How does the VT6X4 performed? Quite good really. The only down
fall and this is not Abit's fault is the memory performance. The VIA 133A has
very poor memory speed compared to the BX chipset. However this can be
compensated by increase the RAM speed. Here's is the SiSoft Sandra 99 memory
benchmark with the RAM running at 150Mhz.
If you have an 800Mhz P3 on a BX chipset motherboard, the memory
subsystem would perform better than the above benchmark. As you can see, the
system barely beats PII 450. This doesn't really translate into poor real world
performance. Far from it. Check out this 3D Mark 2000 score.
This is the highest 3D Mark 2000 score we have ever measured.
It's easily beat the 5828 score I got from my 850Mhz Athlon system which runs
the same video card. How does this translate into real world gaming performance?
The Abit VT6X4 with the 550E at 825Mhz runs Quake 3 faster than the Asus K7M
with an Athlon at 850Mhz. Credit the extra speed to the super stable 150Mhz
front side bus and the 550E full speed L2 cache.
There is very little to dislike about the VT6X4. The layout is
great for overclockers, there are enough well place fan connectors and the board
fits into any ATX case without problems. The only thing I would have like to see
was more bus speed selection. I mean, come on! This is Abit we're talking about.
If this board came from Asus you wouldn't see me gripe this much about it. After
you've been spoiled by the sheer number of bus speeds offered by the Abit
BE6-II, you wonder what Abit was doing when they made the SoftMenu system for
the VT6X4. The inclusion of an on board sound card is also questionable. It just
doesn't sound good. They should have save themselves the few dollars it added to
the cost of the board.
If you got yourself a new Coppermine CPU and want to get the
most out of it, then it doesn't get much better than Abit VT6X4. With its great
stability and 1/2 AGP divider, it's sure to push your CPU to its limits. Adding
a few more front side bus speed adjustments would have made it perfect.
The Goods
-
Super stable when overclocked
-
Can adjust RAM speed independent of FSB
-
1/2 AGP divider
-
Nice layout
-
Accommodates big heatsinks
The Bads
Rating: 9/10
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