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In conclusion? The AK77 Plus does not disappoint in the stability department, not exhibiting any weird USB timeouts under the FreeBSD makeworld test, and being able to take the punishment of a 157MHz FSB without a single crash. Component layout is well done, with all slots capable of accommodating full-length cards, and the inclusion of onboard RAID at a competitive price is a boon to the end-user. Performance is excellent, at least that which can be expected from the KT266 chipset. To top these off are the excellent Dr. Voice and Die Hard BIOS technologies, the nice software bundle and the good documentation (save for the BIOS settings). Lastly, there is the sexy black PCB and stylish silver AOpen chipset heatsink/fan unit.
However, there are two main shortcomings to the AK77 Plus. VIO and DIMM voltage adjustments are absent, but fortunately don't seem to inhibit the its overclockability. The use of DIP switches to control the CPU multiplier is an incovenience, and should have been implemented in the BIOS as with AOpen's own AX3S Plus. Also, while a 1/5/0/1 (AGP/PCI/ISA/AMR) expansion configuration is enough for most users, power users would have preferred to do away with the onboard sound and the AMR slot, replacing it with an additional PCI slot or an ISA slot for legacy support.
If you want a perfectly functional work of art, the AOpen AK77 Plus gets our hearty recommendations for a KT266-based motherboard. However, you might want to hold back for its KT266A-based brother (which we hope to evaluate soon). Recommended!
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