AOpen AX6C/AX6C-L ATX Slot-1 i820

The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

The Final Decision

The AX6C was actually the first i820 based motherboard we got a chance to look at last year and, even in its beta stage, the board impressed us. Needless to say, the final product is much more polished and complete and definitely worthy of our recommendation. If you don't feel comfortable with an i820 motherboard with 3 RIMM slots then the AX6C-L offers the same good qualities as the AX6C minus the third RIMM slot thus calming your fears.

AOpen brings the usual stability and reliability we have come to expect from the company with these two i820 motherboards. In addition to the healthy set of overclocking options, AOpen's unique RDRAM multiplier manipulation setting is a strong plus for these boards that will definitely set them apart from the competition. The one thing we found missing was the absence of a manual core voltage adjustment option, something that's been around for quite some time, even on older AOpen boards.

But in the end, while it's completely out of AOpen's hands, the biggest concern here isn't the quality of the motherboard but bringing down the cost of RDRAM.