AOpen MX3ZA i440ZX microATX Socket-370

The Bad

With Intel's i810 poised to take over the integrated motherboard market, the MX3ZA is probably one of the last traditional solutions featuring a separate video controller with its own RAM. The i810's video is faster in 2D and 3D, features a much better OpenGL ICD, and all the new Intel chipset features like the Accelerated Hub Architecture and Ultra DMA/66. However, it uses system RAM for a frame buffer (the optional DC100 display cache is only for z-buffer use), which may be enough to steer some users away. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the Rage Pro Turbo has been around seemingly forever and has drivers for just about every major OS. It will take some time for the i810's integrated video to gain the same support.

The performance of the ATI Rage Pro Turbo is definitely not top notch compared to today's accelerators. Both 2D and 3D performance are quite a bit lower than most other cards available today. ATI does have an OpenGL ICD, but it could really use some improvement.

The 3/1/0 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration could have been modified to max out a microATX configuration through the the addition of an ISA or (preferably) a PCI slot. While less of an issue since video and sound are onboard, you never know when you'll need the slots.

As mentioned above, the floppy drive connector is placed way at the back of the board. This creates a cable nightmare in your case with a big floppy ribbon cable getting in the way of just about any work that needs to be done inside the computer.

Also mentioned above, the USB IRQ cannot be disabled and the onboard audio/video IRQ's are fixed. The audio shares its IRQ with the USB controller, which is not necessarily a problem, but has the potential to become one in certain situations.

Thanks to limitations of the ZX chipset, only 2 DIMM slots are available and memory expansion could become an issue. Make sure you buy as much RAM as you can the first time - you'll only have one shot to upgrade without throwing away some old RAM.

There still have been few attempts from manufacturers besides Abit to offer voltage tweaking support on a motherboard and the MX3ZA is no exception. Rumor has it that AOpen's AX6BC Pro does have this feature, so there is still hope.

It was a little disappointing to not find AOpen's usually excellent manual not in the box. Here they did cut corners a bit to save some money and have included a Quick Installation Guide. The manual is included, but only on CD - not much good if you can't get the computer up and running. The Quick Installation Guide is also surprisingly brief with little information about the physical installation of the board. There is just some information on basic jumper settings and CPU setup.

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: No

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: Mushkin SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM; Memory Man SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com