Mainboard AK35GT, AK35GTR

Fazit: Shuttle ist mit dem AK35GTR einen großen Coup gelungen. In Sachen Performance konnte das AK35GTR richtig punkten, sogar unsere nun "ehemalige" Referenz, das KR7A - Raid konnte ihm nicht das Wasser reichen. Aber auch ausstattungsmäßig fehlt dem AK35GTR mit HighPoint Raid Controller und C-Media 6 Kanal Soundchip nichts. Übertaktungsfreunde werden mit dem AK35GTR wohl auch Freude haben, vor allem kann das hohe Übertaktungspotenzial und die Möglichkeit den V-Core mit Hilfe des BIOS auf 2,3 V zu setzen überzeugen. Zudem stimmt auch das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis, schon für ca. 145 € ist das AK35GTR zu haben. So viel zu einem so günstigen Preis konnte bisher noch keiner unserer getesteten Mainboard bieten. Daher hat sich das Shuttle AK35GTR den Extreme Overclocking Award für beste Performance zum günstigen Preis bei guter Ausstattung und sehr guten Overclocking Features redlich verdient.

Translation: Shuttle succeeded with the AK35GTR a large coup. Concerning the performance it could even outperform our "former" reference board "Abit KR7A Raid". In addition, with HighPoint raid controller and C-Media 6 channel audiochip it is well equipped and nothing is missing. Overclocker friends will enjoy the AK35GTR, too. It has a great overclocking potential, it convinces by the possibility to set the Vcore voltage up to 2.3V within the BIOS. Besides, the price performance ratio is also fine: (...) there was no other mainboard tested from us, which offers so many features for such a low price. That's why the Shuttle AK35GTR fairly earned the Extreme Overclocking Award for the best performance at a low price level with good equipment and very good overclocking features.

Translation: Price Tip Award
Shuttle AK35GTR presents itself as a very powerful KT266A board in our test. All the various BIOS options are very impressive, which are mainly interested for overclockers, of course. Worth mentioning is the possibility to increase the CPU voltage to the fantastic level of 2.3 Volt and on the whole the AK35GTR can be well overclocked. However, also those users who attach great importance to a stable and reliable board will find all possibilities. In addition to these good features it also offers a very good equipment: 6 PCI slots, ATA133 capable RAID, CMedia onboard audio with convincing sound, excellent layout. You can surely say that AK35GTR is an outstanding KT266A board. If one even considers the favourable price of approximately 159 Euro, one can only congratulate Shuttle. Here you get an excellent product for an excellent value.

If your after a cheap-ish KT266A board with performance on-par with the most expensive models, then the Shuttle AK35GTR is the way to go! According to our tests, the AK35GTR was the fastest KT266A board in terms of CPU and memory bandwidth. The board also supports 4GB of DDR memory, unlike the others we tested that only supported a maximum of 3GB. (...) In the end, a great board to suit power-users as well as enthusiasts with a need to 'tweak'. One of the best buys this year, 8 out of 10.

Pros: Price, 4 DIMM slots (4GB total RAM), ATA133 RAID, Heaps of Overclocking potential, Rock-solid stability, 6 USB 1.1 Ports (using supplied header modules), Onboard 6-channel sound, Tidy and functional layout, Excellent BIOS

Recommendation!

Full rating: 10 out of 10

Translation:
From what you’ve just seen, the final result can only be positive! Shuttle doesn’t betray the customer: its line of motherboards is at the top, because of their great performance and stability.

Pros: Raid on - board ATA133 HPT372 controller, very complete bios, with lot of toys for overclockers, 6 PCI slots, a good audio Controller, with separate bass station line-out, 4 DDR Dimm Slots, Great overclocker, Top of the notch performances, Very good package & manuals, LOW PRICE!!!

Final Score: 10/10
Reccomended from DinoxPC

Pros: KT266A chipset, Outstanding performance, Superb overclocker board, Awesome voltage mod accessible through BIOS, Price

Shuttle’s AK 35 GTR motherboard was awarded first place in the socket A motherboard category by Ram Magazine, and was distinguished as a product of outstanding performance and design, unbeatable from a component and manufacturing perspective.

Conclusion: When I first saw the name "AK35GT-R", I thought it sounded like a fast Ferrari ;). Benchmarks are showing that Shuttle's KT266A board is indeed a very fast Athlon platform that will serve you well. The board comes with all the features to fulfil a power user's needs like onboard RAID, 6 USB ports, a highly tweakable BIOS, CPU core voltage adjustable up to 2.3V and several other features. The fact that the board never showed signs of instability, even when overclocked to a FSB of 162MHz tells me that you can't go wrong with this sweetie. The KT333 may be out there replacing the KT266A chipset, but that doesn't mean you have to forget all about the AK35GT-R. Shuttle has done it again as they have produced a motherboard that is worthy of carrying around the official Overclockers Online Power Award!!

