Introduction.

Back in September of last year, we had the pleasure to review the AOpen AK33, which is based upon the VIA KT133 chipset. Overall we were so impressed with the performance and stability of this first generation KT133 board from Aopen, that we awarded it our “Commended” award. Now a few months on from the AK33, AOpen have released their second generation of boards based upon the KT133 chipset in the form of the AK73 Pro.

Like the AK33, the AK73 Pro is a full ATX, Socket A based motherboard and comes equipped with AOpen’s characteristic Gold heatsink located on the North-Bridge controller. As with other AOpen boards, the AK73 Pro can be classed as one of the more visually appealing motherboards on the market. Following hot on the heels of the superb Socket 370 based AX34 Pro II, the AK73 Pro arrived for testing at Processor Emporium at the very end of December.

In many ways the AK73 Pro can be viewed as AOpen building upon the foundation laid down by the AK33, and in this instance are adding more features over and above those of their original Socket A board. As will be seen in the review, Aopen have tailored the AK73 Pro towards the consumer motherboard market with the addition of features such as Front Side Bus speed manipulation, CPU ratio select switches and the Dr. Voice daignostics utility.

Previous AOpen boards tested here at Processor Emporium have demonstrated a high degree of stability, which is coupled to class leading performance. Thus the AK73 Pro arrived with high expectations and has been duly put through its paces throughout weeks of testing to see if it lives up to the standards expected of AOpen boards. Also, it has the task of trying to better the superb AK33 which we tested only a few months ago.

Unfortunately, the AK73 Pro is launched at a time where the successful VIA KT133 chipset is being superseded by the newer KT133A chipset which features support for the new 266 MHz Front Side Bus based Athlon processors. Whilst this may not worry a buyer of the AMD Duron, it may put off some buyers of high-end Athlon systems.

Overall, the AK73 Pro faced a tough task. To find out how it fared, read on.

VIA KT133.

The KT133 chipset is one of the more recent members of VIA’s range of highly successful PC-133 compatible chipsets. The KT133 is a relative of the successful Apollo Pro 133A chipset for the Intel P6 platform. Like the Apollo Pro 133A, the KT133 features support for PC-133 SDRAM, AGP 4X and U/DMA-66/100 hard drives. The KT133 (and earlier KX133) differs from the Apollo Pro 133A in that it features support for the 200 MHz DDR (Double Data Rate) EV6 bus used by AMD Athlon and Duron processors. For all intents and purposes we can regard the KT133 as being the Socket A version of VIA's KX133 chipset.

Unlike the AK33, the AK73 Pro uses the newer VT82C686B South Bridge controller which features support for U/DMA 100 Hard Drive support and also support for up to 4 USB devices to be attached. The 686B also provides support for an AC97 audio codec, a feature which is becoming increasingly popular with many new motherboard designs.

Specifications.