Issues and Overclocking

Issues with the BM6

What wasn't perfect with the BM6? Not too many things. You can check out the updated segment to read about the enhancements to the FSB settings.

Most notable is the fact that only 2 FAN headers are available - one for the CPU fan, and the other for a single chassis fan. Airflow through the case is just as vital (if not more so) as circulation directly over the CPU - after all, a powerful CPU fan in a hot case isn't going to do any good. The good news is that it's not too serious a matter. There are plenty of case fans available which draw their power directly from the power supply, and thus aren't limited to the number of connectors on a given motherboard.

Overclocking

As mentioned previously, the BM6 supports clock multipliers from 2.0x to 8.0x in 0.5 increments, as well as voltage settings from 1.30v to 2.30v, in .05 and .1v increments. This wide range should ensure compatibility with the newest yet-released Socket-370 creations. With all of Intel's current and future processors multiplier-locked, the only way to overclock is by bus speed - pushing the Mendicino-core Celeron chips past 66Mhz is both an effective and convenient way to overclock, and Abit's patented SoftMenu 2 BIOS settings make the process painless.

Simply boot up the system and enter the BIOS. The first menu selection is "SoftMenu 2," where you can change your bus speed, multiplier, AGP clock ratio, and core voltage right from your keyboard - there's no need to open the case or fiddle with jumpers. In most cases, whether the attempt at overclocking succeeds or fails, a soft-boot is all that's needed.

Our reference CPU for Socket-370 is a 400Mhz Celeron (6.0x 66Mhz). Using the BM6, we successfully overclocked this chip to 450Mhz (6.0 x 75) at a default core voltage of 2.0v, and 500Mhz (6.0 x 83.3Mhz) at 2.10v. As expected with our previously tested Celeron, 600Mhz at 6.0 x 100 failed regardless of voltage (we tried up to 2.30v). The Celeron line brought back the potential of overclocking, and Abit's allowance of core voltage manipulation was the godsend which took the practice to the next level.