Motherboard Specifications

Processor

• Intel Pentium^® II Processor 233MHz-366MHz (66Mhz).
• Intel Pentium^® II Processor 350MHz-450MHz (100Mhz)
• Slot 1 Socket for Future Expansion.

Chipset

• Intel 82440 BX AGPset

Cache memory

• CPU Built-in 512KB L2 cache for Pentium II Processor

System Memory

• 3 x 168-pin 3.3v DIMM sockets support
• Supports 8/16/32/64/128 MB DIMM Module
• Supports EDO RAM, SDRAM (Support ECC, 72 bit)
• Supports 8MB to 384 MB DRAM Size
• Supports 66/68/75/83/100/103/112/133 MHz System Clock Speed Setting
• Supports 2.0-5.0 Multiplier Setting

PCI IDE

• 2 X PCI Bus Master UDMA/33 IDE ports (up to 4 ATAPI Devices)
• Supports for PIO Mode 3, 4, UDMA/33 IDE & ATAPI CD-ROM

I/O Interface

• 1x floppy port (360KB-2.88MB)
• 2x serial ports (16550 high-speed)
• 1x parallel port (SPP/EPP/ECP)
• PS/2 Keyboard
• PS/2 Mouse
• 2x USB

Expansion slot

• 5 x PCI 32-bit slots, PCI 2.1 compliant
• 2 x ISA 16-bit slots
• 1x AGP (1x & 2x Mode,66/133MHz) slot
• Support Creative PCI Sound Card SB-Link™.

Power Management

• Power On by PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, LAN, RTC Alarm, Modem Ring & Soft-Power Switch
• Power Off by Windows^® 95 Shut down & Soft-Power Switch
• Supports 3 Level ACPI LED
• Supports Suspend-To-Hard-Drives

Form Factor

• ATX Form Factor, 4 layer PCB
• Fits in Regular ATX Case
• AT & ATX Connector on Board
• Double Deck ATX Back Panel

BIOS

• 2 Mbit (256KB) FLASH RAM
• Award PCI BIOS with Green, PnP, DMI, INT13 (HD>8.4)and Anti-Virus Functions
• LS120, ZIP, ATAPI CD-ROM, IDE #1, #2, #3, #4 Bootable

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Introduction

  ECS P6BX-A+ is one of the Intel BX chipset based motherboard easily available in Sim Lim Square. Being very prominent in the past ten years in the ODM/OEM , Elitegroup has decided to take an extra step into distribution. And since then, many ECS products like motherboards, cdroms, memory, video cards, etc are being spotted in Sim Lim Square and loved by most DIY due to their reliability and cost-effectiveness. I was not expecting very much of this board actually, but I was wrong. It made Singapore Hardware Zone another No. 1. The new BX motherboard is truly another winner. To see why, just read on.

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The Good

   The ECS P6BX-A+ is equipped with standard 3 DIMMS slots to provide you with a maximum of 384 Mb. There are also 5 PCI, 2 ISA and 1 AGP to cater for all your peripheral needs. Another good point is perhaps the fact that it is a mini ATX form factor. This means that you can rest assure that your standard ATX casing can house this backbone.

  Typical of many mainboards, this motherboard also supports jumperless configurations and also supports keyboard power on switch. The layout of the board is also organised and most special of all is that the primary, secondary and floppy disk slots are equipped with the data cable holders. Feels good and secure when you push in the cables.In addition, they have also included a heatsink on top of the BX chip too. How thoughtful!

  There is also another bulitin pins to connect to detect open case. I wonder what this feature is for. The real deciding factor is actually how well this baby perform under overclocking and how much can I go with this board. The best part begins now...........

The Test

  I have decided to run at just three configuration. One at 400Mhz (4 x100 Mhz) , 448 Mhz ( 4 x 112 Mhz) and 466 Mhz (3.5 x 133 Mhz)......Yes!!!! A working 133 Mhz setting at last. Please look further down. My first success with 133 Mhz so far by the way ......Another great reason why you should consider this board.

Wintune 98 Result for Intel Pentium II 400 Mhz @ 4 x 100 Mhz

Wintune 98 Result for Intel Pentium II 448 Mhz @ 4 x 112 Mhz

Wintune 98 Result for Intel Pentium II 466 Mhz @ 3.5 x 133 Mhz

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  If you are observant enough, you would have noticed that there is a drop in the Uncached Disk benchmark for the 133 Mhz FSB. The  reason to that is because the IBM 14GXP is having problems at this configuration. This is actually expected because of the 7200 rpm of this drive. Thus, I have turned off the UDMA Mode and used the ATA Mode 4. The result of that is a rock stable configuration. This is my recommended setting by the way since Intel has locked their frequencies and multipiers for PII 400 Mhz to prevent overclocking.

  But, I do not foresee any problems with drives spinning at 5400 rpm. Anyway, this is the only PII board that I have tried so far (dtd 13 August 98 ) to work at 133 Mhz FSB. I believe 1st time documented in Singapore and probably the world. Hee hee...

The Bad

  The P6BX-A+ does has certain areas that requires improvements to make it a perfect board for overclockers. The board available in Singapore (at least the one I am reviewing) does not have the System hardware Monitor IC Chip (W83871D). There are also absence of multipiers above 5.0x and above in this board. By the way, the pcb revision of this board is 1.1A and the Bios version is 2.4.

  The final bad point and probably the area in which I am most disturbed about. It is the fact that the motherboard detects the processor you are using and default the settings to it. For example, if you are using a 333 Mhz or below processor, the BIOS setting will default to 233 Mhz. In addition, the manual setting will be restricted to the selection of only 66/68/75/83 Mhz FSB. The 333 Mhz processor that I have tried only managed a 375 Mhz. Only if you use a 350 Mhz or above CPU, then the default will be at 350 Mhz with the availability of 100/103/112/133 Mhz FSB. I hope this can be change thru a new bios update.

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Conclusion

   The P6BX-A+ is a real performer among the BX motherboards available in the market.  The closest chance to date to run 133 Mhz FSB with good PC 100 SDRAMS in Singapore. If you have a PII 350 and above, I would certainly recommend this motherboard to you. By the way, the official distributor of ECS products in Singapore is Fuwell @ Sim Lim Square.

MOTHERBOARD RATING

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