The Best For Freaks: 10 Motherboards using the BX-Chipset – THG.RU

Introduction

Only few weeks ago, Intel introduced their Solano chipset (i815), which hasn’t quite been able to fulfill our performance expectations derived from the overclocked ‘BX133’. Solano’s performance is still somewhat behind the two years old 440BX chipset, making the latter still an interesting choice, as it is both very matured and also fast – even though it only comes with AGP 2x and UltraDMA/33.

Originally, the BX was only specified for 66 and 100 MHz front side bus operation, but today most technically knowledgeable end users don’t care much about this restriction. You might never be able to buy a whole system based on the BX-chipset running at 133 MHz FSB at any shop, yet performance freaks hold their self-made ‘BX133’ systems in high regards. If you want BX133, you will have to get it running at this speed by yourself. You will also have to take the minor risk that your machine might not run 100% reliable at the 133 MHz FSB, mostly due to the overclocked AGP or the main memory. Of course we want to make it as easy as possible for you to get your BX system running at fast 133 MHz FSB, so we made a short check list. More on that later.

Intel: It’s raining CPUs

Right now, you can chose between five processor types, using three different packages. For beginners, it is not quite easy to get an overview and even some retailers make mistakes when ordering or selling Intel CPUs. The following table includes all available Intel CPUs:

The newer CPUs with Coppermine core require less core voltage than former models. Thus it’s very likely that older motherboards using Slot-1 or Socket 370 don’t support Coppermine CPUs, as they cannot provide the required voltage (between 1.5 and 1.7V). This applies both to the Pentium III and the new Celerons. All motherboards in this review are of course able to run both processors, so only the owners of boards, which are more than one year old, need to check the supported voltages.

Intel’s 82440BX Chipset

The name BX usually refers to the North Bridge 82443BX and its South Bridge 82371EB (PIIX4). Originally, an alternative South Bridge chip, called PIIX6, was planned, which was supposed to come with a Firewire/1394 controller.

Different from current i8xx chipsets, the BX North and South Bridges are connected via the PCI bus. Solano, Camino and the other 800 series chipsets come with the newer ‘hub architecture’, which is able to provide double the bandwidth (266 instead of PCI’s 133 MBytes/s) between the MTH (Memory Controller Hub) and the ICH (I/O Controller Hub = South Bridge). However, the results of our Solano reviews showed that it’s hard to find any benefit from this.

AGP

As you know, the BX does not support the latest standard AGP 4x, which is basically able to provide a bandwidth of up to 1066 MBytes/s. However, this number is currently only an illusion, as the CPU consumes most of the memory bandwidth itself, leaving only 1/3 to 1/2 of it for the graphics subsystem. SDRAM at 100 MHz provides up to 800 MBytes/s, while this peak performance rises to 1066 MByte/s when using 133 MHz SDRAM (BX133, i815, VIA 694X).

The BX fully supports AGP 2x for up to 533 MBytes/s. Overclocking a BX system to 133 MHz means running the AGP at 33% faster clock speed = 89 MHz. Please note that the PCI bus can be either clocked at unreasonable 44 MHz (1/3 PCI clock) or at safe 33 MHz, using the 1/4 divider. Running your AGP at 89 MHz also results in increased bandwith of approximately 700 MBytes/s, which would be equivalent to AGP 2.7X.

Back in February we took a look at the three AGP modes. It was pretty clear that you have some performance increase over AGP 1x when using the faster 2x mode. Using the latest AGP 4x was not able to unveil its potential in any mainstream application, but OpenGL-applications with very high polygon counts and future games are indeed able to benefit from AGP4X in a significant way.

UltraDMA/33

The latest hard drives make use of an UltraDMA/66 interface, although most drives do not even exceed the performance of UltraDMA/33. IBM’s new hard drive series Deskstar 75GXP is being shipped with an UltraATA/100 interface now. Nevertheless you should not care much about the interface. UltraDMA/33 will only be at its limits in case you should use one of the latest drives available.

