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Motherboard: Shuttle AK31A V3.1 Review :: Features
What every consumer is looking for in a board is stability and flexibility, these are always the topmost factors when it comes to decision making in the motherboard market. The AK31 V3.1, which should have been named the AK31A is a very feature filled and stable board that has the flexibility that even enthusiasts will find satisfying right down to the motherboards core.
VIA has been the major weapon in the war against rival chip giant Intel and has now come to the plate with its latest arsenal the KT266A chipset which has an improved performance ratio of about 20% over their older KT266 chipset. The KT266A chipset is an improved version of their older KT266 which was a good performer all around but with the improvements in engineering such as enhanced timings and faster execution queues the KT266A greatly increases memory and system bus performance making for a faster all around computer.
The AK31 V3.1 is a standard ATX form factor motherboard that sizes in at 305mm X 245mm so it should fit in any mid to full tower case. The Athlon series of CPU's require the use of a 300W or higher power source due to the high consumption of AMD chips in general. AMD states that the power supply has to be AMD approved but most any PS that has the sufficient wattage should work just fine. There is nothing different on the back I/O panel that would require the use of a modified back plate so you shouldn't run into any problems there when choosing a case or upgrading from your old system. You have a wide variety in your choice of CPU as the AK31 V3.1 supports all the AMD Socket 462 processors from the 700MHz 100MHz FSB Duron to the latest 133MHz FSB 1800+ Athlon XP giving the user maximum flexibility in their processor selection. The motherboards now shipping all have the latest BIOS that enable the AK31 to recognize the latest XP CPU's, if your board doesn't have the latest BIOS download it from the Shuttle website and then flash the BIOS yourself. Do not be daunted by the thought it is a rather easy procedure if you take your time and read the directions. Supporting the fastest PC2400/PC2100/PC1800 DDR SDRAM the motherboard has four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots onboard that can take advantage of memory configurations from a single 64MB chip to four 1GB non ECC DDR SDRAM modules. With the new improvements in the way that the system memory is utilized and using PC2400 DDR SDRAM the board has no problems running with an increased FSB. I was able to get reliable and stable results with the FSB increased to 140MHZ without any adjustments other than a simple FSB increase in the BIOS. Having the settings in the BIOS are much easier to use than the need to set confusing jumpers and offers less risk to the user of shorting out the board with static electricity.
One other key feature that this board has is the built in ability to use six USB devices which should eliminate the need for the use of a hub. Two of the USB connectors are located on the back I/O shield and the other four are connected by cables that connect to the USB2/USB3 headers located at the bottom of the board slightly behind the PCI slots. The cable runs from the motherboard to the rear of the case but also blocks the use of two of the PCI slots which may or may not be an issue depending on how many peripheral cards you are planning on using in your system configuration.
With six onboard PCI slots a 4X universal AGP port and one CNR slot your systems expandability is greatly enhanced making available slots for your peripherals much better than the usual five slot configuration used on many boards. Having six PCI slots always seems to be a big hit with the enthusiast crowd. The usual dual independent ATA 33/66/100 controllers are ever present supporting a total of four IDE devices. This is the same onboard IDE support that is the industry standard on all motherboards made currently and will only change with the mass adaptation of the new ATA133 standard that is coming out on some of the newer boards this final quarter of 2001.
The AK31 has many options for controlling the system and CPU from an adjustable 100MHz -166MHz FSB to adjustable clock speeds and voltage settings. This makes the AK31 an overclockers delight of a motherboard. These features along with the ability to make the adjustments within the BIOS allow a multitude of easy applied performance enhancements to the CPU. These ingredients make for a very enthusiast oriented motherboard that will help propel this board into the spotlight and gather the attention of tech junkies and gamers alike who want the latest and greatest in their system. The onboard capacitors are arranged around the ZIF socket in a way that larger cooling solutions such as the Swiftech devices can be used without hitting the capacitors which is always a bonus when working with a board and using an oversized heatsink solution. The power connector is located up and away from the CPU allowing uninterrupted air flow and access to the CPU without having to unplug the power connector. There is also available hardware monitoring features in the BIOS which allow the user to see how the system is functioning. Fan speeds for both the CPU and the system can be monitored here along with the CPU and system temperatures and can be setup to sound an alarm if the system normal parameters are exceeded.
That about sums this motherboard up feature wise there are other features but they are more of the mundane variety such as the two channel onboard AC97 audio Codec and the normal connectors for your I/O devices such as the PS/2 keyboard/mouse connections and such things as the printer and MIDI port connectors. The MIDI port supports music instruments and older game pads/joysticks that some people may still be using. Overall this is a very well put together board and should gain respect very quick in the high performance market. To see how well the new AK31A performs keep reading and check out the performance section of the review. Package Contents
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