The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Test Configuration

Processor(s): Intel Pentium III 550E
RAM: 1 x 128MB Samsung Original PC133
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Expert 418000 - UltraATA/66
Bus Master Drivers: Microsoft Windows 98SE DMA Drivers
Video Card: Guillemot Maxi Gamer Xentor 32 TNT2 Ultra AGP
Video Drivers: NVIDIA Detonator Reference Drivers 3.53
Operation System(s): Windows 98 SE
Motherboard Revision: AOpen AX6BC Pro II
Millennium Edition Revision 1.0

 

Windows 98 Performance

  Sysmark 2000 Content Creation
Winstone 2000
Intel Pentium III 550E (5.5 x 100) 125 24.4
Intel Pentium III 710E (5.5 x 129) 157 26.2

The Final Decision

Editor's Choice AwardTake the only motherboard to receive AnandTech's Gold Editor's Choice Award in a standalone review, the AOpen AX6BC Pro Gold, make some basic, but useful improvements, and you get the AX6BC Pro II Millennium Edition - the best overall i440BX motherboard on the market.

For the hardcore overclocker, the latest offerings from ABIT, the BE6-2 and BF6 may be a better solution thanks to SoftMenu III's increased tweaking flexibility. For everyone else, there is no reason to pass on the AX6BC Pro II and its rock solid stability under all conditions. That is, of course, if you still want an i440BX board this late in its life cycle...


How it Rates

AnandTech Motherboard Rating

  Business
Performance 85%
Price 85%
Ease of Use 90%
Overclocked Stability 97%
General Stability 97%
Quality 97%
Documentation 88%
Reliability 97%
Overall Rating 92%

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

The Bad

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