Shuttle AV64 VIA Apollo Pro 133A

AnandTech Motherboard Rating

Performance

Shuttle's AV64 gets an average grade in performance because its performance is almost identical to the rest of the VIA 133A's. Since it doesn't separate itself from the rest of the pack with superior performance, it gets a 5.

Price

The lack of hardware monitoring options on the board as well as a minimalist manual and driver CD shows Shuttle's cost-cutting. However, both of these allow Shuttle to manufacture a relatively inexpensive board -- below the most expensive boards but solid enough to be competitive.

Stability

While Shuttle has not been known to produce the most stable boards on the market, they have not made sub-par motherboards either. This board was well above average in our tests, making it a good solution for almost any user.

Quality

The abundance of capacitors and quality design which led to high stability also led to an above average mark here.

Features

The added features of this board such as adjustable core voltage and four fan connectors are offset by the lack of hardware monitoring and lack of inclusion of the 686A South Bridge.  The two ISA slots allow flexibility for users trying to incorporate older components in their system. The other problem is the difficult hybrid jumperless setup familiar to Shuttle users.

Layout

The only problem with the layout of the board was the placement of two fan connectors between the PCI slots.  Power, IDE and floppy drive connectors are all optimally located on the board, preventing cable clutter and allowing easy installation.  

While a little oddly spaced, the front panel LED and switch connectors are all lined up, allowing easy access even when the motherboard is in a case. 

The fact that three of the five PCI slots cannot accept full length cards is a downside, but few users really have more than two full length PCI cards in their system. 

Availability

Shuttle is relatively easy to find in online and local stores making it above average in retail availability. 

Documentation & Software Bundle

The documentation and software bundle were well below average -- however, based on previous products, we believe Shuttle will improve their documentation with the final release.