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The AOpen brand name has incredible presence in both the retail and OEM market. AOpen America is one of the world's largest hardware component manufacturers, providing quality PC hardware in a dizzying number of markets. In addition to producing a wide variety of components, AOpen is also one of the top motherboard manufacturers in the world. AOpen motherboards don't usually occupy the very top performance slots, but they are in the high-end, while offering excellent reliability and support. AOpen is also one motherboard manufacturer that takes the overclocking crowd seriously and offers products especially tailored for this growing segment. Finding an AOpen motherboard shouldn't be a problem, since their market penetration lags behind only to the Abit/Asus duo.

When the first Slot A motherboards using the AMD 750/751 chipset began to appear, AOpen was not among the companies offering an Athlon option. This was a bit surprising, especially considering that AOpen prides themselves on having a wide variety of product options. Then again, they have been known to skip a generation or two, such as their recent hiatus, and stunning re-entry, into the 3D video card market. Since the AMD 750/751 chipset did not support such popular features as PC133 and AGP 4X, AOpen may have been waiting in the wings for a viable contender to emerge. With the VIA Technologies announcement of the KX133 chipset, they didn't have to wait long.

Since AOpen has had great success with Slot 1motherboards utilizing the VIA Technologies Apollo Pro 133 and 133A chipsets, it wasn't a big surprise that AOpen quickly announced support for the VIA KX133 chipset. With the release of the AK72, AOpen made their first splash into the rapidly emerging AMD K7 marketplace.

The AOpen AK72 supports the AMD Athlon from 500 MHz to 1 GHZ and offers both PC100 and PC133 options as well. Like other KX133 motherboards, the AK72 also supports the VCM133 (Virtual Channel SDRAM) spec, which at this time will not be a huge consideration for most users. Other features of the AK72 are AGP 4X, ATA-66, quad USB ports, on-board AC'97 soft audio and modem, and an AMR slot. The AK72 also follows other high-end motherboards by offering extensive soft-BIOS setup and tweaking options.