Socket-A VIA KT133 Motherboard Roundup - November 2000

FIC AZ11E

FIC AZ11E
Click to Enlarge
CPU Interface	Socket-A
Chipset	VIA KT133
Form Factor	ATX
Bus Speeds	90 / 95 / 100 / 101 / 102 / 103 / 105 / 107 / 109 / 110 / 111 / 113 / 115 / 117 / 120 / 125 / 130 / 133 / 135 / 137 / 139 / 140 / 143 / 145 / 148 / 150 / 155 / 166
Voltages Supported	Auto Detect / 1.475 - 1.850 (in 0.025V increments)
Memory Slots	3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 AGP Slot 5 PCI Slots (3 Full Length) 1 CNR Slot
On-board Audio	Sigmatel STAAC9708T AC97 CODEC
BIOS	Award Modular BIOS 6.00PG

The FIC AZ11E is the successor of the FIC AZ11, but with many more new features and enhancements. Even by just placing the two boards side by side, you will notice that the AZ11E has much better utilization of the PCB.

First off FIC finally implements the necessary hardware and dipswitches that allows users to overclock their processors by changing the multiplier ratios. FIC also uses another set of dipswitches to allow for tweaking the CPU core voltage. Left out of the package is the ability to tweak I/O voltages.

In addition, the AZ11E is one of the few motherboards we have that uses the VIA 686B Super South Bridge, which supports Ultra ATA 100 devices. Once again, no hard drive now has a sustained transfer rate of higher than 40MB/sec, so Ultra ATA66 is all you currently need. It's just a matter of time before the first hard drive with a sustained transfer rate of higher than 66MB/sec is released, and this drive will match perfectly with the 686B South Bridge.

The AZ11E also has some other neat features that help to make it stand out from the crowd, namely in the form of their new NOVUS software package. One of the included programs is Audio Alert II, a piece of software that informs the user of potential problems with a system setup. Of course, you will need to have the Audio Alert board to enable this feature.

One additional piece of software shipped with the board included what FIC calls "Clockometer." Clockmeter is a program that allows users to change the FSB speed of the system from inside Windows.

In short, the AZ11E is a much better KT133 motherboard than the AZ11 in terms of performance, stability, and features.