440BX Motherboard Review - Fall 1998

Gigabyte GA-6BXC

• BIOS Version: 2.08 (August 27, 1998)
• Board Revision: unknown
• External clock speeds: 66, 75, 83, 100, 103, 112, 133 MHz
• Slots: 5x full size PCI, 2x full size ISA, full size AGP
• Memory: 4x DIMM

This board seems to have some little problem: As soon as the power button on the power supply in on, the board powers up without having closed the power on connector on the board itself. The board is also a premiere: Usually the Gigabyte boards do only support the specified bus speeds; this one can be clocked freely at a FSB between 66 and 133 MHz. It's good to see that Gigabyte now has again a product that can be the right choice for overclockers.

But the dip switches are still a habit of Gigabyte, maybe this will be exchanged in favour of a CPU menu setup. One item in the BIOS seems to be great: Load performance defaults. These settings corresponded exactly to the settings I slowly had to find out while looking for those fastest and stable. All connectors are seperated from each other, labeled clearly and easy to access. What I am missing is at least a second fan connector and maybe a fourth DIMM socket. The memory test failed at the 512 MB hurdle; at least 2x 256 MB do only lead to 384 MB. If you can live without extra large memory modules, the Gigabyte 6BXC is a good choice.

Intel SE440BX

• BIOS Version: 86A.011.P04
• Board Revision: unknown
• External clock speeds: 66, 100 MHz
• Slots: 4x full size PCI, 2x full size ISA, full size AGP
• Memory: 3x DIMM

The first thing I noticed when I took a look at the Intel BX board was a bit disappointing: If the design was more clever, one more ISA or PCI slot could have been added. Instead Intel integrated a Crystal 16 Bit sound chip. That's fine, just be sure you get the right ATX cover for the backside with the right holes for the line in/out connectors. Intel also integrated three CD-audio-cable-like line ins (CD in, telephone in, aux in) for free use. Also three fan connectors have been spread over the board to make abundant cooling easy possible. All connectors are labeled clearly and even the PC speaker has been placed directly onto the motherboard.

The feature showdown was almost impressing, but performance has been neglected a bit and the memory test was disappointing this time: The only type of memory that works on this board without getting an error message is PC-100 SDRAM with SPD. Of course I expected the 256 MB modules to run properly, but no matter if I plugged in one or two: The board always only logs in 128 MB. To change the CPU multiplier, you have to set the jumper "BIOS config" to 2-3. The FSB is detected via pin "B21" and cannot be changed except by covering this connect. Of course Intel wants to prevent overclocking and doesn't include alternative FSB clocks except 66 and 100 MHz.