It was the first... is it the best?
Written: Aug 28 '00 (Updated Aug 29 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Integration of audio & video for an all in one performance solution
Cons: Poor video performance, lack of front side bus speeds
|
|
|
| quigley13's Full Review: Abit SE6 Motherboard |
Abit is known for being on the cutting edge of motherboard development. They always seem to be the first one out with a new product/feature and are constantly pushing the envelope.
The 815e chipset
The Abit SE6 is based on the Intel 815e chipset. The 815 chipsets only support one processor and 512 MB of RAM. This aims the chipsets focus directly towards consumer use. This chipset is not suitable for extremely high-end applications due to the limitations described above. 512MB of RAM and one processor are plenty for me, just realize that this is not the platform for a high-end server. The chipset has built in 4 megabyte AGP video; this is both a blessing and a curse. It is great for those that plan to do basic word processing, surfing, and 2D stuff but absolutely unacceptable for gaming or anything remotely high end. The problem with including video in the chipset is that it raises the price of the motherboard. This makes the consumer pay for the video whether they choose to use it or not. Luckily, there is a 4X AGP slot for those of us that want increased video performance. Some 815 chipsets happen to include audio and others do not. Intel’s new chipset now includes a ¼ multiplier for the AGP slot allowing the front side bus (FSB) speed to be raised without worrying so much about overclocking your video card. That may sound like Greek to many, so lets just say that it is easier to overclock Pentium III’s with the 815 chipset when compared to Intel’s older 440BX.
The SE6
The Abit SE6 will support Pentium II/III processors from 500 MHz and higher as well as Celeron I/II processors from 566 MHz and higher. Essentially any Intel chip that is the FC-PGA form factor will work with this motherboard (Check with Abit before purchasing and get the latest BIOS).
Front side bus
The motherboard has a variety of FSB speeds. They chose to put the SOFT MENU II technology into this product even though SOFT MENU III is available in other products. SOFT MENU is Abit’s software in the BIOS that allows you to change FSB speeds, among other things, without setting jumpers. The problem is that the newer SOFT MENU III allows many more front side bus speeds than the SOFT MENU II. This is only a drawback to overclockers as they will be the only ones modifying the FSB speeds.
RAM
Another thing worth mentioning is that you can run your RAM at a different speed than your FSB. When you run your FSB speed at 133, you can run the RAM at a slower 100 MHz. This is a big plus to those that want to upgrade to a faster processor and motherboard yet use the older, slower PC100 RAM from an old system. Furthermore, if you have a Celeron and run at the “stock” FSB speed of 66 MHz then you can run the RAM at 100MHz to get a little extra speed out of the system. For some reason, you can not bump the RAM speed to 133 (PC133 RAM) when running the FSB at 100MHz. That would be a nice feature for the Celeron overclockers out there.
Video
As mentioned above, the integrated video performance is poor at best. The SE6 does have a 4X AGP slot and I would recommend using it if you want to do anything involving graphics.
Slots
The SE6 has a good bit of expansion possibilities. It has 1 AGP, 6 PCI, and 1 CNR slot. The AGP and PCI are self explanatory, the CNR slots are new. The CNR slot will be used for low cost networking, modems, etc. It should be noted that the CNR slot is shared with a PCI slot. The motherboard has no ISA slots, a trend that will continue in the future. The SE6 also comes with ATA 100 built in. This is not so much of a benefit now because the sustained hard drive speeds are currently well below this speed. This is a nice feature to have for future hard drive upgrades however.
Comparisons
When the Intel 815 chipset became available, I picked up two motherboards using this new standard. One was the Abit SE6, the other was the Asus CUSL2. Many of the features are the same with the two boards; I will only list the major differences here.
Front side bus increments
The first difference between the two boards is the amount of FSB speeds available. The Abit goes in about 4 MHz increments with even bigger gaps at some key points. This is due to the implementation of the SOFT MENU II instead of the newer SOFT MENU III technology. One of the many examples of this limitation is the in the FSB range around 100 MHz. This is a range where Celeron overclockers need every available FSB speed to get the most out of their chip. Speeds available from the Abit SE6 in this range are 83, 90, 100, 103, 112, and 115 MHz. The gap between 103 and 112 is huge. The Asus CUSL2 offers 1 MHz increment adjustments through most of the motherboards range. The I MHz increments Asus offers allows overclockers to see just how high they can go with their chip.
The overclock
The second difference I noticed was the overclocking ability of the two products. The Abit would not get my Celeron 566 above 100MHz FSB (Aprox. 850MHz) while the Asus motherboard was able to get the processor speed up to 934 MHz. Testing was done using the same heatsink, RAM, processor combo while taking advantage of the integrated video of the motherboards. This test was done with only one sample of each board and was hardly scientific. I do not know if this is a regular occurrence or not, so take what you like from this information. In any case it is very interesting, 84MHz is quite substantial.
Audio
The Abit SE6 includes audio and the Asus counterpart (That I got) does not! A motherboard with integrated audio and video allows many users to save a few bucks on a sound and video card. The expense of adding these two cards can add up especially if you buy retail.
Extras
The last difference that I will mention concerns extras that are included in the packaging. Both The SE6 and CUSL2 have the ability to add 3 additional USB ports on top of the 2 that come standard. Asus is nice enough to include the adapter while Abit does not. This may be a matter of Abit keeping costs down because there happens to be a significant difference in price between these two products. I was able to get the Abit SE6 for $25 cheaper than its ASUS counterpart. If given the choice I would take the integrated sound and give up the additional USB ports. Both came with excellent manuals and all the basic cables required.
Final thoughts?
If overclocking is not your first priority then I will suggest the Abit SE6 due to its lower price and integration of audio. For 25 dollars less than the CUSL2 you get audio… that is a good deal. I would recommend the Asus CUSL2 to overclockers because it allows 1 MHz adjustments to the front side bus.
PS: Is this review too long? Sometimes I feel like I am providing more information than people actually want. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
quigley13
|
|
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 42 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.