Founded in 1980, First International Computer, or FIC, has been manufacturing mainboards for quite some time. Previously not a company known to appeal to enthusiasts, FIC has made a recent effort to manufacture products that are more enthusiast-oriented, and it shows.

The AU13 is actually the second mainboard from FIC to feature the NForce2 chipset. The AU11, FIC's first NForce2 mainboard was a resounding success, as it earned the reputation of being a very solid board that overclocked quite well. Hoping to recapture some of the same success that they garnered with the AU11, FIC released the AU13.

The AU13 Features and Specifications

The NVidia NForce2 has earned the reputation as the best Athlon chipset there currently is, and for that matter, the best Athlon chipset ever. Early mainboard revisions from multiple manufacturers had issues, namely with BIOS corruption and memory, but the majority of these issues have been solved. No other manufacturer, be it VIA, SiS or AMD has made a chipset as well-rounded as the NForce2.

The latest NForce2 release, the NForce2 Ultra400, adds official support for 200 MHx FSB. That is about the only difference between the NForce2 Ultra400 and the original NForce2, but overclockers can take delight in being able to relax their CPU multiplier, which is automatically unlocked by the AU13, and run at a 200 MHz FSB without any effort.

The AU13 is packaged in a very OEM-reminiscent box. There is no flash to the packaging, and nothing to attract the end user. I think that in the end, the majority of people buying the AU13 will be buying it at Fry's, or online, so my point about the box being non-attractive is moot.

Inside the box are all the necessary parts to get you started and…nothing else. FIC has gone very light with the bundle on the AU13, but for the price, this is okay. Included are USB bracket, manual, driver discs, an audio bracket for 5.1 speaker systems, and a set of SATA and ATA133 IDE cables.

The AU13 is a very plain looking board, and to my knowledge one of the few NForce2 mainboards available in old-school green. This may sound weird, but I kind of miss green mainboards. I mean, honestly, everything has gotten to the point of being too flashy, and manufacturers aren't stressing quality as much as they are looks (Yeah, MSI, I got your NForce2 board, alright). It seems to me that FIC has devoted their focus to improving important things such as stability and performance.

Layout

A board that offers stellar performance isn't worth much if it has layout issues. Fortunately, the FIC AU13 is a pleasure to work with.

The AU13's backplate is very basic, yet it contains all of the ports you will probably ever need. I haven't used a serial port in about six years, and even then it was because my PS/2 mouse broke, so perhaps it is indeed time to ditch the serial ports in favor of more USB. Another good idea is to ditch them in favor of the 5.1 audio ports, which would make the board even less expensive for FIC to produce.

Starting at the top left side of the board we see the CPU socket. FIC, like many manufacturers, has opted to remove the mounting holes used by large heatsinks and waterblocks from companies like Danger Den. This isn't a major issue, unless you invested hundreds of dollars into a water-cooling kit with a proprietary block that can't be mounted.

The area around the socket is plentiful, and I had no problems mounting the Thermalright SLK800A, Thermaltake Volcano 7+, or OCZ Gladiator 3. As is the problem with most mainboards, most of you will need to take the AU13 out of your case if you need to install a new heatsink or processor, as the socket sits too close to the power supply to safely use a screwdriver clip to mount or dismount a heatsink.

Moving down from the CPU socket, we see the Northbridge cooler. This is one of the minor issues I told you about earlier. The heatsink is just too small. Now, it didn't seem to cause any stability issues, but I am sure that is held me back when overclocking, which I will get into later.

To the right of the CPU socket and Northbridge you will find the DIMM slots. The NForce2 utilizes dual channel memory. In order to run in dual channel you must put two matching DIMM's in both DIMM slot 1 and DIMM slot 3. The memory slots sit very close to the AGP slot, which has become more of a regularity then nuisance, since most people have gotten used to the whole issue of having video cards sit too close to the memory module.

I would like to say that the AU13 was a lot less picky about memory then any other board I have encountered. My MSI K7N2 Delta would only work with Kingston PC2700 memory, whereas the AU13 eagerly accepted OCZ PC2700, Corsair XMS2700, and the Kingston PC2700. In the end I chose the OCZ PC2700 for memory benchmarks, as it allowed DDR400 operation at CAS 2-3-3-6.

Respect goes to FIC for being the only company to put a heatsink on the Southbridge. Whether or not the Southbridge gets hot enough to warrant additional cooling is debatable, but it certainly can't hurt.

The AU13 offers a very generous six PCI slots, which is a very nice presence, considering the low price point of this board.

The AGP slot uses a very efficient finger-release clipping mechanism to keep AGP cards in place during transport. It is a bit hard to get the card out once it is installed because the mechanism is hard to reach. I used a screw driver to release the card, and it worked like a charm.

Overall as you can see, the layout of the AU13 is clean, efficient, and fairly plain. The lack of active cooling on the Northbridge is a downfall

Quick Bios Notes

The Award BIOS is very standard and light-on-tweaking options. You are fairly limited in your tweaking options, as the memory voltage only goes up to 2.8, with a CPU voltage limit of 1.9. Thankfully, The AU13 does unlock TBred processors, and multiplier selections go up to 24.

Let's see how the AU13 performs.