Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/366



Here at AnandTech, we've come to expect solid, extremely reliable and stable boards from Gigabyte. What we've also noticed is that they usually support overclocking, but make an exception for their high end boards, such as the dual processor GA-6BXDS. What happens when you get the GA-6BXU, a board that's debatably high end? You get a few overclocking options but not many.


New Anand Tech Report Card Rating
87/B
Do not compare newer ratings to older ones, the newer ratings are much more aggressive

Motherboard Specifications

CPU Interface Slot-1
Chipset Intel 440BX
L2 Cache N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor ATX
Bus Speeds 66 / 100 / 133
Clock Multipliers 3.5x - 6x
Voltages Supported Auto Detect
Memory Slots 4 168pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots 0 AMR Slots
1 AGP Slot
4 PCI Slots (4 Full Length)
3 ISA Slots (1 Shared / 2 Full Length)
BIOS Award 4.51PG

The Good


Click to enlarge

Although such a board seems fairly rare these days, Gigabyte's GA-6BXU is a single processor Slot-1 solution with onboard SCSI all on a standard sized PCB. The Intel i440BX chipset is at the heart of the GA-6BXU, with Adaptec's 7890AP handling dual channel SCSI duties. One of those channels is Ultra 2 Wide LVD SCSI and the other is standard Ultra Wide SCSI.

The 4/3/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration is a little dated these days, but since SCSI is integrated on the board, it's not as much of an issue as it usually is. All 4 PCI and 1 of the ISA slots are full length. Fortunately, four DIMM slots are provided to allow for maximum memory expansion. ATX specifications are followed fairly closely, with all HDD/FDD/SCSI connectors located just in front of the DIMM slots. The ATX power connector is along the right edge of the board and shouldn't cause any cable clutter. The PCB is a little larger than the ABIT BH6, so should fit fine in any standard ATX case.

Eight beefy 1200uF capacitors surround the CPU slot with a few smaller ones spread out around the board. Two 3 pin fan connectors are located next to the CPU slots for use with fans with a tachometer output. A fold down CPU retention mechanism is preinstalled and will hold any Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III CPU securely in place. An external SCSI port/backplate is included as well so that external SCSI devices may be used without additional adapters.



A single jumper provides for bus speed selection, either 66 MHz, 100 MHz, or Auto. Auto, of course, uses the state of B21 to set the bus speed and the other settings force the specified FSB. A second jumper enables a 133 MHz FSB mode with a PCI divider of 1/4 so that the PCI bus remains within spec. As with all other i440BX solutions, AGP is still way out of spec when the 133 MHz FSB setting is in use. It would be nice to see some overclocked bus speeds here, but Gigabyte apparently does not think those are necessary for a "high end" onboard SCSI motherboard. Four DIP switches control the clock multiplier settings, which is of course not necessary to set on today's multiplier locked CPU's. Stability is excellent as we've come to expect from Gigabyte boards.

Gigabyte has also taken the standard Award BIOS and improved upon it just a bit, starting off with a feature well known on AOpen boards - a set of BIOS options that can be loaded and are already tweaked for performance. These options pretty much are optimal for the majority of users, but if you're a real hardcore tweaker, you'll want to go through and double check that everything set the way you like it. Upon boot, the BIOS reports the core voltage of each CPU and any voltages that may be out of spec. The onboard SCSI chip can be enabled or disabled from the BIOS as well.

Power management consists of pretty much the standard stuff these days. Wake on LAN and wake on modem ring headers are available to allow the system to power on in the presence of network activity or incoming call. The BIOS can be set to turn on the system at a specific time. The CPU fan can be shut off when the system suspends to quiet things down a bit. ACPI support is built into the BIOS for added power management under an ACPI compliant OS like Windows 98 or Windows 2000. The system can be configured to power on via hot key or mouse click as well.

Since the GA-6BXU is a considered a high end board, which might be running 24/7, Gigabyte was wise enough to include a jumper that would force the system to power back on in the case of a power failure. When enabled, the system will return to its previous power state upon loss of AC power.

For hardware monitoring, the GA-6BXDS uses the extremely popular Winbond 83782D to monitor both onboard fans, 9 voltages, and up to 3 temperatures. The reason for "up to 3 temperatures" is that the Winbond hardware monitor can only monitor one temperature on its own - the temperature of the Winbond chip itself. In order to monitor the other two temperatures, such as that of the CPU, the Winbond chip requires an external sensor. With the 83782D, it is usually best to read the CPU temperature via the CPU's onboard thermal diode, but unfortunately, Gigabyte has chosen to use a board mounted thermistor. This is simply not as accurate as the onboard diode. No further thermistor headers are included, so the only temperatures measured are ambient case and CPU. The included CD features Intel LANdesk Client Manager (LDCM). Of course, a variety of shareware/freeware hardware monitoring utilities are available on the web as well.

Although lacking details on installing a motherboard, the manual is otherwise pretty good for the experienced user and includes detailed information on all connector pin outs as well as the various BIOS settings. A separate manual is included for the onboard SCSI controller. The CD includes Intel LANdesk Client Manager (LDCM) for hardware monitoring, Trend PC-Cillin 98 (OEM) anti-virus software, a suspend to disk utility, and even DirectX 6.1. Of course, there's also the traditional chipset patches and drivers. The CD is not board specific and does not include an online version of the manual.



The Bad

Although Gigabyte used the Winbond 83782D, which is capable of reading CPU temperature from the onboard thermal diode, they still chose to use a board mounted thermistor on the GA-6BXU. This is simply not as accurate as reading from within the CPU die and there's no reason to not be reading from the CPU's onboard thermal diode.

It is extremely rare to see core voltage adjustments on a board with built-in SCSI like the GA-6BXU, but it's still something that could come in quite handy when overclocking. Of course, bus speeds are limited to 66 and 100MHz on the GA-6BXU. Combined with the locked multipliers on all recently manufactured CPU's and overclocking becomes quite difficult anyway.

A potential source of confusion is the inclusion of SCSI termination options in both the Award BIOS and Adaptec BIOS that loads after it.

USB Compatibility

  • Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

  • Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

  • USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

  • USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes


Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: Mushkin SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM; Memory Man SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com




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.

AnandTech Motherboard Testing Methodology

Test Configuration

Processor(s): Intel Pentium II 400 OEM
RAM: 1 x 64MB Mushkin PC100 SDRAM
1 x 64MB Memory-Man PC100 SDRAM
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar AC28400 - UltraATA/33
Bus Master Drivers: Microsoft Win98 DMA Drivers
Video Card(s): Matrox Millennium G200 (8MB SGRAM - AGP)
Video Drivers: MGA Millennium G200 Release 1677-411
Operation System(s): Windows 98 SE
Motherboard Revision: Gigabyte GA-6BXU Revision 1.7

 

Windows 98 Performance

  Business
Winstone 99
Intel Pentium II 400 (4x100) 19.2


 

The Final Decision

As we've come to expect from Gigabyte, the GA-6BXU is a very solid motherboard that has the added bonus of onboard dual channel SCSI. At nearly $350, the price is pretty typical for a motherboard with these features. What you get with the GA-6BXU is the Gigabyte name, which means excellent stability and reliability. Unfortunately, the GA-6BXU offers no overclocking options for the tweakers out there.

How it Rates


AnandTech Motherboard Rating

  Business
Performance 87%
Price 87%
Ease of Use 87%
Overclocked Stability N/A
General Stability 91%
Quality 87%
Documentation 87%
Reliability 85%
Overall Rating 87%

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology

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