Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/36



We've all seen the best of the best in the Socket-7 world...but how about in the ever growing Slot-1 market?  Grab your fans and let's find out who comes out on top in the arena of Intel's flaming Goliath, the Pentium II.


Windows 95 Performance - Business Winstone 97 - Intel Pentium II - 300 (66MHz x 4.5)

Motherboard

Business Winstone 97

ABIT LX6

64.5

AOpen AX6F

64.1

AOpen AX6L

66.9

ASUS KN97-X

65.3

ASUS P2L97

66.6

Chaintech 6FTM

63.7

Chaintech 6LTM

67.5

EPoX KP6-LA

65.8

FIC KN-6010

64.3

FIC KL-6011

66.2

Megatrends FX66

65.7

Megatrends FX83-A

66.3

MTech Phantom R653

62.4

MTech Stallion AT M628

65.4

Shuttle HOT-631

65.1

At the base 300MHz clock speed Chaintech is the clear leader with a score of 67.5, followed by AOpen's AX6L by a differential margin of 0.6 points...hardly noticeable to the average user.  Coming in a close third place is ASUS' P2L97, an excellent performer which is pretty much expected considering ASUS' history of producing high speed high quality motherboards.  The Pentium II board that managed to come in fourth place in this roundup, amazingly enough wasn't a 440LX based motherboard...rather a board based on the old 440FX (Natoma) chipset.  This board is none other than Megatrends FX83-A, unfortunately the original revision of the FX83-A is no longer in production it has been replaced by the FX83-II which has been problematic to quite a few users.  Its a shame, the FX83-A had something most of the older 440FX P2 boards released didn't have, the potential to become something great.  Moving down the list to the 5th place holder, FIC's KL-6011 managed to pull out a 66.2 Business Winstone score, mind you that all the listings on this chart are ALL outstanding performers and they disserve equal consideration, remember to look at more than the numbers you see before you, look at the individual features of each motherboard and then make the final decision.  It is very interesting to note that some of the older 440FX boards like the ASUS KN97-X outperform even the newest LX based motherboards, this just goes to show you that nothing can beat a well designed motherboard...not even a bloated new chipset ;)



 

Windows 95 Performance - Business Winstone 97 - Intel Pentium II - 338 (75MHz x 4.5)

Motherboard

Business Winstone 97

ABIT LX6

66.9

AOpen AX6F

Not Supported

AOpen AX6L

68.4

ASUS KN97-X

Not Supported

ASUS P2L97

68.6

Chaintech 6FTM

Not Supported

Chaintech 6LTM

68.4

EPoX KP6-LA

Not Supported

FIC KN-6010

Not Supported

FIC KL-6011

67.2

Megatrends FX66

Not Supported

Megatrends FX83-A

Not Run

MTech Phantom R653

Not Supported

MTech Stallion AT M628

Not Supported

Shuttle HOT-631

68.2

Out of the 6 boards that were tested at 337.5MHz, the ASUS P2L97 came out on top with a score 0.2 Winstone Points above the two way tie for second place between the Chaintech 6LTM and the AOpen AX6L.  Shuttle's stable LX wonder, the HOT-631 followed the lead of the top three performers quite nicely with an outstanding 68.2 Business Winstone 97 score followed by FIC's KL-6011 and ABIT's LX6.

Windows 95 Performance - Business Winstone 97 - Intel Pentium II - 375 (83MHz x 4.5)

Motherboard

Business Winstone 97

ABIT LX6

70.0

AOpen AX6F

Not Supported

AOpen AX6L

71.5

ASUS KN97-X

Not Supported

ASUS P2L97

71.8

Chaintech 6FTM

Not Supported

Chaintech 6LTM

71.6

EPoX KP6-LA

Not Supported

FIC KN-6010

Not Supported

FIC KL-6011

Not Run

Megatrends FX66

Not Supported

Megatrends FX83-A

Not Run

MTech Phantom R653

Not Supported

MTech Stallion AT M628

Not Supported

Shuttle HOT-631

Not Supported

Pretty much the same picture here, ASUS takes the lead, closely followed by Chaintech and AOpen, with ABIT holding up the rear with a score of 70.0.  All of these scores fall within 2 Winstone Points of each other, which is very good indeed, the simple ability of a motherboard to make it up to the 375MHz clock rate with a Pentium II - 300 is an achievement by itself.  Out of all of these motherboards however, the AOpen AX6L is the most stable at 375MHz, followed by the ABIT LX6, the Chaintech 6LTM and finally the ASUS P2L97. 

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