Some boards come with an additional IDE controller chip, featuring UltraDMA/66. With that, the last real argument against BX should be resolved.

This little chip gives UltraDMA/66 functionality (two ports) to the Gigabyte and MSI boards. Epox and Soyo make use of a chip from HighPoint, while Asus is using CMD.

Checkliste for 133 MHz FSB

• Use PC133 SDRAM or at least high quality PC100 memory. If you are not sure whether your memory runs stable at 133 MHz, you better get real PC133 modules, preferably CL2-types.
• You will need a graphics card that runs stable at the increased 89 MHz AGP clock speed. Actually, most cards seem to be able to do this, but no manufacturer will ever guarantee it. Sometimes the system works fine during boot up and in your operation system as well, but crashes or shows bugs as soon as you switch to a 3D mode (e.g. games).
  
  You get a very high chance of success with GeForce or GeForce 2 GTS graphics cards. It does not matter wheter you get a SDR or DDR SDRAM model.

• You processor must run stable at 133 MHz system speed. Either you use a real 133 MHz model (533, 600EB, 667, 733, 800, 866 or 933 MHz), or you can just use an overclocked 100 MHz model. But always think about the core speed: 133 instead of 100 MHz FSB means both 33% more FSB speed as well as 33% more core speed! Every Pentium III 600E (100 MHz x6.0) should be able to run at 800 MHz (133 MHz x6.0). This gets touchier with higher clock speeds. A Pentium III 700 (100 MHz x7.0) will have to run at 933 MHz, which could easily fail. For more information, please check the Pentium III Performance Guide.

ABit BE6-II and BF6

Board Revision: D

BIOS Version: 8. Mai 2000

Board Revision: B4

BIOS Version: 8. Mai 2000

Back in April we used the BE6-II for our tests at 150 MHz bus speed. Both the BF6 and BE6-II are Slot-1 models. If you want to use a Celeron processor, you will have to purchase a Socket 370 to Slot-1 adapter board. Both boards do not attract attention very much, as the only special feature is the IDE controller chip from HighPoint (HPT366), which can only be found on the BE6-II. And that’s already the difference between those two boards. Same design and same features – except the 2nd IDE controller. Thanks to it, you may run up to eight IDE devices with the BE6-II. 150 MHz system speed turned out to be a little bit too much for the HighPoint chip, as the system crashed twice during the tests (only when using the UltraDMA/66 coltroller!). Using the PIIX4 integrated IDE controller did not cause any problems.

Both manuals are quite comprehensive. In the package, you will also find a temperature probe which can be used to survey the temperature of the graphics card, for example. The BE6-II does also include a ATA66 IDE cable.

All CPU settings can be done easily in ABit’s Soft Menu III, which also allows the adjustment of the CPU voltage and the PCI/AGP dividers. The system bus speed can be chosen in single MHz-increments between 83 and 200 MHz, whilst all settings beyond 155 MHz don’t make much sense any more. Below 83 MHz, you may also set 75 and 66 MHz, of course. Giving the customer the option to set the system speed in little increments is the best basis for Celeron overclocking. Only few models run stable at 100 MHz FSB (instead of default 66 MHz), so it’s important to have as much options as possible between 83 and 100 MHz. This way it is easiest to run the Celeron at its fastest and still safe clock speed; you will only need to play around some time with the settings.

There were no surprises regarding the benchmarks, as all results are just how we expected them to be. Thanks to the options to change the PCI and AGP dividers, the ABit boards still belongs to the very best overclocker boards. Different to the Asus CUBX, we had no problems running our Celeron 566 at 850 MHz (100 MHz FSB and 1.65V).

Azza DIBX2+ and DIBX4

Board Revision: 1.3

BIOS Version: ?

Both Azza boards (DIBX2+ and DIBX4) are ready for all kind of CPUs, as they are the only dual CPU motherboards of this review. But they are no classic dual boards. Azza equipped their boards with both the Slot-1 and a Socket 370. This way you get the chance to use every Intel CPU type except the Xeon. All upgraders get of course the best benefit, as they can keep using their existing Slot-1 CPU and upgrade to a Socket 370 model as soon as the prices decrease. Or maybe you can get a Pentium III Slot-1 cheaper than the FC-PGA model.

