FIC AN11 SocketA
DDR Motherboard
|
Features |
The
Board |
- Socket A AMD CPU support
- DDR SDRAM support
- VIA
KT266A
- ATA-100
Support
- 1 AGP,
5 PCI, 1 ACR
- 4
IDE and 1 Floppy connector
- 3
DDR Dimm slots
- 3D
PCI sound on board
- 9.8"
x 12"
- Promise
RAID on-board
|
|
It's been quite a while
since we've touched a SocketA solution from FIC. Our last FIC review was the AD11
which was the first DDR SocketA motherboard we got our hands on. Luckily FIC contacted
us to review their new AN11 SocketA board that utilizes the VIA KT266A chipset.
We recently looked at the Soltek
SL-75DRV2 motherboard which also utilizes the KT266A chipset so the timing
couldn't be better for a direct comparison with the Soltek board.
First
Impressions
The first
thing that struck me about the AN11 is its cool black PCB. This is FIC's first
non standard colored board and it is definately a trend we'd like to see spread
to all manufacturers. About the only similarity to the AD11 I had reviewed previously
was the PCB size - that's it folks. This is a ground up redeisgn with so many
different features you can't even call them similar. At first glance it looks
as though this board has 6 PCI slots but the
slot directly below the AGP slot is actually an ACR slot.
The
other obvious find on this board is the four IDE connectors. You got that right
friend, on-board IDE RAID is provided by Promise's PDC 20265 ATA100 RAID controller.
For those of you screaming that you like the power of the KT266A chipset but wanted
RAID with it you are probably already smiling. Let's put this board through our
ringer to find out just how worthy a purchase it is.
