The Good

It seems like nearly every VP3 motherboard out there today has two things in common: 1) an AT form factor, and 2) SIMM slots.

If you're looking for a motherboard that follows the trends, stop reading here, the Shuttle HOT-595 breaks all of the rules that seemed to have been implied by the competing VP3 motherboards out there, is the HOT-595 a trend setter?  It isn't a motherboard that will set trends for others in its class, but it will have an influence on the next generation Socket-7 motherboards. 

Shuttle chose to do away with the pesky SIMM slots that previously appeared in all of their motherboards, much like unwanted guests in some cases, getting them to leave took months of hard work but it finally happened, the HOT-595 comes in clean with a total of 3 DIMM slots and 0 SIMM slots.  The 595 is nothing more than a reality check, telling the computer hardware world that the reign of the EDO SIMM is quickly coming to an end, making way for SDRAM, PC100, and eventually, moving on to bigger and better things.

The HOT-595 is designed around a very spacious ATX layout, much like that of the FIC PA-2012, which on paper was the "First Socket-7 AGP Motherboard" although that can be debated.  Boasting high quality Sanyo capacitors around the Socket-7 IC, switching voltage regulators, not to mention featuring 4 PCI slots, 3 ISA and that one beloved AGP slot.  The 595 does obviously emphasize, quality, as well as the need for more PCI slots, while remembering that many users would like to hang on to their sound cards, modems, and whatever they may populate that third, shared, ISA slot with.

Configuring the HOT-595 could almost be considered the "routine Shuttle setup procedure."  Using the supplied HOT-595 Installation Guide the dip switch settings for the Bus Speed/Clock Multiplier were quickly derived, not a problem there.  An interesting thing to note, the HOT-595 manual not only documents the Bus Speed/Clock Multiplier and Voltage settings for the most common Socket-7 processors (including the K6/266), but it also documents the 2.2v core voltage setting for use with certain K6/233's. 

Unlike some manufacturers that choose to go with a dip switch setup vs the conventional jumpers that must be capped or left open in order to configure their motherboard, Shuttle decided to make things easy on the user by implementing a 8-switch block that is used to configure the clock multiplier/bus speed, while a 4 row jumper block is used to setup the voltage.  Using the supplied 4 row jumper cap, you can activate the Auto-Detect Voltage Settings option the HOT-595 provides you with as mentioned above.  The auto-detect setting had no problem with the Pentium MMX up to 262.5MHz, with the K6/266, or with the 6x86MX-200+.  The HOT-595 included a jumper to enable or disable Linear Burst Mode for use with the Cyrix/IBM 6x86 processors, unfortunately, when enabled, the setting wouldn't allow the system to boot properly.   

Windows 95 had no problem configuring the HOT-595 upon its initial boot process, while Shuttle didn't include the standard Manual/Drivers CD-ROM disk that normally comes with their motherboards in the box of the 595 reviewed here, you can expect to receive one if you do pick up one of these boards.   The performance of the HOT-595 was nothing to scream about, not that it was a poor performer, basically the HOT-595 is an example of diminishing returns when it comes to motherboards.  You can optimize a chipset from the minute it is released, till the second it is discontinued, however after a while the performance increases you receive from all of that tweaking begin to decrease almost exponentially.  The HOT-595 is a definite option in the VP3 world, it gives the PA-2012 a good run for its money, not because of performance, but because of features and quality.

The Bad

The HOT-595 is a down right decent VP3 motherboard, it does breathe some life back into the nearly deceased chipset (the chipset is being put to death by the upcoming MVP3 chipset which retains, more or less, all of the features of the VP3 while adding support for the 100MHz bus speed), however the 595 is only an option if you aren't going to wait for the Aladdin V/MVP3 Super7 motherboards to make their entrance into the market in a few weeks.

Unfortunately, the 83.3MHz bus speed setting documented both on the motherboard itself and in the Quick Reference Installation Guide did not boot at all, this limits the overclocking potential of the HOT-595, but of course, not everyone is that big of an overclocker, and very few VP3 boards out there actually support the 83MHz bus speed.  A fully functional Linear Burst Mode setting would have been nice too.

• Allows user to individually set IRQs for each Legacy ISA card

• Allows user to Assign IRQ for VGA

• Allows user to Assign IRQ for Modem

BIOS Settings

Recommended SDRAM

This little addition to my review layout was put in here just so you all can have an idea of what brand of SDRAM I recommend and have tested with the board, just to avoid problems in the future if you decide to purchase the board.

Recommended SDRAM: Advanced Megatrends SDRAM; Corsair PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB Advanced Megatrends SDRAM DIMMs; 1 x 64MB Corsair PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Advanced Megatrends
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.megacom.com

Manufacturer: Corsair Microsystems
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.nf-ny.com

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.

How I Tested

• Each benchmark was run a minimum of 2 times and a maximum of 5 times, if the motherboard failed to complete a single test within the 5 allocated test runs the OS/Software was re-installed on a freshly formatted Hard Drive and the BIOS settings were adjusted to prevent the test from failing again.  All such encounters were noted at the exact time of their occurrence.

• Business Winstone 98 / Business Graphics Winmark 98 was run at each individually tested clock speed, if reliable scores were achieved with the first two test runs of the suite an average of the two was taken and recorded as the final score at that clock speed.  If the test system displayed erratic behavior while the tests were running or the results were incredibly low/high the tests were re-run up to 5 times and an average of all the test runs was taken and recorded at the final score at that clock speed

• After each motherboard was tested a complete format of the test hard drive was initiated and the OS/benchmarking software was re-installed afterwards a defragment was initiated using Windows 95's Disk Defragmentation Utility

• Tests using AGP Video cards were only run under Winstone 97, as the AGP Millennium II does not affect the Business Winstone 98 score when compared to the PCI Millennium II used in the tests.

• No foreign drivers were present in the test system other than those required for the system to function to the best of its ability

• All foreign installation files were moved to a separate partition during the test as to prevent them from effecting the test results

• All tests were conducted at 800 x 600 x 256 colors

The Final Decision

If you don't mind the lack of a working 83MHz bus speed setting, and you happen to be in the market for a VP3 motherboard, the Shuttle HOT-595 would make a great purchase...the only other VP3 board capable of competing would have to be the Tyan Titan Trinity ATX...