VIA Apollo Pro 133/133A Motherboard Roundup - February 2000

Motherboard Specifications
Click to enlarge
CPU Interface	Slot-1
Chipset	VIA Apollo 133A VIA 694X North Bridge VIA 686A South Bridge
L2 Cache	N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor	microATX
Bus Speeds	66 / 75 / 83 100 / 105 / 110 / 112 / 115 / 120 / 124 133 / 140 / 150
Voltages Supported	Auto Detect - 1.30v - 3.5v
Memory Slots	3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	0 AMR Slots 1 AGP Slot 3 PCI Slots (3 Full Length) 0 ISA Slots
AC'97	N/A
BIOS	AWARD BIOS 6.00PG

Until AOpen’s AX64 Pro is finished, the microATX MX64 is the only 133A based solution we have to work with from AOpen. 

Like ASUS, AOpen has always been known for high quality products and that tradition has been carried over to the MX64.  There is nothing too special about the MX64 aside from the usual AOpen quality and stability. 

The board is almost completely jumperless, with the only jumpers being to control the AGP clock ratio.  This can be set to auto in which case the board will detect what FSB settings and AGP clock ratio to enable based on the type of CPU is installed. 

The rest of the setup is completely jumperless; unfortunately, there is no provision for the manual adjustment of the CPU’s core voltage.  This is a bit of a disappointment but since the MX64 is a Slot-1 motherboard, you can use a Socket-370 to Slot-1 adapter (provided that you’re using a Socket-370 CPU) to adjust the core voltage setting or a pin taping trick to change the voltage supplied to your CPU.  Hopefully, this feature will make its way into the AX64 Pro’s BIOS setup which is the upcoming ATX version of the MX64. 

The microATX form factor is a bit limiting, and for most users, it eliminates the MX64 as an option.  That is a shame because the board is actually quite stable.