Abit BE6 II motherboard
March 8, 2000
By Pat Kennedy
Comments
A sixth PCI slot shared with the single ISA slot would have been a nice addition to the board. Also, the lack of greater PCI and AGP dividers holds the BE6 II back from being the greatest overclocker's board of all time. Abit's decision to use the 440BX chipset instead of the new i820 chipset was wise. With RDRAM prices almost 5 times PC133 SDRAM, most users with that much to spend will probably build systems with multiple processors, for which the BE6 II is not equipped. i820 boards with memory translator hubs (MTH), which allow PC133 SDRAM to be used, have been plagued with performance hits that bring the speed to a level below that of similar BX boards.
Conclusion
The Abit BE6 II is a worthy successor to the original BE6. Its vast pool of FSB settings and rock solid stability is a reminder of Abit's continuing commitment to the overclocking community. Although excessive overclocking and OS flaws can bring the board down, at rated and slight to moderate overclock speeds, the BE6 II is difficult to crash. The board's stability is a testament to Abit's excellent engineering. The choice to support standard SDRAM shows a clear concern for their customers' bank accounts. The major downsides are the lack of PCI/AGP dividers to use the higher bus speeds, 5 instead of 6 PCI slots, and 3 instead of 4 DIMM slots. Anyone in the market for an SDRAM based motherboard should definitely look at the BE6 II.
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