All features are up to date: Three DIMM sockets, one ISA and four PCI-Slots are waiting to be equipped. The DIBX2+ comes with a fifth PCI slot, but does not have the UltraDMA/66 controller like the DIBX4.

Good work also after a look at the details, as the retention mechanism for the Slot-1 is already mounted and can easily be opened in order to remove the CPU. Every connector has been labeled properly, yet beginners should take a quick look into the manual, because some descriptions on the board are shortened. Both motherboards come with a status LED, which is active as soon as you apply power to the board. The CPU settings have to be done via jumpers (system speed) and DIP switches (multiplier).

Jumpers JP11 and JP12 have an influence on the processor voltage. The first one rises the voltage by 0.05V, which is usually helpful for overclocking. JP12 lets you select the voltage range. If it is open, the board will provide max. 2.05V. Closed, the CPU can be supplied with up to 3.5V. According to Azza, this jumper has been introduced in order to save modern CPUs from over-voltage.

In the end, both Azza boards left a pretty good impression, which is a bit uncommon for boards of a less-known brand. The prices will most likely be clearly under the level of Asus and some others.

Asus CUBX

Board Revision: 1.01

BIOS Version: 1005

Some weeks ago, we already took a look at the latest Asus BX motherboard. All names of the recent Asus motherboards start with CU, thus also the CUBX. Back in Mai, the CUBX already proved its qualities in a short test. Performance and features were both on a high level. This time, the board is being compared against several competitors, which all did their homework well.

The CUBX features six PCI slots, four DIMM sockets, AGP 2x and an ATA66 chip from CMD. Thanks to this, you may use up to eight IDE devices. Additionally, five USB ports are available.

Configuring the CPU, you get two choices. Either you do everything using the comfortable BIOS setup (including Vcore adjustment), or via some DIP switches. A jumper defines, which way will be used by the board.

Asus supplies all required cables (one IDE, one ATA66, one floppy) as well as an USB adapter cable, which you will need in order to use the USB ports 3, 4 and 5. And you will also get an excellent manual.

On board you will find three headers for best fan connectivity. As the system runs at up to 155 MHz FSB, cooling is a very important issue. The CUBX seems to be very overclocking-friendly when using a Pentium III CPU, but it seems as Asus did not test configurations running overclocked new Celeron CPUs. I got several emails from some of our readers, pointing out that they ran into trouble when trying to overclock a Celeron 566 to 850 MHz. In deed we could not run the Celeron at this clock speed, whilst it was no problem with the ABit BE6-II (using 1.60V). The CUBX did start at 100 x8.5, but the system crashed when booting Windows. Please note that this did only happen when running a new Celeron CPU at 100 instead of 66 MHz system speed. All other configurations (old Celeron and Pentium III) worked absolutely reliable.

Conclusion: The CUBX is one of the fastest and best equipped BX motherboards. Also it offers excellent stability. But we faced some problems trying to overclock the new Celeron. Celeron overclocking will only be possible, as far as you don’t need to rise the voltage.

Epox EP-BX7+

Board Revision: ?

BIOS Version: ?

The Epox BX7+ has the biggest board size of all products in this review. You can easily recognize it, as it comes with an integrated debug port and two digits. In spite of the impressive size, the design is not too smart, as both IDE ports have been placed in front of the PCI slots. On the other hand, it comes with six of them, so you will certainly be able to find a place for one or two full size expansion cards.

Four DIMM sockets are ready for up to 1 GByte ECC SDRAM. And there is one ISA slot for older components. The Epox board comes with a feature, which no other board is able to provide: The HighPoint HPT368 IDE controller is RAID-capable. Thus you can stripe two, three or even four drives in order to increase your disk subsystem’s performance.

