AOpen announced today the availability of an entry-level graphics workstation mainboard based on Intel E7205 (code-named “Granite Bay”) chipset that is the first Intel’s core-logic with dual-channel DDR SDRAM and AGP 8x support. AOpen’s AX4R Plus is quite a feature-rich product, thus, a lot of hardware enthusiasts will definitely consider it as their next upgrade.

Let us share the technical details of the novelty with you:

• Supports Socket 478 Pentium 4 / Celeron processors with 400/533MHz FSB with 3.06GHz clock-speed and above;
• Can take advantage of the CPUs with the Hyper-Threading technology enabled;
• Intel E7205 North-Bridge and ICH4 I/O controller;
• 4 DIMM slots for up to 4GB of PC1600, PC2100 or PC2700 DDR-SDRAM memory. Dual-channel memory bus support: the memory modules should be identical and installed in pairs.
• 6 PCI slots, 1 CNR slot and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel ATA-100/66/33 integrated controller;
• Serial ATA-150 controller from Silicon Image, supporting 2 Serial ATA-150 ports;
• 6 USB 2.0 ports;
• 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet adapter from Realtek;
• 6-channel AC’97 audio solution;
• ATX Form Factor.

AX4R Plus also comes with latest AOpen technology - SilentTek Noise Reduction Technology. By combining both hardware, BIOS and utility, AX4R Plus can operate with very low noise. The software monitors the CPU and ambient temperature and controls the speed of the fan, reducing it when the CPU is cool and raising it when the microprocessor needs to be cooled well.

The AX4R Plus should be available immediately, though, the price was not announced by the manufacturer of the mainboard.