3DMark2001 SE	Source: MadOnion

3DMark2001 SE is the latest installment in the 3DMark series by MadOnion. By combining DirectX8 support with completely new graphics, it continues to provide good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 SE has been created in cooperation with the major 3D accelerator and processor manufacturers to provide a reliable set of diagnostic tools. The suite demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using real-world gaming technology to test a system's true performance abilities. Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3 and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping, support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and Texture Compression and two game tests using Ipion real-time physics. Higher 3DMark scores denote better performance.

3DMark 2001 SE Benchmark Results
	Motherboards	3DMarks	Ranking
1.	AX45-V - 100 MHz FSB	7156
2.	AX45-V - 108 MHz FSB	7570
3.	P4PA - 100 MHz FSB	7791
4.	4D845A - 100 MHz FSB	7723

We're not really sure what's going on here. 3DMark2001 was run several times yet the scores for the AX45-V stayed the same. At stock speeds, the AX45-V is about 600 points lower then then either the P4X266A or the i845-D and even when the system is overclocked, it can't seem to reach the other motherboard's numbers - which is very odd, but may be do to the unique BIOS settings.

Quake III Arena	Source: ID Software

Quake III Arena is a First Person Shooter (FPS) that revolutionized gaming as we know it. Using multiple light sources and having graphics textures that can fill videocards, even after 3 years it's still able to bring a cutting edge system to its knees.

Quake III Arena Fastest demo001
	Motherboard	FPS	Ranking
1.	AX45-V - 100 MHz	252.1
2.	AX45-V - 105 MHz	271.6
3.	P4PA - 100 MHz	282.8
4.	4D845A - 100 MHz	261.1

Quake III Arena Fastest nv15demo
	Motherboard	FPS	Ranking
1.	AX45-V - 100 MHz	69.3
2.	AX45-V - 108 MHz	73.8
3.	P4PA - 100 MHz	76.3
4.	4D845A - 100 MHz	73

With the fastest settings, the AX45-V is again bringing it up in the rear again. Even when it's overclocked, the system just can't seem to keep up with the VIA's P4PA motherboard. This is quite odd since the Epox 4SDA+ which was also a SiS 645 board was much faster.

Quake III Arena MAX 1024x768 demo001
	Motherboard	FPS	Ranking
1.	AX45-V - 100 MHz	182.6
2.	AX45-V - 108 MHz	188.8
3.	P4PA - 100 MHz	187.3
4.	4D845A - 100 MHz	186.3

Quake III Arena MAX 1024x768 nv15demo
	Motherboard	FPS	Ranking
1.	AX45-V - 100 MHz	48
2.	AX45-V - 107 MHz	52.1
3.	P4PA - 100 MHz	52.2
4.	4D845A - 100 MHz	49.6

With the resolution set to 1024x768 and alll the eye candy on, the AX45-V pushes some decent numbers, but it's still lower then the competition. Even when it's overclocked the AX45-V can't really blast away it's competitors in the nv15demo, and we must say this is not very AOpen like.

Conclusion:

It's nice to see more and more motherboard manufacturers like AOpen embrace new technology like the SiS 645 chipset. Like other AOpen products stability was never an issue, and we didn't have a single problem with the board during testing and overclocking.

AOpen told us right from the beginning that this board was not built to cater towards the enthusiast market and we can understand that. With so much competition for such a small market, it just doesn't make sense for them and that's why there aren't many overclocking functions.

We were very pleased with the overall quality of the motherboard and you can definitely tell where the care and attention to detail was used in producing this motherboard. A prime example is the backplate under the CPU socket. It is a great feature which keeps the board from warping after the CPU heatsink is installed.

With three DIMM slots, a 4x AGP slot and 6 PCI's the board is pretty future ready and the addition of an onboard Ethernet port is just icing on the cake. With broadband internet connections or a home network as prevalent as they are today, just about every computer needs to have a NIC card, and by including it on the motherboard it makes things easier for the end user. Onboard audio is using the VIA AC'97 codec which isn't as great as hardware based cards, but still brings decent sound to the user. With everything we have seen here AOpen have a good thing going, 3D performance wasn't at the top of the pack, but hopefully this is something that can be tweaked and tuned in future driver updates - making this an even better board.