Socket A Is Coming: Test of 10 Boards

DFI AK74-SC

BIOS-Version: August 4, 2000

Board Revision: A

DFI's nomenclature is quite similar to AOpen: Both the AOpen AK33 and the DFI AK34 use the KT133, AOpen AK72 works with the KX133, and the DFI AK74 with the KT133 again. Obviously this is very confusing, especially for the customers. Ordering hardware by mail-order for example will almost guarantee mistakes.

The AK74-SU uses Creative's sound chip ES1373. We 'only' tested the smaller version AK74-SC that is based on a codec.

Starting at the initial value the CPU voltage can be changed in 0.025 Volt steps with a maximum of 0.100 V. The system clock can be set to any value between 100 and 132 MHz, and the frequency is entered directly as a number. All settings are done in the BIOS, so you do not have to deal with the pesky jumpers anymore.

The board comes with three internal audio line-ins allowing connecting a TV or an MPEG decoder card to the sound system without any problems.