous - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Westley, re: the AK89MAX.. Have them do the same kind of BIOS mods they did on the AK86. If they can bring those voltages up to AK86 specs, im sure hitting 280 fsb wont be hard. The watchdog thing IS annoying.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
Pumkinierre -1.06Q was never a BIOS published by AOpen, so 1.08c is the first published BIOS that has multipliers. Ratios are the same as 1.06q, which is whole numbers - no option of 0.5 multipliers.
As I discussed in the PCI lock article and comments, the AK86-L seems to float the PCI/AGP up to 233, then at 234 it drops back to 33.3. This is a ratio arrangement very similar to what we saw in the Abit K8T800 motherboard we reviewed, and is much less flexible than a true adjustable PCI/AGP lock. If you look at the new screen captures you will see PCI/AGP now reports the rising frequency in the BIOS.
As mentioned in the update, the nForce3-150 based Gigabyte K8NNXP and the Shuttle AN50R, both nF3-150 based, are the only 2 Athlon 64 boards that I am aware of that are reported by respected writers to have AGP/PCI lock. I have not tested either with the PCI Geiger, so I can not personally confirm this. If you want fine adjustments for OC, then either of these would appear to be a better choice, at a higher price.
The AOpen AK89 Max, which is a very late nF3-150 board, also appears to have a working PCI/AGP lock, but there are some issues with high settings prematurely invoking the watchdog feature and resetting the frequency - requiring a CMOS clear. We have asked AOpen for help in resolving this issue with the AK89 Max, and if it is fixed we will post a review on Anandtech.