Elitegroup P6BXT-A+ BX Slot-1 & Socket-370

The Bad

The lack of a 5th PCI slot is quite a disappointment, although its absence makes sense due to the extra space required by the Slot-1 CPU interface.  The overall stability of the P6BXT A+ was a bit disappointing as it crashed more times than AnandTech would have liked it to, making the board not one of the most stable solutions ever looked at on AnandTech.

The Jumperless CPU Setup also lacks the "in-between" FSB frequency settings, such as the 117MHz and 124MHz settings we're all used to from the ABIT BX6 Revision 2 and the AOpen AX6BC, two much higher quality motherboards.

The User's Manual bundled with the board, although provides a decent set of documentation on how to install memory/CPUs, fails to properly describe the features of the motherboard or the actual installation of the motherboard itself.  The documentation is definitely a poor reflection upon Elitegroup.

The layout of the motherboard places the row of front panel I/O pins directly in the way of all of the PCI slots, making it impossible to connect anything to the lights on the front of your case without preventing the installation of a full length PCI adapter. 

The final bone to pick with the P6BXT A+ is the fact that the Slot-1's Universal Retention Mechanism apparently gets quite stuck on retail SECC2 heatsinks, therefore if you're going to ever try you may want to think otherwise.

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

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB Mushkin SEC Originals; 1 x 64MB Memman SEC Originals

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memman.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.