Intel Pentium 430TX PCIset Mainboard

New features on the AP5T-3 Baby-AT motherboard

HOT! "High Efficient Synchronous Switching Power Regulator"

Although good linear regulator design still supports the new generation CPU on the market. This high heat dissipation CPUs have increased a trend to implement switching regulator onboard, and save more power as possible as we can. The most of the current switching designs are Asynchronous mode, which from the technical point of view, still consumes very high power as well as heat. AOpen AP5T implement high efficient Synchronous switching design that the temperature of MOS FET is less than 36 degree C compared with 57 degree Schottky diode of Asynchronous design.

HOT! "3V Over Current Protection Circuit"

The Over Current Protection was very popular implemented on the Baby AT or ATX +5V/+12V switching power supply. It is very useful to prevent accidental short circuit when you install the mainboard, HDD, add-on cards into housing. But unfortunately, the new generation CPU and chipset use 3.3V or 2.8V voltage, which has regulator to transfer 5V to 3.3V/2.8V, and makes 5V Over Current Protection useless. AOpen TX mainboard AP5T with switching regulator onboard support 3.3V (Vcpuio, chipset, PBSRAM, SDRAM) and 2.8V (CPU Vcore) Over Current Protection, in conjunction with 5V/12V power supply provide the full line Over Current Protection.

HOT! "CPU Thermal Protection Circuit"

The higher speed of CPU, the more heat dissipation need to be taking into consideration. If user does not use correct fan for the CPU cooling, it is highly possible the CPU can over heat and causing system unstable. AOpen AP5T/AX5T has special thermal detection circuit under the CPU, and slows down the CPU speed as well as warning either through speaker or application software when temperature is high than a predefined value.

Despite of above, the AOpen AP5T TX motherboard still implemented with following outstanding features:

Suspend-To-Hard-Drive

One other significant feature of AOpen AP5T is the first-in-market implementation of "Suspend-to-Hard-Drive" mode in its ACPI power management. In this mode the system status and memory image will be saved to the hard drive, then the system can be totally powered-off to save more power. Next time when you turn on your system, system content in the hard drive is quickly loaded back to system memory and the system is brought back to its initial stage prior to power-down. The whole recovering process takes less than 2 seconds then the system is ready for user again.

Ultra DMA/33

The Intel 430TX PCIset comes with many new features, among them Ultra DMA/33 is the most frequently inquired. Ultra DMA/33 is a new IDE interface specification for improved hard drive transfer rate performance. Using Ultra DMA/33 compatible hard drives, user enjoys faster-than-ever IDE transfer rate (33MB/s) without changing cables or software. The Ultra DMA/33 interface is also backward compatible, which means you can use the Ultra DMA/33 interface for PIO mode 0 to mode 4 drives.

FCC DoC Label

The DoC (Declaration of Conformity) is new certification standard of FCC regulations. This new standard allows DIY component (such as mainboard) to apply DoC label separately without a shielding of housing. The DoC test of mainboard is more difficult than traditional FCC test. AOpen AP5T had passed DoC test that means it has very low EMI radiation and you can use any kind of housing (even paper housing).

Optimized SDRAM Performance

AOpen AP5T comes with four 72-pin SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) as well as two DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) sockets which accept up to 256MB EDO/FPM DRAM or 128MB SDRAM, respectively. To release the potential of high-speed SDRAM, the 430TX enhances the read-burst cycle to 5-1-1-1 instead of the 6-1-1-1 implemented in the 430VX. Use SDRAM with Ultra DMA/33 drive on this board and the system will reach a performance level no other Pentium® system has been.

USB Hot Plug

The AP5T comes with two USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports for advanced USB peripheral connections. What's more, AOpen adds in two pico fuses and 100 F Tantalum capacitors to avoid board damage or system down during USB "Hot Plug". This added feature translates into better system reliability and lower service cost for system integrators or distributors.