VIA Apollo Pro 133/133A Motherboard Roundup - February 2000

BIOS Setup & Support

Another often overlooked feature is a motherboard’s BIOS setup utility.  All of the boards we rounded up here use a BIOS manufactured by either AMI or AWARD. 

In the lab, we prefer the AWARD 6.00PG setup utility; however, the most important consideration is how thorough the setup utility covers the features and options of the chipset.  Arguably of equal worth to any motherboard is how well the manufacturer keeps the BIOS up to date and takes care of problems that are brought to their attention. 

The only way to truly measure this is by visiting the manufacturer’s support section and taking a look at BIOS updates for other motherboards as well as ask around on online message board forums and newsgroups. 

Manufacturer Support

One of the most important features when dealing with any motherboard is the support that backs it. Support is available not only in the form of written documentation but through the manufacturers’ web site in the form of driver downloads, BIOS updates, and more. It’s always good practice to check around motherboard manufacturers’ web sites in order to see the frequency at which they update their BIOSes (especially for older motherboards).

There is no replacement for word of mouth passed on by other users; it seems like motherboards don’t inspire the same tension that video cards and CPUs do when it comes to asking for advice. Asking the question "3dfx or NVIDIA?" or "AMD or Intel" in most newsgroups will end up in a flame war, whereas asking for personal experiences with a particular motherboard manufacturer online will usually give you a good set of responses to help gauge your motherboard manufacturer’s support rating. The AnandTech Motherboard Discussion Forum on the AnandTech Forums is an excellent place to ask about individual experiences with motherboard manufacturers.

The Candidates

Over the next few weeks you will see individual reviews of all of the motherboards covered in this roundup, and as we publish them we will add the links to the actual reviews in this section, but until then, here are brief looks at all of the motherboards present in this roundup.

The motherboards included in this roundup are the ABIT VA6, ASUS P3V4X, AOpen MX64, ECS P6BAP-A+, ECS P6BAP-Me, ECS P6VAP-Me, EPoX 3VCA, FIC KA-11, Gigabyte GA-6VX-4X, Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X, Shuttle AV64 and the Tyan Trinity 400.