Abit VP6 Motherboard Review

The first thing you notice about the Abit VP6 is the dual CPU socket. At the center of each socket is a temp probe for measuring the temperature of each CPU. Being an overclocker's motherboard, Abit made sure to clear enough space around the CPU to accommodate big coolers like those from Alpha or GlobalWin. Notice that the ATX power connector is placed right at the very top of the motherboard so it doesn't interfere with any nearby devices. 

The Abit VP6 is one of the very few consumer level motherboards on the market with four DIMM slots. Each slot can accept RAM up to 512 Megs in size, for a mind numbing 2+ Gigs. I didn't quite go that crazy. The motherboard had no problems with the four 256 Meg RAM I put into it. 

I really can't say enough about how much I like the layout of the VP6. Everything fits just right. If you're wondering why the VP6 comes with "only" five PCI slots, it's because of the second CPU socket. It forced Abit to remove a PCI slot. Still, for most users, five PCI slots is plenty. The color coded IDE cable connector is another nice touch. With four IDE connectors, you can hook up to eight hard drives if you ever wanted to start your own video production company. The orange connectors are ATA100 and the blue ones are ATA66. RAID is set up with the ATA100 connector.

The VP6 is slightly wider than the average motherboard due to the fact that it holds two CPUs and four DIMM slots. Still I had no problems installing it into my AMK 292-3333 case. The installed CPUs and motherboard combo look so good I didn't want to close the case up!

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