This motherboard from Azza is based on the Intel 815 chipset. So we tested it in both the categories—entry level and high end. With only two PCI slots, it has a MicroATX form factor that makes it fit nicely inside a compact cabinet. The motherboard supports up to 1 GB of RAM in its two DIMM slots. As far as the features go, the board wasn’t too good in either of the categories. In fact, it had the lowest feature score in the high-end category. Remarkably, however, the setup score was the highest in terms of the ease of installation (jumperless, motherboard layout, etc.) and quality of manuals. It has only two onboard USB ports, good enough for an entry-level board.

Going on to performance, it was third in its class in the entry-level category. The score for Business Winstone 99, which measures performance in office productivity applications, was average. Its performance in 3D Mark 2000 and VideoMark 2000, however, were amongst the better in the group, with its score in VideoMark being quite close to the best in the category. Further, with 18.05 average fps in Quake III Arena and a Directsound CPU utilization of only 5.6 percent, it would do fairly well in games too.

However, when it came to running high-end applications, the motherboard could not do well. The scores for benchmarks that use extensive graphics and calculations like Indy 3D and High-end Winstone, placed it at the lower end of the category. The same was the case with the other benchmarks, VideoMark 2000 and 3D Winbench 2000. At higher color depths, the frame rates dropped for Quake III Arena. However, the board performed well when it came to encoding Wav files using EJay MP3, the time taken being lesser than all but two other motherboards. All in all, the motherboard was not such a great performer in the higher end.

It is priced at Rs 5,192 with a two-year warranty. It also comes bundled with Mandrake Linux, Star Office 5.2 and Virtual Drive Full Personal Edition. Makes for a good entry-level board.