Just like the Asus CUBX, Epox’ BX7+ has five USB ports. What a pity that the adapter cable is not included. The on-board debug ports shows every system state as a hexadecimal number, which makes the search for wrong configurations or defective hardware much easier.

Overclockers will be happy to hear that the system speed can be adjusted in 1 MHz increments. Additionally, the CPU voltage can also be increased. All CPU settings have to be done via DIP switches, which you can easily spot on the picture (blue).

Epox offers a BX motherboard, which comes with high performance, excellent system stability and two features, which are not provided by any competitor: IDE RAID and a debug port.

Gigabyte GA-6BX7+

Board Revision: 1.1

BIOS Version: F1 (March 29, 2000)

After the first look at the 6BX7+, you will realize that it has been fattened with features. The bluish PCB is also very characteristic for all Gigabyte boards. You can find an ATA66 controller chip from Promise (PDC20262) on board, yet there are stil six PCI slots available. One ISA slot will host an older expansion card, whilst the four DIMM sockets are ready for 1 GByte SDRAM. And an on-board speaker is also present.

The 6BX7+ comes with DualBIOS(tm), featuring a second BIOS-EPROM, which will ensure a working system even if the BIOS update procedure may have failed. That’s very useful in case you want to ensure having always a working system.

You have to do all CPU settings by DIP switches, which are well described and thus easy to use. The 6BX7+ comes with a Power LED and three fan headers. Using the jumpers JP3, you are given the option to rise the CPU voltage in five increments: 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50%. I would be very careful with more than 20% increase, as settings like 40% or 50% will easily burn your processor.

Stability and performance were on a very high level, while the design did not suffer from the good amount of features.

Lucky Star 6ABX2C

Board Revision: 0.2

BIOS Version: ?

Lucky Star offers the 6ABX2C, a relatively simple BX board. There are no outstanding features, but in exchange you’ll find a solid feature set. Five PCI and two ISA slots, AGP 2x, standard UltraDMA/33 controller, two USB ports, three DIMM sockets and the common Wake-Up stuff.

Configuration is done mainly in the BIOS, which we were not able to check, as the board was already dead on arrival. That’s also why you won’t find this model in the benchmark charts.

MSI BX Master

Board Revision: A

BIOS Version: 5.2B3 (15. April 2000)

The BX master could be the Slot-1 brother of the Asus CUBX, as it also comes with six PCI and one ISA slot, an UltraDMA/66 controller chip and four DIMM sockets. The name “BX Master” is all but improper, thanks to various details. An integrated PC speaker makes the case speaker obsolete. Three fan headers are optimum to provide enough cooling possibilities and a second BIOS chip is present as backup, just in case. This board also features MSI’s diagnostic system D-LED(tm), which includes four LEDs on the board. According to the actual system status, distinct LEDs will light up. After a look at the included code table, you will be able to determine booting errors very quickly.

The manual is detailled and leaves no questions unanswered. Inside the package you will find an IDE cable, one ATA66 cable and a floppy cable, manual and of course a driver CD. Although there is a description of DIP switches on the PCB, you will only have to go to the BIOS (CPU Plug & Play III) in order to setup your processor. Here you can chose a multiplier and 25 system clock speeds between 66 and 155 MHz as well as the CPU voltage.

The BX Master proved to be an excellent motherboard with even more excellent features. This board using the two years old BX chipset is still faster and much better featured than most other motherboards on the market.

QDI BrillianX 1S/2000

Board Revision: 2.0

BIOS Version: 1.3 (January 11, 2000)

The BrillianX 1S/2000 comes without special features like a sound system or an ATA66 controller. However, it to comes at a more atractive price than other BX models. You can easily recognize the QDI boards by their deep green PCB. And this one is the only model coming with three ISA slots. That’s very useful for people who still use a lot of ISA cards.

Three DIMM sockets are present for modules of 256 MBytes each. The CPU settings are done in the BIOS (Speed Easy), which the manual described in eight different languages. But there are no options to change the PCI and AGP dividers, neither is there an item to alter the CPU voltage.

