AOpen America Introduces New Generation of Pentium 4 Compatible Motherboards.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2001 The AOpen AX4T Motherboard Motherboard This is a Baby AT style motherboard for a PC. The adapter cards (expansion boards) plug into the expansion slots on the motherboard.    The Mother of All Motherboards This is the front and back of the prototype of the first IBM PC motherboard in 1981. Uses Intel's 850 Chipset and Rambus RDRAMs in Achieving High Performance IT Solutions AOpen America, Inc. today announced the newest member of its expanding motherboard product line, the AOpen AX4T, using Intel's new Pentium 4 processor chip and the Intel 850 Chipset designs to offer the highest level of computing performance yet available on a motherboard. AOpen has incorporated all the features of Intel's NetBurst The technology used in Intel's Pentium 4 chips. It doubles the instruction pipeline to 20 stages, runs the ALU at twice the core frequency and improves performance in the Level 1 and 2 caches. It provides a 400MHz system bus (frontside bus), which is three times as fast as the bus in the Pentium III. An additional 144 instructions were also added to the instruction set, known as SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extension 2). See Pentium 4. micro-architecture coupled with the new Intel 850 Chipset memory controller hub and I/O controller hub to support the latest Internet and e-Commerce technology with high bandwidth memory and communications, direct pipelines for audio and video, and improved calculation capabilities. The AOpen AX4T specifications include 100 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), 400 MHz system bus support, 300/400 MHz RDRAM RIMM support, jumperless Without the use of jumpers. It means that configuration settings on the hardware are done via software rather than by setting jumpers. See jumper. design, onboard Refers to a chip or other hardware component that is directly attached to the printed circuit board (motherboard). Contrast with offboard. See inboard. IDE controller (1) The controlling electronics built into an IDE drive. See IDE. (2) The adapter on the plug-in card or motherboard that connects to the IDE controller. This is technically the IDE host adapter, but is often called the IDE controller. See IDE. support, LAN controller onboard including Fast Ethernet support, AGP 2.0 and CNR compliance, AC'97 (Audio Codec'97) A specification for building audio and modem functions on a PC motherboard. Introduced in 1996 by Intel, AC'97 provides 20-bit, 48kHz audio with six channels (5.1). It supports one audio stream per system and a two element array microphone. Controller and Codec AC'97 is made up of a controller connected to analog/digital codecs by a 5-wire TDM interface called "AC Link. 2.1 Audio CODEC onboard, and 4 channel USB ports. "Very high-performance users require very high-performance IT solutions," said Paul Su, president of AOpen America, Inc. "Combining Intel's latest processor and chipset innovations with our superb design and manufacturing allows us to offer our customers performance, quality, and reliability at affordable prices." The AOpen AX4T architecture is implemented using the ATX form factor, accommodating 5 PCI slots, 1 AGP slot, and 1 CNR. Capability is included for up to 2.0 GBytes of RDRAM using 184 pin RIMMs in 64/128/256/512 MByte memory modules. Onboard sound is accomplished using Sigma Tel's STAC9700 AC'97 CODEC. I/O support includes 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, 4 channel E-IDE hark disk controller, 1 floppy connector, 2 channel USB ports, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port, PS/2 mouse and keyboard interface, plus game/MIDI port, speaker out, mic-in. Also included is a real time clock, 3 Volt lithium battery, and 4 Mbytes of Award PnP Flash ROM BIOS (ROM Basic Input Output System) The BIOS in a PC stored on a ROM chip. Early PCs used a ROM BIOS, but PCs today use a flash memory BIOS because it can be updated in place. In order to update a ROM BIOS, the computer case had to be opened, and the ROM chip had to be located and replaced. See BIOS and ROM.. "Our channel partners can now offer the broadest range of motherboards to their customers -- from starter systems for small office and home businesses to the very highest performance motherboards available in the marketplace -- all from one company with world-class manufacturing, global support, and sales channels that offer the support our customers deserve," commented Al Peng, manager of motherboard products for AOpen America, Inc. Pricing and availability The product is available now through AOpen's channel partners. The AOpen AX4T product is retail priced at $219.00 USD and includes a one-year warranty. For more information on the AOpen AX4T and AOpen's complete family of motherboard products please visit AOpen's website at: http://english.aopen.com/products/mb/default.htm. About AOpen America Headquartered in San Jose, AOpen America is the world's largest total component solutions manufacturer and a member of an $10.0 billion technology group. Leveraging more than 23 years of technology manufacturing experience and more than 1,000 Group patents, AOpen designs, develops and markets advanced PC motherboards Following is a list of motherboard types and form factors that have been used in PCs since the first IBM PC in 1981:, optical drives, PC housings, peripherals, multimedia and networking solutions for resellers, system integrators and those who value reliability and performance. Editor's Note: More information about AOpen, AOpen Products, services, and business partners is available on the World Wide Web at: www.AOpenUSA.com. AOpen is a registered trademark of AOpen Inc. All other products, brand names or companies are trademarks or registered marks of their respective companies. |
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