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 Celeron 366 OEM
RAM: 1 - 64MB Memory Man SEC PC100 SDRAM DIMM
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar AC28400 - UltraATA
Video Card(s): Matrox Millennium G200 (8MB SGRAM - AGP)
Bus Master Drivers: Microsoft Win98 DMA Drivers
Video Drivers: Matrox Millennium G200 Release 1677-411
Operation System(s): Windows 98 SE
Motherboard Revision: Chaintech 6AIA Revision 1.0

 

Windows 98 Performance

  Business Winstone 99 Quake 2 demo1.dm2
Intel Celeron 366 (5.5 x 66MHz) 17

11.6

Intel Celeron 458 (5.5 x 83MHz) 19.4

16.6


 

The Final Decision

The 6AIA follows in traditional Chaintech tradition and is still just as overclockable and stable as past Chaintech boards. The attention to detail has not been left out either for this low cost market segment and just about every feature is accounted for and carefully planned. For just $75 with onboard sound, the 6AIA is certainly a good deal on a fairly well executed board. Unfortunately, it is hampered by performance that's low compared to other Apollo Pro Plus board, which are already lower than their Intel counterparts. For just a few dollars more, an Intel board without VIA's performance/compatibility issues can be had. Chaintech's own i440ZX based 6ZIA is such a board in that category and is identical to the 6AIA except for the chipset.

How it Rates


AnandTech Motherboard Rating

  Business
Performance 70%
Price 84%
Ease of Use 90%
Overclocked Stability 88%
General Stability 87%
Quality 86%
Documentation 85%
Reliability 84%
Overall Rating 84%

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology

The Bad
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