AOPEN motherboards....capacitors
Thanks for the heads up on AOPEN motherboards
At first look the boards and the support look pretty good. The AOPEN web page is comprehensive. aopen.com.tw
Here is what they have to say about capacitors in the FAQ section
>>Capacitor:
Why do AOpen MBs have more capacitors near the CPU socket?
Power becomes a big issue for new generation CPUs. Increasing the number of capacitors reduces the voltage ripple (unstable power noise) of high-speed/high-power CPU; thus, makes the system more reliable. Because of this, AOpen is incorporating as many capacitors as possible on all MBs regardless of its increasing cost.
Why do AOpen MBs use many Electrolytic Capacitors instead of Tantalum Capacitor?
The quality of Electrolytic capacitor has huge difference depends on model and vendor. Normally, Tantalum capacitor is better than Electrolytic capacitor, but good quality and high price Electrolytic capacitor is even better than Tantalum capacitor.
Originally, AOpen motherboards use 100uF Tantalum capacitor nears CPU to reduce voltage ripple, but the technology improvement has introduced an 1000uF very low ESR (Equivalent Serial Resistor) of Electrolytic capacitor with only 0.15 ohm comparing with 0.7 ohm of Tantalum capacitor. The lower the ESR and higher the capacitance value, the smaller the CPU voltage ripple.
Following are the specifications of capacitors that AOpen is currently using:
1.Tantalum: SPRAGUE 100uF, Part number 595D107X06R3C2T, Max ESR is 0.7 at 25 degree 100KHz.
2.Electrolytic: SANYO 1000uF, Part number 16MV1000CG, Max ESR is 0.15 at 20 degree 100KHz.
Also, more capacitors are not exactly equal to better CPU voltage, it depends on where you put your capacitor (the layout).
The most accurate way is to use storage scope to measure the CPU voltage directly, but of course, it is difficult for end user to do so. AOpen design team follows Intel, AMD and Cyrix's design specification strictly, it is approved by Intel, AMD and Cyrix..<<
Anands review of the PII AOPEN AX6L
anandtech.com
AOPEN also makes an AX6Lc motherboard with 5 PCI slots but it only has 3 DIMM slots. I like this board better because of the extra PCI slot. If one were to populate the DIMM slots with 2 x 64MB sticks for a total of 128 MB RAM one could still add 128 MB for a total of 256 MB.
I believe the soon to be released round of motherboards will offer better solutions for upgrade.
My thinking is
Start with a BX motherboard with PC100 RAM and a PII 233 CPU. One year +/- later upgrade the CPU to PII 400.
Regards
Zeuspaul |
