The overall size of the AOpen AX64 Pro is very standard for a Slot 1 motherboard. It checks in at approximately 8" x 12", which places it in the mid-range for an ATX board. Due to its standard size, there were no issues when installing the AX64 Pro into any of our reference cases, and the 8” width didn't hamper IDE or floppy cable installs. The AOpen AX64 Pro has the same look and feel as a basic BX motherboard like the MSI BXMaster or Abit BE6-II, and this familiarity will be welcome news to potential upgraders.

The AOpen AX64 Pro features a rather different 1 AGP/4 PCI/1 ISA/ 1 AMR slot design, resulting in a wealth of potential peripheral support, but with perhaps one PCI slot too few. Including an ISA slot for legacy devices is certainly a bonus, but I still feel that AOpen could have come up with a better solution than placing the AMR slot so high on the board (right below the AGP slot) and sacrificing a valuable fifth PCI slot. The AGP and PCI slots are well positioned and installed cards don't get in the way of any jumpers or fan headers.

In terms of board memory, the AX64 Pro has three DIMM sockets, each supporting 512 MB SDRAM modules, for a grand total of 1.5 GB addressable memory. The overall design of the board accommodates extremely easy SDRAM installations and upgrades. The AX64 Pro has actually positioned the AGP slot one space below where it would normally be on a standard ATX motherboard. This results in ample room between the three DIMM sockets and an installed AGP card, and installing or removing SDRAM modules is a breeze.