In a time when the VIA and Intel's i815E based
motherboards rule the mainstream mobo market, some of you might wonder
why manufactures still try hard to keep the life of the 440BX chipset
going. When the newer chipsets boasts features such as 4X AGP, FSB
speeds BX boards could simply dream of attaining, why is it that the
BX chipset continues to have a strong following amidst the growing
number of fans for the other two types. Even though the VIA Apollo
Pro 133 and Intel's i815E boasts many features, on a head to head
battle these two new chipsets face no challenge at all for the mighty
BX chipset. Performance wise, the BX chipsets still rules the arena.
Remember the time when the BX boards were first introduced. Thrill
seekers, overclockers, LANers… practically everybody wanted to get
their hands on these boards. No one in their right mind would simply
opt for anything other than a BX board. The performance they offered
were simply unparallel to other boards offered at the time. Recalling
back those times sure does bring in some wonderful memories and I'm
sure it's the same for most of you as well. For those of you who'd
like to step into that wonderful world of BX boards again, here's
your chance. We take a look at Soyo's 6ba +100, a 440BX based board
incorporated with most modern features we look for in boards today.
Sure the early BX boards didn't offer many features to talk about
other than its performance, but just take a look this boards specifications
and you'll see how modern technology has changed all that.
The SY 6BA+100 is the successor of the popular
6BA+IV, which remained as one of the leading BX boards until the arrival
of this. The real improvement of the 6BA+100 is that the High Point
370 controller replaces the High Point368 controller of the 6BA+IV.
Not only does this replace the ATA/66 limitation with ATA/100, it
also has a built in IDE RAID controller as well. As you might have
guessed, this board is fully geared for ultimate performance.
