Ars Technica deed een vergelijking van zeven slot-1 moederplanken; de Microstar MS-6301 (i820+SDRAM), Asus P3C-2000 (i820+SDRAM), Intel CC820 (i820+SDRAM), SuperMicro PIIISCD (i820+SDRAM), ABIT BE6 (440BX), IWill VD133 (Apollo Pro 133A) en Tyan Trinity 400 (Apollo Pro 133A). Door de brakke SDRAM implementatie van de i820 chipset waren de i820 planken geen partij in de test, deze werd namelijk opvallend gewonnen door een bord met de VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset:
Let me first say that that Tyan board is astounding. I am more impressed with that board every time I use it. Its overclocking prowess is somewhat less than others, but as you can see by my results overclocking only goes so far. What difference does it make if you're running your CPU at 750MHz, if you get beaten out by a someone with a 667MHz CPU that's on a better-performing motherboard?So in the end, I'd have to say that right now the best bang for the buck is undoubtedly the Tyan Trinity 400. This board is, as you'll recall, is based on VIA's Apollo Pro 133A chipset. The i820 boards are a more expensive option, and they aren't necessarily a bad choice, but they don't really shine like the Tyan board does. [break] De Asus P3C-2000 is trouwens hard op weg om een erg slechte reputatie op te bouwen. In de Computer!Totaal van deze maand word het bord wegens stabiliteitsproblemen hard de grond in gezeken en bij Ars Technica maakte de P3C-2000 een eind aan het nog jonge leven van een Guillemot 3D Prophet: [/break] I'm starting to feel like I'm cursed when it comes to ASUS boards. I know they make good motherboards, because I have a P2B-S at work that works like a champ for me. This particular board though, the P3C-2000, ate my 3DProphet on the first power-up. I got a puff of smoke from the motherboard, and the card hasn't worked since. Damn that hurts. Anyway, after getting a replacement mobo and video card from The Chip Merchant, I was able to resume my testing.