Aopen MX3L

Aopen may not have the "brand name" clout of some motherboard manufacturers, but they have been in the hardware manufacturing industry for some 20 years now, doing motherboards for the past several years. Their product line is quite diverse and ranges from motherboards and RAM to VGA and sound cards, keyboards and mice, CD-ROMs, and cases. You could just about put together a system using all Aopen components, save the CPU of course.

Similarly, their motherboard line is equally diverse. They have boards based on BX, LX, EX, TX, and even Via Apollo Pro Plus chipsets. Furthermore, there are slot-1's and PGA-370's. They are also of several form factors: ATX, NLX, and the more recent micro-ATX. The MX3L is a new entry into the market, based on the micro-ATX form factor.

The tradeoffs with the micro-ATX form factor are obvious. With a smaller, space-conscious motherboard you run into limited expansion options. However, due to the smaller motherboard with fewer components, we see a smaller "footprint" for those smaller systems, and also a price savings passed down to the user. These boards make good entry-level boards. How does the MX3L compare?