Tuesday, August 17, 1999

The performance tests results

All tests were all performed under Windows98.

The system setup was as following:

Motherboard: Abit BF6
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350mhz
Memory: 64mb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE first channel Primary port: Quantum Fireball KA 9.1gig UDMA66
IDE second channel Primary port: Kenwood 48X True X
AGP slot: ATI Rage Fury 128GL
OS: Win98 4.10
DirectX 6.1

Winbench 99 CPUmark

Lagging behind by a few scant points, the Abit BF6 is nearly equal with the BE6,
and thus sits at the summit of the pack among the best motherboards available.

Winstone 99

Taking its place at the very summit, the BF6 here demonstrates performance
equal to the best motherboard ever tested - which includes the Abit BE6...

Video Sub-System Tests

Once again, the BF6 almost matches the BE6, which it precedes by a few tenths of a point.

In this series of tests, the processor was Overclocked to between 392Mhz, or 420Mhz. The Abit BF6, the Soyo SY-6BA+III, the Abit BE6, and the MSI MS-6163 Pro were all Overclocked to 420Mhz. The EPoX BX3 and the original MS-6163 were Overclocked to 412Mhz. The Abit BX6 rev2 was set to 400Mhz, and the others to 392Mhz. In all cases, the tested motherboards were set to the highest frequency possible while maintaining stability. As we can contest, the Abit BF6 maintains fierce performance, and takes high honors as concerns matters of Overclocking.

The evaluation table below shows both the strong and weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remind you, that performance is not the sole purchasing criteria in a motherboard. Most of today's motherboards exhibit performance very close to each other, so, we need additional information in order to help us distinguish the real advantages of a motherboard compared to its competitors. This is exactly where this evaluation table comes in handy.

This motherboard score 98 out of a possible 100 points. Few cards has achieved a such a score, and its too bad that the BF6 didn't achieve an absolutely perfect score...

The Weak Points.

This board's weak points are rather few. My greatest reproach concerns the placement of the ATX connector behind the processor. This positioning obligates one to contour the wires around the processor, or over it, and leaving it thus in an less than ideal position. Also, the placement of the DIP switches - in the right hand corner of the motherboard (once placed in the casing) - makes them very difficult to reach after every cable has been relayed to the motherboard. Finally, a fourth DIMM socket would have allowed the installation of 1GB of memory - something that would be much appreciated by many users.

The Strong Points.

This cards strong points are thus: Exceptional performance, Overclocking capability beyond reproach, tremendous versatility of use, and a Jumperless design that offers an unequaled number of choices in configuration. Remember that with this motherboard, as with the BX6, it is possible to manually assign IRQs to PCI slots - something of grand utility when faced with IRQ conflicts.

Conclusions

The Abit BF6 reveals a new horizon to the PC world. Once again, Abit has pushed the limits of Overclocking, to offer us the real deal. No other manufacturer dared to go so far, and while other manufacturers offer interesting possibilities in Overclocking, they are too timid to follow the master. Bravo Abit, for presenting us with another product of immense originality! There is no doubt in my mind that the BF6 is destined for great success, as I've the impression that Overclocking fanatics will be lining up for this board, that I'm informed will go into full production by mid-October.

For additional information, visit Abit.

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