October '97 Socket-7 Motherboard Comparison

Motherboard Business Winstone 97 ABIT AX5 2.2 56 ABIT IT5H 1.5 54.9 ABIT IT5H 2.0 53.5 ABIT PD5N 52.9 ABIT PX5 Failed ABIT TX5 Failed ABIT TX5N 53.8 AOpen AP58 54.1 AOpen AX5T-2 55.0 AOpen AX5T-3.1 54.2 ASUS TXP4-X 55.0 Chaintech 5SDA 53.0 Chaintech 5SIM 52.9 Chaintech 5TTL 53.7 Chaintech 5TTM Not Supported Chaintech 5TTM1 Not Supported Chaintech 5TDM2 53.7 DFI P5XV3 Not Supported DFI P5XV3 (AGP) Not Supported EPoX P55-VP3 Not Supported FIC PA-2007 Not Supported FIC PA-2010+ 48.9 FIC PA-2011 Not Supported FIC PA-2012 Not Supported FIC PA-2012 (AGP) Not Supported FIC PT-2007 Not Supported Megatrends HX83 55.1 MTech MIG R539 Not Supported MTech MIG R540 Failed MTech MIG R541 Failed MTech Mustang R534F Failed QDI Titanium 1B Not Supported Shuttle HOT-565 54.7 Shuttle HOT-567 53.6 Shuttle HOT-569 56.4 Shuttle HOT-571 Failed Shuttle HOT-603 54.2 Supermicro P5MMA 54.5 Supermicro P5MMS98 Failed Tyan Titan Turbo S1573S Not Supported

Formerly the winner of the Best TX Based Motherboard award on this site, the Shuttle HOT-569 still rules as the 1st place winner at 208MHz with the Pentium MMX followed by the ABIT AX5 and then the Megatrends HX83.   As history has shown us however, the best performing motherboard on paper isn't necessarily the best motherboard.  At higher bus speeds, particularly 83MHz many motherboards either fail or require a more generous tweaking of the BIOS timings, therefore effectively degrading the overall performance rating of the motherboard.   While a motherboard may be the fastest at an un-overclocked setting, pushing it to the limits can cause it to choke miserably.  In cases like this you have to consider the quality of the motherboard (capacitors, design, PCB, etc...) in addition to any known incompatibilities, particularly with SDRAM.