Testing The E-Class: 9 Pentium 4 Motherboards With The 845E Chipset

Zida A845E: Minimalism Strikes Back

What struck us about the Zida board (also called the "Tomato Board") was its small dimensions and compact layout. Of course, to be so compact, it had to be trimmed down considerably. The A845E doesn't have any hardware features other than a sound system from C-Media (9738). But it does have two DIMM sockets, five PCI slots and a CNR slot. Three USB ports that support the USB 2.0 standard are already integrated in the ATX bracket, while you could add three others with a slot adapter - if one had only been included with the board.

Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.