Sapphire A4-A985 (Ati A4) Motherboard Review
Sapphire A4-A985 Board Features
Although the board is aimed at the value sector, it is of middle bulk.
The power connectors are placed near the AGP slot, which hinders assembly. There is no additional 4-pin connector onboard. Therefore, the board is able operating old power supply units.
Two fans can be connected to the A4-A985 board: the former (CPU_FAN) is meant for the processor cooler, with the latter (SFAN) positioned on the other end of the board.
But despite the presence of integrated video core, Ati A4's North Bridge is cooled by a passive radiator firmly fitted with thermal glue.
There are 2 DIMM slots under the chipset, and the total memory capacity is 1 GB. This is more than enough for a value system. There is no LED indicating voltage on the slots on board. But the latches of the DIMM slots are pretty distant from the AGP slot. This makes it possible for the user to insert memory modules with a video card fitted in place.
Note that despite the integrated video core, the board allows to install an external video card (only 1.5V AGP 4x video cards are accepted).
Besides the AGP slot, there are 5 PCI slots on the A4-A985 board.
The remaining expansivity options are not impressive: there are 4 USB 1.1 ports onboard, two of which are integrated. And this is while the USB 2.0 standard has been commonly accepted. In fact, it's no wonder - the board features the VIA VT82C686B South Bridge that does not support USB 2.0.
Lastly, the board features integrated audio codec ALC101. The options of the disk subsystem are standard - you can plug in up to 4 disks to the integrated 2-channel IDE-controller. The respective connectors are in the bottom corner of the board (Primary IDE - blue). A bit to the right of it there is a socket for connecting an FDD.
The board's rear panel is standard for all boards that offer integrated graphics.
As you see, in the place of COM2 port there is a VGA output. And the COM2 port is implemented as a header plugged in to the socket near the PCI5.
Now on to the BIOS settings.
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MoBo:
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VGA Card:
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CPU & Memory:
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