After finally installing the motherboard, I followed that up with the CPU, ATX power cable and two SDRAM modules. This all went very smoothly and I actually came to respect the extra space found on the SD11. The standard floppy connector afforded easy installation, but the rotated IDE cables are a very different story. To hook them up, I had to twist the IDE cables so many different directions, that I wondered if all of the 80 wires would make it through intact. Following the IDE design, the front-panel case connectors are also rotated parallel to the third PCI slot. While this doesn't really interfere with PCI cards, it does require you change case positions as compared to a standard ATX motherboard install.

The 36-page manual is adequate in explaining the initial install and setup, and features several detailed diagrams explaining the process. The CPU, SDRAM and other connector installation sections are especially well done, even going so far as detailing the physical design of a DIMM module. While the AMI BIOS isn't too complicated, the manual is pretty sparse in its description of the functions.

In keeping with the distinct format of the SD11, FIC has chosen to go with an AMI BIOS, in contrast to the Award BIOS of competing Athlon boards. I'm a big fan of Award and didn't find anything in the FIC SD11 to change my mind. Everything about the system BIOS is very basic, with few opportunities for tweaking or enhancing performance. I should note that, in taking off marks for the manual's light coverage of BIOS settings, the AMI BIOS actually explains quite a few of its features through an online help window.

Recently, there is a lot of confusion surrounding FSB overclocking with the FIC SD11. The early BIOS versions (up to NC605) had the ability to switch the front-side bus speed from the default 100MHz to either 120MHz or 133MHz. Unfortunately, these were the only settings made available, and it was kind of hit or miss whether the board could handle it. Due to the AMD 751 chipset's instability, this overclocking feature was not successful and further testing found that 110MHz is really all you should expect to push the AMD 751 to.

Since FSB overclocking wasn't turning into the popular choice of power users, FIC adjusted the BIOS with version NC607 and deleted the 120MHz and 133MHz overclocking options. This is not a huge loss, but it has led to innumerable user questions on how to overclock the SD11. Before completing the review research, I was in same boat, madly searching the system BIOS for the seemingly elusive FSB options.

One of the negatives to the new BIOS revisions has been the associated disappearance of the hardware monitoring capabilities. Previously, system and CPU temperatures could be monitored either through the BIOS or software, but after the new BIOS revisions, neither seems to be available. The BIOS hardware monitoring portion is simply not present, and although the hardware monitoring software is still on the FIC driver CD, it no longer shows up on the initial install screen. Even after manually loading the monitoring program and installing/reinstalling the VIA drivers, I could not get it to work.

Power management can be enabled through the BIOS and features full ACPI support for compliant operating systems like Windows 98. There are also the usual "wake up on LAN" and "wake on modem" options to ensure business and SOHO compliance.