Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/431

ABIT BF6 i440BX Slot-1 ATX

by Mike Andrawes on December 27, 1999 6:44 PM EST


Thanks to delays of Intel's next generation i820 chipset and the sky high price of RDRAM, the i440BX chipset has survived a lot longer than anyone predicted. As a result, we're seeing a whole new generation of i440BX boards with almost every conceivable feature tacked on.

With features like integrated UDMA/66, the ABIT BE6 was one such board designed to tide us over until the i820 came along. With the launch of i820 now upon us, along with the aforementioned high cost of RDRAM, ABIT is back again with two more i440BX offerings - the BF6 and BE6-2.


New Anand Tech Report Card Rating
88/B+

Motherboard Specifications

CPU Interface Slot-1
Chipset i440BX
L2 Cache N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor ATX
Bus Speeds 66 / 75 / 83 - 200 in 1MHz steps
Clock Multipliers 2.0x - 8.0x
Voltages Supported Auto Detect
Adjustable to 1.3V - 3.5V
Memory Slots 3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots 0 AMR Slots
1 AGP Slot
6 PCI Slots (5 Full Length)
1 ISA Slots (1 Shared / 0 Full Length)
BIOS Award 6.00PG w/ ABIT SoftMenu III

The Good


Click to enlarge

On the most basic level, think of the BF6 as the BH6 with an extra PCI slot and one less ISA slot. That means a 6/1/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration and 3 DIMM slots. As many motherboard manufacturers have learned, the 6th PCI slot can be added without the use of a PCI to PCI bridge, like that used on early 6 PCI motherboards. As a result, however, the 6th PCI slot is only a slave slot, meaning that no bus mastering devices will function in that slot, but something like a Voodoo2 will work fine. It should also be noted that, like most motherboards out there PCI slots 2 and 5 share an IRQ as do slots 3 and 6. PCI slot 4 shares an IRQ with the USB controller.

The sole ISA slot may be blocked from use with full length cards due to the placement of front panel I/O connectors. The shared PCI slot also cannot take a full length card thanks to the placement of a fan connector. Fortunately, the other 5 PCI slots are available for full length cards.

Unlike the last two i440BX boards to come from ABIT, the BE6 and BP6, this one does not feature an onboard UDMA/66 controller. There is a space on the PCB for such a controller, but that feature is reserved for the BE6-2, which shares the same PCB design.

That PCB layout is typical of ABIT boards - everything is right where it should be, with one exception - the ATX power connector. That power connector is unfortunately still placed behind the Slot-1 connector, forcing the power cable will have to run over the CPU and memory, reducing airflow to the CPU and cluttering up the inside of the system. Otherwise, all HDD/FDD connectors are located where they should be, right at the front of the board. Eleven 1500uF and four 1000uF capacitors is an improvement over what ABIT has provided in the past, although we saw little improvement in stability during our testing.



ABIT is of course the originator of SoftMenu jumperless CPU configuration, so its quite a surprise to find a bank of 10 DIP switches at the front right corner of the board. By default, those switches are configured such that SoftMenu is in effect. If desired, the CPU can be configured with those DIP switches to lock things in and ignore SoftMenu in cases where someone that shouldn't might have access to the BIOS. As such, 4 of those switches control multiplier and 4 more control the FSB speed. FSB selection via the DIP switches is limited to 66, 75, 83, 100, 103, 112, 124, and 133 MHz. The last 2 DIP switches control the AGP ratio and toggle the status of SoftMenu.

When SoftMenu is enabled, as is the default, its immediately apparent that things have changed. This time around, ABIT has some new tricks to combat the competition in the form of SoftMenu III. After losing the title of most FSB settings to Soyo, ABIT decided to go all out and now provides a total of 120 FSB speeds. These include the standard 66 / 75 / 83 settings plus speeds from 84 - 200 in 1MHz increments. Of course, there is still support for adjusting the PCI ratio (1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 of the FSB speed), AGP ratio (2/3 or 1/1 of the FSB speed), and CPU core voltage (default +/- 0.3V). SoftMenu III now offers the ability to adjust the I/O voltage of the PCI / AGP bus and SDRAM to 3.2 - 3.9V in 0.1 V steps (default is 3.3V) as well as some options for L2 cache latency, all in an effort maximize overclocking potential. The defaults for all these settings are clearly labeled, so causing serious damage will take a bit of work. Without a doubt, ABIT has regained the title of overclocking king with SoftMenu III.

Of course, FSB speeds up to 200 MHz are nice in theory, but in practice they're not particularly useful. With an AGP graphics card, pushing much beyond 124 MHz simply isn't possible because an AGP ratio of 2/3 will push the AGP bus well out of spec at such speeds. This is not a limitation of the BF6 board specifically, but the i440BX chipset itself. For 133 MHz settings to be stable, a 1/2 AGP ratio is necessary, a feature that can be found on the VIA Apollo Pro 133, Apollo Pro 133A and Intel i820 chipsets that features official 133 MHz FSB support. The BF6's flexibility from 83 - 133 in 1 MHz increments is still greatly appreciated and very useful when overclocking any CPU, be it Celeron or Pentium III. Of course, core voltage adjustments can be the difference between a completely stable overclocking attempt and a failed one. However, we did not notice any special advantage for overclocking by adjusting the I/O voltage, but the feature is there and it could help under certain circumstances.

