Gigabyte GA-6VX-4X Apollo Pro 133A Slot-1 ATX

AnandTech Motherboard Rating

Performance

While we've typically found that performance doesn't fluctuate much among boards with the same chipset, that is not the case with VIA 133A boards. The 6VX-4X was the top performer in our initial VIA Apollo Pro 133 Motherboard Roundup.

Price

Like the ASUS P3V4X, you pay a little extra for the quality construction of the 6VX-4X. By choosing the highly integrated VIA 686A Super South Bridge, Gigabyte manages to keep the cost of the 6VX-4X down slightly.

Stability

We found the 6VX-4X to be a very stable board, although not quite as good as the ASUS P3V4X or even other Gigabyte boards that have come through the lab.

Quality

Gigabyte is well known for the quality components and construction that go into their products, and the 6VX-4X is no exception.

Features

Gigabyte did a good job of implementing all the basics on the 6VX-4X, including the 686A Super South Bridge that provides 4 USB ports and integrated hardware monitoring. The optional Aureal 8810 PCI sound is a nice feature that is far better than the host based AC97 audio CODEC that is standard on most boards. DualBIOS support and the AGP retention mechanism are nice touches as well.

Unfortunately, the use of a thermistor to monitor the CPU temperature is less than ideal and the lack of a cable for the 2nd set of USB ports hurt Gigabyte here. More importantly, however, is the DIP switch CPU setup - we've come to expect a jumperless CPU configuration that all the top name manufacturers have moved to. The lack of CPU core voltage adjustments doesn't help any either, nor does the limited set of FSB speeds.

Layout

The layout of the 6VX-4X follows the ATX spec careful and, as such, there are very few flaws. The location of the ATX power connector could cause trouble for very large heatsinks. Also, only 2 of the 5 PCI slots can accept full length cards, but for most users, this won't make any difference, as the vast majority of PCI cards are not full length.

Availability

While Gigabyte products aren't available everywhere, it is relatively possible to find their motherboards relatively easily. Like most manufactures focused on motherboards, don't expect to find Gigabyte boards in a place like Best Buy or CompUSA. Some local computer shops will carry Gigabyte, but not many.

Documentation & Software Bundle

The 6VX-4X manual, like other Gigabyte manuals, was slightly above average and is at least included in print, unlike some that are only available on CD. Unfortunately, there was little in the way of a software bundle.