Interface Cards & Controllers

Foxconn A6VMX Review

I recently purchased a relitivly cheap Socket AM2 motherboard produced by Foxconn. It is the Foxconn A6VMX. This review is based upon using the motherboard for about 3 months getting to know it's features.

Firstly I would like to start of with the price. It is a fairly cheap motherboard priced around £31 ($47). At this price I was expecting a flimsy low feature motherboard with relitivly low quality capacitors and barely any external ports but I was wrong.

The motherboard has the following rear I/O connectors;

1 set 5.1 channel Audio jacks (3 jacks)
1x Parallel port
1x PS/2 keyboard port
1x PS/2 mouse port
1x VGA port
4x USB 2.0 ports
1x RJ45 LAN port
1x Serial port

This is enough for many people although lacking DVI and HDMI this is to be expected with a motherboard that costs this ammount. I am glad to see that this board comes with both PS/2 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse which many motherboards are now leaving out to save space on the I/O plate. It also includes 5.1 audio which I have been very pleased with when playing music through my X-540 speakers. The sound quality is very good.

On the inside this motherboard offers plenty of connections for the PC builder to work with. The motherboard has the following ports for internal uses;

1x CD-in connector
1x Front Audio header
1x S/PDIF Out header
1x IRDA
1x TV Out header
1x Floppy connector
1x Front Panel connector
2x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 4 ports
1x Speaker
4x SATA II connectors
2x USB Power header
1x IDE connector

I was amazed to see so many SATA ports on a motherboard of this price but it is very nice they have included so many. It also features a floppy connector and an IDE connector. These are great if you have either an old hard drive or old floppy disk that you would like to save the data from. IDE performance seems ok with it being able to run both of the disk drives at the same time. I am also sure that many people would be glad to see that they have included S/PDIF and TV out headers for use in a media computer setup.

The board has the following expansion slots;

1 x PCIe x16

1 x PCIe x1

2 x PCI

The small ammount of expansion slots is mainly down to the fact that this is a Micro ATX board. I have installed an Nvidia 9400GT 1GB edition with a double slot cooler which unfortunatly renders on of the PCI slots unusable and with only 2 on the board this could be a problem for some people. Another problem is that when you install a long graphics card such as a Radeon HD5770 you will loose 2 of the SATA ports behind the graphics card as they are not mounted horizonatly. Another small issue with the layout of this board is where the 24 Pin power plug is mounted. It is half way down the board on the right hand side which means you have the giant 24 wire cable running across the top of the RAM slots and CPU fan plug. This isn't too much of a problem but it does create a bad look and could impede cooling.

This board is relitivly cool running when paired with a Athlon 64 x2 and 2GB of RAM. The northbridge heatsink is slightly warm to the touch the same as the southbridge. When I turned the PC off after long use I found that the Capacitors and the VRM (Voltage Regulating modules) where also very cool. The board also seems to be build quite solid with the cpu heatsink mount being firmly attached and the heatsinks for the northbridge and southbridge being aligned and perfectly secure. On the other hand this board doesn't feature many solid capacitors which many people would want these days but I haven't had any issue with this as all the capacitors are good japanese brands on this motherboard.

With the Athlon 5600 installed I managed to overclock it from 2.9Ghz to a stable 3.15Ghz which is a fair improvement.

I do however have some very small issues with the software that was supplied. Included with the motherboard is;

Motherboard Drivers

Fox one overclocking utility

Fox Logo

Fox Live Update

I found that the programs were all a little glitchy apart from the overclocking utility. They do not seem to be fully matured just yet and may need to be updated to improve stability and features. The Overclocking utulity is great and I did managed to get a stable overclock. It also monitors temperatures and voltages which seem to be more reliable than other hardware monitoring tools. The fox logo on the other hand didn't seem to work and to me it is a little risky using it as it messes with the BIOS to change the boot photo. After an atempt to change mine it didn't do anything at all so I didn't touch it again. The Fox Update tool is OK but does have a few minor glitches. It does make updating the BIOS and Drivers easier but I wouldn't recomend updating the BIOS with it as it doesn't seem all that stable and messing with the bios is risky enough as it is.