Our testbed Pentium III 550E had no trouble running at 5.5 x 126MHz = 693 MHz at default voltage. Bumping the voltage up didn't seem to help any. In this case, it seems the AGP bus was the limiting factor in pushing our CPU to the limit.

Along with SoftMenu III comes an upgrade in the Award BIOS core to version 6.00PG, which offers considerable improvement in navigation and features. The right side of the screen now offers a brief description of the setting that is being configured. Not specific to Award 6.00PG, but still useful, is the ability to assign specific IRQ's specific PCI slots, which can be quite convenient in trying to eliminate an IRQ conflict. Power management consists of the standard stuff in this day and age. ACPI is fully supported for advanced power management options under an ACPI compliant OS, such as Windows 98 or Windows 2000.

One feature that is included, but is still missing on some motherboards, is the ability to configure what the system will do when AC power is restored after a power outage. The system can either remain off, turn on, or resume last power state when power is restored. This is a feature often overlooked since ATX and soft power became available, but is critical for anyone using their system where it must be on 24/7 or as close as possible. It also allows for users to shut the system on and off from a surge protector.

Hardware monitoring is provided courtesy of the classic Winbond 83782D hardware monitoring chip. That means 9 voltages, 3 temperatures, and 3 fan speeds are monitored. As we've come to expect from ABIT, a thermistor was included in the box to support the monitoring of any device in the system. This thermistor simply attaches to a header on the motherboard. CPU temperature is read via the on die thermal diode of all 0.25 or 0.18 micron Intel CPU's. Two fan headers are right next to the CPU, while the third is at the front of the board in front of the expansion slots.

ABIT's highly regarded User's Manual makes its presence felt in the box of the BF6, giving users a step-by-step installation and a configuration guide for their system.  The ABIT manual includes a fairly easy to read and useful explanation of the BIOS and CPU setup, and makes the overall experience with the BF6 (especially for first time system builders) a pleasant one.



The Bad

Like the vast majority of ABIT motherboards that have found their way into the AnandTech lab, the BF6 wasn't exactly the most stable board. Once again, ABIT comes away with a slightly below average stability rating.

As mentioned above, the ATX power connector is still located behind the Slot-1 connector, which is less than ideal. The ATX power cable will run over both the CPU and memory in most ATX cases, creating quite a bit of cable clutter inside.

The location of the DIP switches is not ideal for changing the CPU configuration after the motherboard is installed in a case. Fortunately, the purpose of the DIP switches is to prevent unauthorized configuration changes, so maybe that's not such a bad thing. For the vast majority of BF6 owners, SoftMenu will be the configuration method of choice, so this is almost a moot point.

The 6th PCI slot is only a slave slot, meaning no bus mastering devices can be used. Once again, this is more of a limitation of the i440BX chipset rather than anything ABIT did wrong. The same goes for the ineffectiveness of FSB settings in the 133+ MHz range due to the lack of a 1/2 AGP ratio.


USB Compatibility

  • Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

  • Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

  • USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

  • USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes


Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 64MB Mushkin SEC Original PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 64MB Memory-Man SEC Original PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin SEC Original PC133 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin SEC Original PC133 SDRAM

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site:
http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website:
http://www.mushkin.com




The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Test Configuration

Processor(s): Intel Pentium III 550E OEM
RAM: 1 x 128MB Samsung Original PC133
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Expert 418000 - UltraATA/66
Bus Master Drivers: Microsoft Windows 98SE DMA Drivers
Video Card: Asus V6600 Deluxe GeForce 32MB AGP
Video Drivers: NVIDIA Detonator Reference Drivers 3.53
Operation System(s): Windows 98 SE
Motherboard Revision: ABIT BF6 Revision 1.0

 

Windows 98 Performance

  Sysmark 2000 Content Creation
Winstone 2000
Intel Pentium III 550E (5.5 x 100) 130 25.6
Intel Pentium III 693E (5.5 x 126) 153 30.1

The Final Decision

We thought the ABIT BE6 would be the last i440BX board from ABIT and recommended at that time to wait for the i820 if possible. Well, the i820 is finally here, but the cost of RDRAM is entirely too high. While the use of a Memory Translator Hub (MTH) enables the use of SDRAM on the i820, the added cost and performance hit is too great to make this a viable option.

Once you've made up your mind to go with the i440BX chipset, it's tough to pass up the ABIT BF6. It's a full featured board with minimal draw backs. For overclockers, it offers the greatest flexibility of any board to come through the AnandTech labs to date, all at a very reasonable price. If you desire UDMA/66 support, just grab the BE6-2, which is virtually identical but tacks on a UDMA/66 controller. We said it earlier, and we'll say it again: without a doubt, ABIT has regained the title of overclocking king with the BF6 and SoftMenu III.


How it Rates

AnandTech Motherboard Rating

  Business
Performance 90%
Price 85%
Ease of Use 94%
Overclocked Stability 96%
General Stability 82%
Quality 85%
Documentation 95%
Reliability 78%
Overall Rating 88%

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now