Conclusion: The Shuttle AK35GTR is available for around #110, which is an extremely good value considering its great feature set. The AK35GTR looked great on paper with the onboard CMI8338 sound and Highpoint ATA133 RAID. The board delivered solid results in performance, overclocking and stability during testing. With 6 PCI slot and 4 DIMM slots, there is plenty of room for expansion. Stability of the board was impressive with 3 DIMM slots occupied. (...) Shuttle has delivered an excellent product with the AK35GTR. It is definitely part of the elite of Socket A motherboards and considering its relatively low price tag, it definitely deserves our Recommendation.

Conclusion: Shuttle AK35GTR is a very good board, targeted to overclockers and enthusiasts wanting most for their money.

The board looks almost like Abit KR7 and performs almost the same in most situations. The overclocker will be delighted to see that the Shuttle BIOS offers at least as many feature as the KR7 BIOS for a lower price, a situation we don't encounter very often. Usually the lower price is achieved through compromises, but on AK35GTR there is no place for any compromise. The Shuttle board's reliability is virtually the same with KR7 and the performance difference goes below measurable limits.

I was quite impressed about the Shuttle AK35GTR, a board which seems to offer almost everything that makes a product successful. My final conclusion about this test is very simple: get AK35GTR and you won't feel sorry: the mobo gives you all at around 115#. (...)

AK35GTR is the first motherboard I have ever seen which has an external connector for the additional Center and BASS channels. (...) The installation is quite easy with AK35GTR. (...) The board supports up to four DDR memory modules, registered and unbuffered. We tried to mix memory types and the results were satisfactory. (...) Shuttle tried to do their best in order to deliver a jumperless setup. (...) I was able to reach an 163Mhz host clock (...) The motherboard was more than stable in these conditions. (...) The motherboard was tested for reliability for about 110 hours in Winstone Content Creation 2002 loops.

Conclusion: The Shuttle AK35GTR has amazingly great performance. In terms of Content Creation it's one of the top notch performer. As for gaming and graphical applications, we can see the results in 3dmark2001 and Quake3 that it tops the charts among the KT266a. Under certain categories, it's performance even overtook KT333 running at DDR266.

Features-wise, this board has one of the best features, 6 ch audio support, Highpoint HPT372 ATA-133 RAID 0/1/0+1. It also included overclocking features in the BIOS. We tested the overclocking and were able to run it steadily at 150Mhz FSB using an AthlonXP 1500+ o/c to 1800+ using normal timings (defaults are set to maximum performance. e.g. 1T cmd). (...)

Overall, the Shuttle AK35GTR is definitely a price/performance winner in the KT266A category, you get excellent performance at a fraction of the cost.

Pros: ATA-133 RAID,CPU ratio, FSB (1mhz), Vcore, AGP, DDR voltages adjustable, 6 channel audio, 4 DIMM slots

(...) Throughout every single benchmark we threw at the AK35GTR, it consistently came out on top! (...) At that price, you simply will not be able to find as solid a board, with such great overclocking features. (...) for the hardcore user who just wants a good solid board that performs well, and offers a wide variety of tweak settings, you need look no further than the Shuttle AK35GTR. (...)

Fazit: Sicherlich - auch wir waren gespannt, was dem VIA KT266A noch entlockt werden konnte. Das vorliegende Review hat jedoch gezeigt, dass Shuttle eindeutig seine Hausaufgaben erledigt hat. Vor allem für Hardcore-Overclocker hatte der Hersteller ein offenes Ohr und ging auf deren Forderungen ein. Hier wurde eindeutig der Grundstein für maximale Performance gelegt. Auch die Implementierung eines ATA133 RAID-Controllers und 6-Kanal Sound können als große Aufwertung angesehen werden. Trotz der vielen Zusatzfeatures ist das AK35GTR kein Blender - auch die Gesamtperformance kann als hervorragend angesehen werden. Der Gesamteindruck ergibt folgerichtig ein Board, welches zu diesem Preis (ca. 160 EUR) seinesgleichen sucht.

Das finden wir gut: hervorragende Performance, gute Stabilität, jumperloses Design, gute Basis für ambitionierte Overclocker, 6 Kanal onboard Audio, ATA133 RAID Controller, ausfürliches Handbuch, 6 PCI Slots, 4 DIMM Steckplätze

Die Boards (von Shuttle) sind ja bekannt dafür, dass man sich hervorragende Leistung nicht mit einem hohen Geldbetrag erkaufen muss. (...) IDE-Anschlüsse sind farblich kodiert, um eine Verwechslung auszuschließen. Grundsätzlich kann gesagt werden, daß die Platzierung dieser Stecker sehr gut gewählt wurde. (...) Beim ersten grafiklastigen Benchmark (3DMark2000) zeigt sich das Shuttle Ak35GTR wohlgewappnet - der bisheriger Spitzenreiter, das Asus A7N266 wird hier um 24 Punkte auf die Plätze verwiesen. Natürlich waren auch wir überrascht und kontrollierten noch einmal all unsere Settings, die aber keine Unstimmigkeiten zutage brachten. (...) Bei Quake3 Arena wiederholt sich das von der 3DMark-Serie bekannte Bild - gegen das Ak35GTR ist in hohen Auflösungen kein Kraut gewachsen. Shuttle scheint diesbezüglich einen wahren "Killer" geschaffen zu haben *G*. (...) Unsere Stability-Tests sind mittlerweile derart umfangreich geworden, dass sie etwa 90% der Gesamtzeit für einen Mainboard-Test in Anspruch nehmen. (...) Die Top-Ergebnisse unter hoher Auflösung ließen das Schlimmste befürchten. Allerdings wurden wir eines Besseren belehrt. (...)