Overall I have found this board to be stable, reliable, and fairly fast with a lot of features. I do however find that the software supplied isn't great. Maybe Foxconn will release a few updates to improve them but until now I have decided not to mess with them. (apart from a little bit of overclocking using Fox One)

Jack-O-Bytes

About the Author

www.customdesktops.moonfruit.com

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Shuttle Kpc Ok-4500 - A Compact Laptop With Value To Fit Your Finances

The Shuttle KPC K-4500 shouldn't be solely compact in measurement, however is price tag is fairly compact as well. As a result of flexibility of the working system - Foresight Linux - this PC is versatile sufficient to be used as a Media Heart or as an everyday desktop for teenagers, students, or even work. This is likely one of the smallest, decently priced PC's in the marketplace, with just a few quirks that user's ought to pay attention to; this just is likely to be the PC to suit your needs.
This compact design only measures in at 7.5 (peak) x 6.7 (vast) x 11 (depth) inches ? which makes it the proper size to hide by a tv or on a desk. Surprisingly, the inside leaves plenty of room to improve the system and add playing cards into the free PCI, ATA-one hundred, and SATA-300 slots. The KPC Okay-4500 also comes with four USB 2.zero ports, a parallel port, together with a serial port - all out there on the backside of the unit.
Regardless of its size, the KPC Okay-4500 still has a good set of working elements, which embody a 1.8GHz Intel Celeron D 439 CPU, 512MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM reminiscence, 224MB (shared) Intel GMA 950 graphics, 80GB, 7,200rpm exhausting drive, WiFi, and uses Foresight Linux as an operating system. This PC comes ready to make use of proper out-of-the-field; however, codec recordsdata will need to be put in previous to working any audio or video files.
The usual system comes with Foresight Linux as the working system, usually working round $230. When the KPC K-4500 is ordered, with the operating system, you will also get messenger (Pidgin), net browser (Firefox), photo organization (F-Spot), desktop results (Compiz), music (Banshee), and movie (Totem) player applications. The system is also out there with no working system, also known as barebones, for round $199. Buying the system barebones gives you the flexibleness of working methods and lets you do as you want with it.
There are just a few quirks with the Shuffle KPC K-4500. There are not any optical drives, no digital video or audio outputs, and a keyboard and mouse are usually not shipped with the unit. The keyboard and mouse are simply fixed as you may simply go pick one up or order one. The optical drives might be one other story. In the event you're aware of, and don't have any downside using external drives, then this quirk will not affect you. If you happen to're planning on trying to install an optical drive, this is not possible, because the drive bays should not accessible from outdoors the unit.
Software installations are a bit tedious and probably complicated. Because the working system is Linux based mostly, all software should be compatible. Another option, for software program set up, is to compile your individual packages. This being said, you'll have to do intensive research to seek out what you are in search of, and cross your fingers that it works on your new PC.
Surprisingly this compact unit, with a price ticket just as small, offers a superb platform for any use. Those who are snug with Linux, and computers, could have no problems maneuvering this PC and getting it to do what you need.
The typical person, of computer systems, could must pass on this exceptional deal. There are just enough quirks that this unit would trigger a headache to somebody who did not have the knowledge or the free help, of the internal workings of the OS. General, what's offered on this small field, is a good deal as long as you know what you are getting into.

 

About The Author

Jessica has been writing articles online for almost 6 years now. Not only does this writer specialise in Computers and Technology, you can also check out his latest website on how you can convert MPG to AVI with MPG to AVI converter which also helps people find the best MPG to AVI converter on the market.

want driver for PCI Parallel Port?

can anyone guide me from which website i can download driver for the PCI parallel port SUNIX LPT Port I as i need this for connecting my MFD Printer through the PCI Parallel Port as my mother board does not have provision for parallel port and my printer does not have usb or blue tooth

Hard matted this problem, but why not buy a cable for your printer, which have a connection to the printer end and other end-usb. Do not you think it's more simple?
I'm sure the cables in India are all possible. In this way, drivers no longer have to search for something that does not exist, that's part of the motherboard (drivers from motherboard cd).
Good luck!

PCI slots,parallel ports, video ports-network PCI adapter A+G, dead end of HP6930p