AOpen AX4SG Max

Review by Michael Tran on 05.21.03
Managing Editor: Harry Lam
Motherboard provided by AOpen
MSRP $229, ESP $209

Layout:

General Thoughts:

The layout of the AOpen AX4SG Max is very clean and accented by the black PCB.  AOpen managed to squeeze a large number of features into this motherboard but yet was able to give the board a kind of spread out feeling.  The location of the memory slots are far enough away from the AGP card that the common common problem of being unable to remove memory sticks when an AGP card is installed is averted.  The power connector is in a decent spot on the very far right of the board, which shouldn't have any issues with any power supply cable being too short.

AX4SG Max Motherboard	Die-Hard BIOS II	Intel ICH5R Southbridge

The ports area of the motherboard requires the use of a custom mounting bracket that is included with the motherboard.  AOpen has squeezed every possible port they can onto this back bracket, with 6 USB 2.0 ports on the back bracket alone.  The usual goodies are accented by the presence of the Gigabit LAN onboard the back bracket.

AOpen AX4SG Max Back Panel

Extra Mounting Brackets:

AOpen provides four extra mouting brackets to cover the rest of the ports that are missing from the back bracket.  Dual Firewire ports, a gameport, COM2, 2 more USB 2.0 ports, S/PDIF Input/Output, and Optical Input/Output fill these mounting brackets.  I was really impressed by the amount of extras that AOpen gives you with this board.

AX4SG  w/ Accessories