Leading the race to
build the better PC, AOpen America, the world's largest components manufacturer,
today announced the launch of two new motherboards and a video card that
integrate the latest technologies for today's serious computer users. The
new motherboards, the AOpen AX6C and AOpen AX6C-L sport lightning fast
front-side bus, 133MHz, a speedy 4X AGP port, RIMM memory support, and a unique
AOpen expansion port that all combine to give professionals the ultimate
foundation for their PC needs.
"Because the motherboard is the heart of every PC, it is essential that
users understand the vital role that a motherboard plays. By integrating
the best available technologies into our motherboard designs, AOpen customers
are assured that their system is off to a great start," said Al Peng,
director of motherboard management at AOpen America. "By integrating
the latest technologies available in the AX6C and AX6C-L motherboards, customers
gain an incredibly powerful platform design that will last for years to
come."
Leveraging the Intel® 820 chipset and sharing key feature designs, both the
AX6C and AX6C-L support 100MHz and 133MHz front-side bus, which are specifically
designed to maximize the performance of the latest Intel Pentium II, Intel
Pentium III and Intel Pentium III "Coppermine" processors. Gamers and other "overclockers" will appreciate the ability to ante up
the front-side bus speed of the boards to support a maximum of 160MHz.
Further improving performance, the AX6C and AX6C-L support a maximum of 1GB
Rambus DRAM with either 3 or 2 RIMM slots. The boards support PC600,
PC700, and PC800 RIMM specifications, which position these boards on the cutting
edge of memory technology.
Additionally, both boards support 1X, 2X, and 4X AGP graphics. Multimedia
features are enhanced with the addition of AC-97 2.1 audio on-board, and a full
complement of serial, parallel, USB, game, speaker, mic and line ports provide
instant expandability.
A unique board design from AOpen further adds to the boards' flexibility and
expansion. The AX6C and AX6C-L include an additional slot - the
Audio/Modem Riser (AMR) - that provides for future expandability by freeing the
boards PCI slots. AOpen currently offers a V.90 56K modem that plugs into
the new AMR slot, and plans to launch additional component solutions that take
advantage of the AMR design, thus giving system builders and resellers even more
options to customize PCs for their customers.
Investment protection features include: over current protection, CPU thermal
protection, system voltage monitoring, CPU and housing fan monitoring and a resetable
fuse that provides short circuit protection for the keyboard and USB devices.
Corporate management features built into the boards include Wake-on-LAN, zero
voltage Wake-on-Modem, Wake-on-Timer, and Wake-on-Keyboard/Mouse.
Both the AX6C and AX6C-L are Year 2000 compliant and include AOpen's
award-winning 4MB, multi-lingual plug-and-play flash ROM BIOS.
With the introduction of the PA3030 VGA Graphics Card the fundamental in/out
operations embedded in every computer motherboard has been taken to a new level
by AOpen America. AOpen today announced the launch of their most advanced
VGA card, the PA3030, which is the first VGA card to include the revolutionary
OpenBIOS solution.
Unlike a motherboard BIOS, which can be adjusted for multiple performance
settings, a VGA card BIOS is virtually untouchable. However, as VGA cards
improve and add features such as TV-out, capture, etc., AOpen has recognized the
need for many professionals to have an "inside view" of their card, so
that they can fully maximize their graphics card potential. Seeing this
need, AOpen has taken its expertise in motherboard BIOS development and has
launched the first of its kind - OpenBIOS - that allows the end user to manage
VGA card settings at the board level.
"As a world leader in motherboard design and manufacturing, a natural
evolution of AOpen's technical leadership was to port AOpen's BIOS expertise
into other components, such as VGA cards," said Paul Su, president of AOpen
America. "Given the new levels of complexity and performance expected
of top of the line cards, the new PA3030 is the first to bring motherboard-level
BIOS control down to the power user to maximize their graphics potential."
OpenBIOS functions will allow users to easily adjust and manage the following:
· Chip Voltage - this allows the user to set a safe chipset voltage in order to
boost core clock and memory voltage;
· Video Memory Clock - this gives the user the opportunity to adjust and
enhance the card's memory clock;
· Core Chip Clock - users will be able to maximize the core chip clock for
unbelievable speeds;
· Boot-Up Display Select - this flexible feature will give the user options to
select boot-up displays with other devices, such as a TV, monitor or flat panel
display.
As the first graphics card to include the new AOpen OpenBIOS, the PA3030
leverages the high-performance nVidia TNT2 Ultra core chipset. Performance
is boosted with on-board 32MB SGRAM, and additional highlights include a TV-out
solution. Ideal for gamers and graphics professionals, this new card with
the OpenBIOS should prove to be the most flexible and powerful VGA card solution
available today on the market.
About AOpen America
AOpen is the world's largest PC components manufacturer. In 1999, 1.2
million systems will be built with AOpen components. As a member of a $7
Billion worldwide manufacturing Group, AOpen owns leading positions of
"white-box" PC systems, motherboards, modems and networking solutions,
optical drives, sound and video add-on cards, and chassis. AOpen leverages more
than 22 years of technology manufacturing experience and more than 1000 patents
to provide resellers, system builders and PC enthusiasts with unbeatable PC
solutions.
