Shuttle ME21
Board Revision: 1.7
BIOS Version: 1.03 (July 4, 2000)
It was good to see that Shuttle decided to use the ICH2 chip, giving you an UltraATA/100 controller and two more USB ports. You will only have to purchase a USB adapter cable by yourself, as it is not inside the package. Shuttle included a serial cable in order to use the second COM port however.
Shuttle is the only company in this round-up that uses an AMI BIOS. This motherboard is not an overclocking model at all, as you cannot chose neither CPU core voltage nor other system speeds than the three defaults (133/100/66 MHz).
The on-board AC97 sound system uses a codec chip from Sigmatel and has three line-ins. As with most other boards, the opened DIMM locks will be directly in front of the AGP card. Be sure you close them before installing a graphics card.
All connectors on this board are well labeled so that you should not need the manual for assembly. On more than 80 pages you will find both necessary and interesting information about the ME21. A CD containing drivers and utilities is also provided.
