AOpen AK73-1394 Socket-A KT133 ATX
by Mike Andrawes on January 21, 2001 3:29 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
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 should not 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.
|
Test Configuration |
|
| Processor(s): |
AMD
Athlon (Thunderbird) 800 MHz
|
| RAM: |
1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM
|
| Hard Drive(s): |
Western Digital 153BA Ultra
ATA 66 7200 RPM
|
| Bus Master Drivers: |
VIA 4-in-1 v4.24 Service Pack
|
| Video Card(s): |
NVIDIA
GeForce 2 GTS 32MB DDR
|
| Video Drivers: |
NVIDIA
Detonator 5.22
|
| Operation System(s): |
Windows
98 SE
|
| Motherboard Revision: |
AOpen
AK73 Pro Revision 1.2
|
|
Windows 98 Performance |
|||
|
Athlon 800 MHz OEM (KT133)
|
Sysmark 2000
|
Content Creation
Winstone 2000 |
Quake III Arena - 640 x 480 x 16
|
| AOpen AK73-1394 |
166
|
33.5
|
125.6
|
| AOpen AK73 Pro |
165
|
33.6
|
125.5
|
| Gigabyte GA-7ZXR |
165
|
32.7
|
125.0
|
| ASUS A7V |
165
|
32.7
|
122.3
|
| ABIT KT7-RAID |
164
|
32.9
|
122.5
|
| EPoX EP-8KTA2 |
164
|
33.7
|
122.9
|
| FIC AZ11E |
165
|
33.2
|
122.5
|
| Soyo SY-K7VTA (retail) |
164
|
32.6
|
123.0
|
| Microstar K7T Pro2 |
162
|
32.5
|
122.5
|
| Microstar K7T Pro |
161
|
32.0
|
121.6
|
| Microstar K7T Master |
161
|
32.7
|
123.7
|
| Iwill KV200-R |
160
|
32.9
|
123.9
|
Final Words
It’s quite clear that the AK73-1394 is a very well rounded motherboard. The design is no different from the AK73 Pro, but this time AOpen has included a single-chip Firewire solution. Performance-wise it is almost the same as the AK73 Pro, while proving to be even more stable, allowing it to compete head to head with ASUS’ and ABIT’s KT133 solutions.
The only real problem with the AK73-1394 is the timing of its release. With all the KT133A motherboards waiting to be released, AOpen will have a tough time making a market for this board. On the other hand, with the current design of the board, it probably would not require a lot of effort to update this board with the KT133A chipset.
What else can we say? If you need Firewire on a Socket-A motherboard, the AK73-1394 is probably the cheapest solution and is rock solid to boot. However, if you can wait, it is probably worth doing so for a motherboard using the new KT133A chipset.
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