Translation:

Conclusion: Surely - also we were strained, which could be still drawn from the VIA KT266A. This review shows, however, that Shuttle has done his homework. The manufacturer gives consideration to the desires of the hardcore overclockers in particular. They clearly create the basis for maximum performance. Also the implementation of a ATA133 RAID controller and the 6ch sound device can be seen as great revaluation. The AK35GTR not only convices by its large number of additional features, but also offers an outstanding all-over performance. Thus, the general impression is: it's hard to find a similar board for such a low price.

The good: outstandig performance, good stability, jumperless design, a good basis for the ambitious overclocker, 6 channel audio onboard, ATA133 RAID controller, detailed manual, 6 PCI Slots, 4 DIMM sockets.

The boards (from Shuttle) are well-known for the fact that excellent performance must not cost much money. (...) Shuttle AK35GTR is well prepared for the first graphics-intensive benchmark 3DMark2000: the previous front runner Asus A7N266 is exceeded by 24 points. Of course also we were surprised and doublecheck all our settings, but we found no discrepancies. (...) We got the same impression with Quake 3: AK35GTR is a real winner in high resolutions. Shuttle seems to have created in this connection a true "killer". (...) Our stability tests became meanwhile so extensive that they take about 90% of the total time for a mainboard test. (...) Because of the top benchmark results with high resolutions we feared that the board could be very unstable. However, we were convinced by the opposite. (...)

9/10 - Editors Choice
In all phases of testing, the AK35GTR excelled beyond any expectations we may have had. Once again the designers at Shuttle have come up with an impressive, high-quality product that can boast both excellent quality and performance. With its intelligent layout, abundant BIOS features, top-notch performance and impressive over clocking ability, the AK35GTR has really won this reviewer over. (...)

Our overall experience with the Shuttle AK35GTR was terrific, excelling in all aspects of this review.  For its exceptional quality, performance and over clocking ability we give the Shuttle AK35GTR a Hot Hardware Heat Meter Rating of a 9 as well as Editor's Choice for its overall excellence.

Fazit: Shuttle ist wieder ein großer Wurf gelungen. Poweruser und normale Anwender werden gleichermaßen Freude an diesem Board haben.

AK35GTR präsentiert sich als völlige Neuentwicklung ... man hat bewährtes vom AK31 behalten, und neues hinzugefügt. So findet man neben 6 PCI Slots auch einen 6 Kanal PCI Soundchip von CMI, und den brandneuen RAID Controller HPT372, der auch ATA133 Festplatten und den "Single-HDD-Betrieb" unterstützt. Damit man bei der Ausgabe von 6 Soundkanälen nicht auf den Mikrofoneingang verzichten muss legt Shuttle ein eigenes Bracket bei, mit dem die Anschlüsse für Center und Basslautsprecher nach draußen geführt werden. Als Besonderheit findet man auf dem Board gleich 4 Speichersteckplätze (...) Als wahrer Tausendsassa entpuppt sich das Board nach einem Blick ins BIOS. Manuellen Zugriff bekommt der fachkundige Tuner zum Beispiel auf die meisten Parameter des Speichertimings (...) Wegen der hohen Stabilität auch bei höheren FSB Frequenzen (150MHz sind kein Problem) ist das AK35GTR optimal für Overclocking geeignet. (...)

Overclockers Choice Award
Conclusion: Again, Shuttle has made an expressive product. Powerusers and normal users will both enjoy this board.

AK35GTR is completly new development. They take the good features of AK31 and add some new goodies. Besides 6 PCI it also offers a 6CH PCI sound chip from CMI and a brand new RAID controller HPT372, which supports ATA133 harddisks and "Single HDD mode". (...) You find 4 DDR sockets as special feature (...) The BIOS setup offers many setting. Most of the memory timing parameters can be changed by the experienced tuning freak. (...) Due to its great
stability even at higher FSB setting (150MHs is no problem) the AK35GTR is a very good choice for overclocking (...)

9,5 von 10 Punkte
Empfehlung der Redaktion (Silber)
Shuttle hat zuletzt eindrucksvolle Mainboards produziert. AK35GT/R ist Shuttle's erster Versuch mit einem Athlon-Board mit onboard-RAID und es ist eins der eindrucksvollsten Boards auf dem Markt. (...) Insgesamt ist es ein erstaunliches Board mit onboard 6-Kanal Sound, ATA133 RAID, 4 DIMM Sockel und mit den besten Übertaktungs-Möglichkeiten von allen KT266A Boards.