AOpen AK73 ProA KT133A ATX

Name: AOpen AK73 ProA KT133A ATX
Item: AOpen AK73 ProA KT133A ATX
Author: Mike Andrawes

by Mike Andrawes on March 12, 2001 12:41 AM EST

Posted in
Motherboards

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Final Words

Quite frankly, the AK73 ProA is a little bit disappointing. AOpen still did a good job in migrating from the old KT133 to the new KT133A chipset, and the quality of the board is still quite good. However, in terms of overclocking the AK73 ProA just can’t live up to the advancements found in other KT133A motherboards.

For starters, AOpen should really consider putting the multiplier settings in the BIOS. Keeping the dipswitches on the board is fine, but implementing the settings in the BIOS at the same time, ala the ASUS A7V133, would have made overclocking a much more pleasant job. Further, the inclusion of 1MHz increments for the FSB would be quite useful as well.

Last of all, the stability of the motherboard is not quite as good as what we’ve come to expect from AOpen or from the KT133A market in general. With all the other KT133A motherboards performing rock solid in the tests, it’s hard to justify the AK73 ProA’s spot in the market.

How it Rates

AnandTech Motherboard Rating
	Rating (x/10)
Performance The performance of the AK73 ProA is a little bit above average, but since we are talking about no more than 5% difference for each test, you shouldn’t see any major differences in daily use.	7.5
Price The price of the AK73 ProA is a little bit below average, but at the same time you are not getting as much out of the board as you would have with some other KT133A solutions.	6.0
Stability AOpen motherboards used to be rock solid in our stress tests, but the AK73 ProA turned out to be rather disappointing, crashing a total of four times within 24 hours. Compared to some other KT133A motherboards that did not crash once after 48 hours, the AK73 ProA really loses some points here.	4.0
Quality The quality of the AK73 ProA still live up to AOpen’s standards. We are still looking at a very high quality motherboards here.	7.5
Features The lack of multiplier settings in the BIOS as well as 1MHz increments for the FSB speeds really hurt AOpen in capturing the overclockers’ market, since a lot of manufacturers have implemented those features in the BIOS already. The expansion slot configuration is not ideal either, offering only five PCI slots and no ISA slot. Furrther, AOpen continues to be one of the few manufacturers that has yet to offer an IDE-RAID option on their motherboards. On the other hand, general features like Die-Hard BIOS, Dr. LED, and Dr. Voice could come in handy but not nearly as much as the ones that are missing.	5.5
Layout The layout of the motherboard is pretty decent. Except for the large size of the PCB, all components are seated in the right places without any major obstacles.	6.0
Availability It shouldn’t be hard for you to find AOpen products out there, either on-line or in local computer stores. Don’t expect to see them in large retail stores yet though.	6.5
Documentation & Software Bundle The included poster provides most of the information you will need to get up and running with your new motherboard. Unfortrunately, the manual lacks information on BIOS settings. The CDs provide all the drivers and utilities for the motherboard, as well as the retail version of the Norton Antivirus 2000.	7.0

Overall Rating - not an average Click here to find out why	6.0

AOpen AK73 ProA KT133A ATX

Final Words

How it Rates

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