Abit BH6 Motherboard Review Washington DC

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Originally published at Internet.com

I'm going to make this easy for all of you. This is absolutely the best Intel BX-based board I've ever seen. You don't even have to read the rest of the review, though I think you'll want to. The Abit BH6 is simply the best. Abit began with the BX6, an overclocker's dream, and added another PCI slot, a new CPU Soft Menu II option, and another Front Side Bus Speed, 124MHz, onto it to create an awesome motherboard, the BH6. It's just impossible not to like this board. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Features

Top MHz supported: 731 MHz (133*5.5) Clock Multipliers 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5 Bus Speeds 60, 66, 75, 83.3, 100, 103, 112, 124, 133 (103 MHz obtained by enabling Turbo Frequency) CPU voltage settings 1.30v - 2.10v (.5v increments), 2.2v, 2.3v System Memory Three 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting SDRAM, 384 MB max. (8, 16, 32, 64, 128 MB) (Although Dan Chadwick of Tweakit on Tuesday, November 24, reported that a 256MB DIMM worked fine on the BH6. A 512MB DIMM reported itself as a 256MB (both DIMMs are PC100 SDRAM). ) Expansion Slots 1 AGP 2x, 5 PCI, 2 ISA (All Full-length) Internal/External I/O * Floppy port supports up to 2.88MB and mode 3 floppies * Ultra DMA/33 IDE supports up to 4 devices (Including LS-120) * Two built-in external USB connectors * Two 16550 fast UART serial ports * Built-in Standard/ECP/EPP parallel port * PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors * IrDA Infrared port header (not external) * Wake-On-LAN header * SB-LINK header Form Factor ATX: 305mm x 190mm (12"x7.4") Miscellaneous * Award BIOS w/ CPU SOFT MENU II * Supports ACPI and DMI * Motherboard temp, CPU fan speed, and voltages monitoring * Year 2000 compliant Boot Options A, C, SCSI C, A, SCSI C, CD-ROM, A CD-ROM, C, A D, A, SCSI (At least 2 IDE HDD can be used) E, A, SCSI (At least 2 IDE HDD can be used) F, A, SCSI (At least 2 IDE HDD can be used) SCSI, A, C SCSI, C, A A, SCSI, C LS/ZIP, C

Price $120 MSRP $95 Street

+ Excellent Stability Addition of 124 MHz 1/5/2 slot configuration Great Price CPU Soft Menu II makes overclocking easy

- CPU thermal sensor not installed (no CPU temp) No Wake-On-Modem connector

Overall Awesome motherboard. Absolutely the Best single processor ATX BX board. Don't be too cheap (or stupid :-) ) to ignore this board. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup as tested: Celeron 448 (4x112) Abit BH6 64MB PC100 SDRAM Matrox Mystique G200 16MB 9.1GB Seagate Medalist Pro 12x CD-ROM 14" Acer AcerView 11D

So what came with it?

The BH6 is packaged with two retention modules (Celeron and Pentium II), a dual-IDE cable, a dual-floppy cable, an ATX port shield, a driver CD, and a manual. Abit has a reputation of excellent manuals, and this one is no exception. It even includes instructions for upgrading the BIOS, installing motherboard drivers, and specific hard drive installation. One thing that would have been nice is troubleshooting instructions, but it's still one of the best motherboard manuals.

The driver CD includes all the usual stuff, the manual in Adobe Acrobat format as well as the latest BIOS and drivers as of the date of the CD. The Abit CD also includes a copy of the Abit Website as of July 17 and a copy Pointcast and an Internet search tool called Inforia Quest, both freeware. The retention modules are of better quality than any I've seen. The Pentium II module actually uses a dual-peg design which is a bit different than most motherboards. Each set of metal pegs is pushed into the corresponding post of the main retention module. When they are snapped in, it is incredibly sturdy. This makes for a very physically stable CPU.

