Specs and Impressions

Features
Dimensions	Temperature
Dimensions	ATX 8.5" x 12.0"
Chipset	Intel 440BX 100Mhz AGPSet
Expansion	5 PCI, 2 ISA, 1 Shared
BIOS	Award PCI/PNP 686
Memory Support	4 DIMM Sockets - 8MB to 1GB SDRAM, PC66/100
On-board I/O	2 UltraDMA/33 IDE (4 devices), 1 floppy, 2 serial, 1 parallel, 2 USB, PS/2 keyboard and mouse
Misc features	1 CPU fan header, 2 chassis fan headers, SB-Link, data buffers for RAM, PCI IRQ Assign in BIOS

Overall Impressions

Abit has certainly listened to their customers over the years. After the lukewarm response to the LX6, the original BX6 was a startling turnaround, offering the enhanced "SoftMenu 2" firmware CPU speed selection tool. No more pulling out and losing tiny, obscure jumpers, or scrounging around for old manuals with required jumper settings. Just hit "Del" to bring up the BIOS during POST, and you can select your CPU speed right from the keyboard. The BX6 also included the full compliment of 4 DIMM sockets, something not commonly found nowadays, as well as 6 custom data buffer chips to increase stability.

The BH6 removed one DIMM socket and the data buffers, and in doing so Abit was able to shrink the size of the board by more than two inches in width (size of the PCB is a major determinant of final motherboard cost). However, the BH6 came equipped with a 5/2 PCI/ISA combination, much better suited for today's PCI-crazed peripherals, and the additional speed settings in SoftMenu II allowed rampant overclockers to push their system to the physical limits. It was fortune for Abit that Intel's amazingly popular Celeron 300A was available around the same time. Most 300A CPUs can be overclocked to an amazing 450Mhz, almost matching the speed of Intel's fastest high-performance chip, the Pentium II 450.

The BX6 was the more advanced of the two boards, while the BH6 accepted some tradeoffs to provide a cheaper, 5-PCI solution for overclockers. The BX6 2.0 changes that and completely eliminates the need to choose between the original BX6 and the BH6. For one, the BX6 2.0 marks the return of 4 DIMM sockets, as well as supporting new 256MB DIMMs. This allows the new BX6 2.0 to accommodate a massive total of 1GB of system SDRAM. The BX6 2.0 also brings back the 6-chip data buffer of the original BX6, which is designed to address RAM stability issues while populating all four sockets. With 1-3 sockets filled, the buffers aren't needed, but once all four sockets are used, the buffers kick in and work to keep memory flow error-free.