ABIT BX133-RAID i440BX Socket-370 ATX

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.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Final Words

ABIT eschews a lot of the gimmickry that we seem to be seeing in recent motherboard releases and comes up with a solid i440BX board with the BX133-RAID that actually adds useful features instead. While it seems the i440BX may finally be on the way out with the release of the i815, the i440BX is still a cheaper and more mature solution. On the other hand, the i440BX is missing some key features , such as AGP 4X and official 133 MHz FSB support. However, we've seen very little benefit with AGP 4X and the out of spec AGP speed that results from the i440BX at 133 MHz does not seem to be a problem for the majority of current graphics cards.

If you've decided that you want a i440BX board, the BX133-RAID should definitely be at the top of your list. It's got all the truly useful features you could ask for, including Ultra ATA/100 RAID support, more overclocking options than any other board out there, and rock solid satiability. Enough said.