Installation

Installation was a snap. I just installed it in the case, stuck all my cards in and booted up. The board detected my Celeron as a 266MHz CPU, so the first thing I did was up the bus speed to 100 to give me 400 MHz. When I booted to Win98, it redetected all my hardware, and I was set. I've had absolutely no problems with configurations or anything. The BIOS automatically detects and selects the proper bus speed (FSB), multiplier, and voltage for the CPU. Of course, you can change any of that. Using the CPU Soft Menu II, I had no problems booting my Celeron 266 at 400, and then increasing it to 448 MHz, which I'm currently running it at. It has been completely stable through several runs of Winstone 98 and Quake II. I've been running at that speed now for 4 days with no problems.

I also attempted running at the provided 124 MHz FSB setting, but it's likely a combination of my CPU and CAS 3 PC100 RAM holding me back. It did not boot at all. Unfortunately, I could not change the multiplier of my Celeron to tell which was actually restricting the overclocking (496 MHz (4*133) is a pretty sig. jump from 448). However, I think it's excellent that Abit chose to add the 124 MHz setting because 133 MHz is such an extensive overclock of the entire system.

The BH6 includes a special option in the BIOS: SEL 100/66# Signaal. It can be set to High or Low. This is most typically used when you have a 350 or 400 MHz P2, and you want to change the multiplier of it while running at a 100 MHz bus speed. Normally, this setting is set to High on such a CPU by default. Theoretically, if it is set to Low, the multiplier can be changed with no problems. However, since I do not have such a CPU, I could not verify that it does work, but it did nothing for my Celeron. I tried many different combinations of bus speeds, multipliers, settings of the SEL 100/66#, but nothing worked. Maybe it will do some good for you, but it has done nothing for me.

There are a couple of really handy features of this board that aren't often talked about. If you happen to select a setting in the BIOS that won't allow the machine to boot, you can hold Insert to boot with the default BIOS values. This is really nice if you happen to enable Speed Error Hold in the CPU Soft Menu. If, when you are overclocking, you select a value your system can't handle, it will freeze the system and not allow a bootup. The only way to get back to the BIOS is by holding Insert on bootup.

Dan Chadwick over at Tweakit also mentioned that every PC66 SDRAM DIMM he tried on the BH6 worked at 100MHz without problems. I decided to go ahead and test out a 32 MB module I have in my other computer. I had already tested it at 100MHz on two other BX boards as well as an MVP3 board, and it did not run reliably at all. So, after pulling the PC100 DIMM I had in the board, I stuck in this PC66 DIMM. I was going to change the bus down to 100 MHz from the 112 I had been running it at, but I decided to go for it and see what happened. It booted Win98 fine so I ran Winstone 98 without problems and then played a single game of MotorHead (5 laps). On the 4th lap, the screen froze. So, I figured it was probably related to the overclock, but I made another go at it. I rebooted the computer and fired up MotorHead with a 25 lap race of Olympus. After exactly 30 minutes, I finished the race without problems. I then fired up WinBench 98 and ran All WinMarks... also finishing with no problems. So, after 2 hours of running a PC66 DIMM at 112 MHz, my system was alive and well. I don't know if these results will be repeatable across the net, but the possibility is something to be aware of.

Performance

As for most BX-based motherboards, the performance of the BH6 is pretty much the same as any other board. Because of this and the interest of focusing on the stability and features of a motherboard, actual Winstone/WinBench/QuakeII scores will not be shown because they do not significantly vary from the average BX motherboard score.

Good Stuff

Wide variety of clock multipliers, supported bus speeds, boot options, and voltages. Great manual. It has a real nice form factor (very easy to install in an ATX mid-tower case. It is extremely stable and compatibility was not a problem. Need I mention the CPU Soft Menu II, the sweetest configurator for CPU overclocking enthusiasts? It also has a great price: $95 for what is probably the best BX motherboard feels like stealing. Abit also threw in a nice little feature for P2 350 and 400 owners, the SEL 100/66# BIOS setting for skirting around Intel's little multiplier roadblocks.

Bad Stuff

Abit didn't install a CPU temperature sensor!! Why they didn't, I have no clue, but not knowing the exact temperature the CPU is running at isn't the greatest feeling in the world. Also, there is no Wake-On-Modem header, something I consider a necessary feature for any state-of-the-art motherboard.

Conclusion

I've said it, and I'll say it again: This is the best BX motherboard currently on