Shuttle HOT-661V Apollo Pro Plus Slot-1

The Bad

As with the AOpen AX63, the VIA Apollo Pro Plus does not perform quite as well as similar i440BX solutions, especially in Quake 2 testing (software mode).

Overclocked FSB speeds were not as stable as some other motherboards that have made their way through the AnandTech lab. The claimed support for 140/150MHz was also very intriguing, but simply did not work at all.

There is still no adjustable core voltage from anyone other than Abit in the Slot-1 market, so this Shuttle board does not have it either. This feature is well known for helping overclockers push their CPU's just a little further.

As mentioned before, the board was designed with an optional hardware monitor in mind. The only problem is that the required Winbond 83781D was not included. If you want the HOT-661V and are interested in having a hardware monitor, make sure that your vendor has boards with the Winbond chip onboard.

The 4/3/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) expansion slot configuration was possibly the best compromise when Shuttle designed and laid out the PCB for the HOT-661P that the HOT-661V is based on, but these days, 4 PCI slots is becoming extremely limiting for many users. PCI sound cards and modems are all the rage now and 4 PCI slots can severely limit your expansion options.

Finally, there is the issue of the VIA Apollo Pro Plus chipset. AGP compatibility was one of the biggest problems with their MVP3 chipset and, while things have improved considerably with the Apollo Pro Plus, the question of what will happen in the future remains. Will VIA have to constantly write a new AGP GART driver as new video cards are released? Further, the Apollo Pro Plus seems to be consistently slower in Quake 2 than similar i440BX solutions.

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS.: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS.: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: Mushkin SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM; Memory Man SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.mushkin.com

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