The BrillianX 1S/2000 ran fast and stable at 133 MHz FSB. In Expendable, it was slightly slower than the competitors, which I don’t consider as important, as the BX is still the best overall performer.

There is nothing bad to report about the QDI board. It might come without any special features, but it offers great performance and excellent reliability. Everybody who still needs three ISA slots should find it a very suitable board.

Soyo SY-6BA+ IV

Board Revision: ?

BIOS: 2BA1 (15. Februar 2000)

Almost two years ago, we got the original 6BA from Soyo for the BX motherboard round up. Now, the fourth edition is available, coming with much more features than the initial one. This version runs stable at 133 MHz FSB, comes with five PCI and two ISA slots, four DIMM sockets and an ATA66 controller from HighPoint. Additionally, you will get three fan headers and a status LED. The board does not feature any additions like more USB ports (two are available) or a sound system.

You don’t need to fiddle around with jumpers or DIP switches, as everything can be configured within the BIOS setup. There are 29 system speed settings (150 MHz max.) and you may change the PCI and AGP dividers as well. It was good to see that you may also rise Vcore by 2.5, 5, 7.5 or 10%. That’s basically enough for simple overclocking and is also absolutely safe for your CPU.

The 6BA+ IV ran wonderfully stable at 133 MHz during all tests. I would like to see a more comprehensive manual, yet all important things have been included. If you want to purchase this one, you will also get Norton Ghost, Norton Anti Virus and Norton Virtual Drive as well as all required cables (ATA33, ATA66, floppy).

Test configuration

All Benchmarks and Tests were done at 133 MHz system speed and 800 MHz core clock speed. Thus you can compare the results with those of all VIA motherboard reviews of this year. Please note that the AGP runs at overclocked 89 MHz, when driving the BX at 133 MHz.

Benchmarks: SYSmark 2000 – Windows 98 SE

The same results as almost two years ago: Excellent performance, but only very little differences.

Benchmarks: SYSmark 2000 – Windows NT 4.0

The same using Windows NT.

Benchmarks: Expendable Timedemo

Expendable shows differences at around 4 fps. Certainly not enough to base a purchasing decision on these benchmark results.

Benchmarks: Quake III Arena

And last but not least Quake III. Minimal differences again.

Why are some boards from other brands missing?

Generally we would like to review every product available. But sometimes we just don’t get test samples in time. That might either be due to shortages or because of special events like e.g. exhibitions. Some weeks before and after those events, most companies simply do not have enough free resources left to take care of shipments. If you are missing a product, please contact us as well as the manufacturer. Usually we are pretty well aware of most motherboards and graphics card. Nevertheless we always appreciate suggestions for future reviews.

Conclusion

It’s practically impossible to spot a winner among those BX boards, as the differences regarding performance are minor, while all boards can be differentiated by lots of features. Asus, Epox, Gigabyte and MSI come with a bunch of functions and add-ons: Epox features an IDE-RAID controller, whereas the boards from Gigabyte and MSI have been equipped with a backup BIOS chip.

You can find an ATA66 chip on the boards from ABit (BE6-II), Asus, Azza (DIBX4), Epox, Gigabyte, MSI and Soyo. In contrast, ABit (BF6), QDI and Lucky Star offer much plainer products. QDI ist the only brand offering three ISA slots. Both Azza boards come with both Socket 370 and Slot-1, giving you the best CPU-flexibility.

The best overclocking boards come from ABit, Asus, Epox and MSI. But the Asus actually has some trouble when overclocking the new Celeron at a higher voltage.

As you can see, every board has several pro and contra arguments. Highly equipped boards are of course clearly more expensive than plain ones. All candidates ran absolutely stable, which is still not commonplace today.

This review proves that the manufacturers still believe in the good old BX chipset. The boards from Epox, Gigabyte and MSI are much better featured than most boards with other chipsets. Suprisingly it is particularly hard to find those kind of feature-rich motherboards based on VIA chipsets.