After a few years of testing super socket 7 mobo + CPU combinations, here's my top 4 pics:
No 1: Aopen AX59PRO
Specifications and highlights:
- ATX form factor
- VIA MVP3 + 686B
- up to 2MB of L2 cache
- 3 SDRAM slots for up to 768mb of ram
- dip switch selectable voltage and mutliplier - no finicky jumpers
- FSB from 60 up to 124Mhz
- voltage range from 1.3 to 3.5v in 0.5v increments
- Supports HDDs up to 160GB (tested with a seagate DB35)
- Native AMD K6-III support
- some revisions have a CPU thermal sensor
- 4x PCI, 2x ISA
PROs:
- great AGP performance and compatibility. Dispite CPU limitations, lots of games are perfectly playable at 1600x1200 with a fast video card (I use a Geforce 2 GTS).
- excellent memory compatibility - the AX59PRO will run anything you put in it.
- great overclocker - most my K6 CPUs regardless of model will OC from 25 to 50% and more on this board
- very comprehensive BIOS
CONS:
- memory performance is average for an MVP3 board - tops out at 250mb/s using 2t 100mhz ram
- some revisions have the via ultra-dma bug common on apolo pro socket 370 boards (uses the same southbridge). Fortunately the one I currently use does not.
- bad FDD connector position. Makes cable management messy.
No 2: Lucky Star P5MVP3-XX or MSI MS-5184*
Specifications and highlights:
- AT form factor with dual ATX and AT power connectors. Will fit in an ATX case.
- VIA MVP3 + 686B (only the XX and XE models - the rest have the slower 686A)
- 512kb to 2MB of silly fast L2 cache, depending on version
- 2 SDRAM slots for up to 512mb of ram - will take sigle sided 256mb ram modules as well
- FSB from 66 up to 112Mhz
- voltage range from 1.9 to 3.5v
- Supports HDDs up to 160GB (latest beta bios)
- AMD K6-III support (bios update required on most boards)
- 3x PCI, 3x ISA
PROs:
- AGP 2X selectable in BIOS - and actually working (tested with RivaTuner and 3dmark 01), as well as AGP Master 1 WS Read / Write - on this board they don't affect stability and improve perfomance when enabled.
- excellent AGP performance and compatibility - best out of all super 7 boards I've tested regardless of chipset
- good memory compatibility
- best memory performance out of all tested MVP3 boards - up to 280-300 mp /sec
- good overclocker. Only limided by the few voltage increments, but 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 are selectable options. Other then that, most fast K6-2 and K6-III CPUs have no trouble running at 550 and even 600MHz stable.
- dual AT and ATX power connectors - you can use this board in a standard ATX case or use an AT case to save space
CONS:
- overclocking limited by few voltage options - running low power laptop K6-2+ and K6-III CPUs, you might as well overclock since you're stuck at 1.9v (some chips are rated to as low as 1.6v - like the K6-IIIE+ 400ATZ)
- not the best jumper layout
- some boards require bios update for larger hard drives and AMD K6-2+ / K6-III CPUs
- most early boards come with 512kb l2 cache and the 686A southbridge witch is only capable of ATA33.
* believe it or not the MSI MS-5184 and the Lucky Star P5MVP3 are allmost the exact same board. Both are made by Lucky Star Inc. and have the same layout sans the MS-5184's extra PCI slot - BUT the latest P5MVP3-XX (the late 99 revision with the ATA66 southbridge) has 4 PCI slots as well. Late revision P5MVP3-XX boards are IDENTICAL to the MS-5184 but usually have a green PCB where the MSI is brown and most lucky star boards are orange / brown. This version also comes with the label "P5MVP3-AT" and is sometimes branded "Viking 3". Oddly enough some Viking 3 boards use the MVP4 chipset but somehow retain the AGP slot. On-board Trident Blade 3D can be disabled in BIOS. These are EXTREMELY rare.
No 3: FIC PA-2013+ REV 2.1
Specifications and highlights:
- ATX form factor
- VIA MVP3 + 686B (newer revisions, earlyer ones come with the slower 686A)
- 512kb to 2MB of L2 cache
- 3 SDRAM slots for up to 768mb of ram
- FSB from 60 up to 124Mhz
- voltage range from 1.8 to 3.5v in 0.1v increments
- Supports large HDDs
- Native AMD K6-III support
- 4x PCI, 2x ISA
PROs:
- atx form factor
- 3 SDRAM slots - supports up to 768mb of ram
- good AGP 2x implementation***
- good memory compatibility
- good overclocker - allows voltage increase in 0.1v incements
- fast ATA66 IDE controller
- good jumper layout
CONS:
- *** rev 2.0 and lower has no AGP voltage regulator, and as such can't handle some video cards - particularly fast voodoo 3 cards like the 3500 and later nvidia cards
- has trouble running chips at 600MHz. Selecting 2x multiplier sometimes yields an odd 201Mhz clock, other times it hags the machine after posting - this behavior apparently only occurs when using chips with on-die L2 cache
- BIOS updates can be hard to find.
- slow L2 cache.
No 4: Asus P5A
Specifications and highlights:
- ATX form factor
- ALi Aladdin V chipset
- 3 SDRAM slots for up to 768mb of ram***
- FSB from 66 up to 120Mhz
- voltage range from 2.0 to 3.5v
- Supports HDDs up to 80gb - even larger with beta bios
- AMD K6-III support
- 5x PCI, 2x ISA, one PCI and one ISA share a bracket
- some boards come with a decent on board sound solution with good DOS compatibility - useful if you need to save an expansion slot.
PROs:
- ATX form factor
- AGP 2X capable
- good memory compatibility
- best memory performance out of all super 7 boards - exceeds 350mb/sec.
- great layout
- excellent expansion options with 5 PCI slots and 2 ISA slots
- voltage is selectable in 0.1v increments
CONS:
- ***can only cache 128mb of ram - a limitation of the ALi Aladdin chipset. I personally run 256MB on my AX59PRO witch helps with Firefox 2.0 (grabbing patches, drivers etc). 128mb is not enough and using more then that makes the P5A silly slow. I'm not sure if using a K6-III cpu bypasses said limitation - I don't think so, since I tested the board with 256Mb of ram and a K6-III and it seemed just as slow as with a K6-2.
- poor AGP performance and compatibility
- some AGP cards will have trouble running correctly (tested with Geforce 2 Ultra and Voodoo 3 3500) - works fine with a TNT2 pro, geforce 2 MX or a voodoo 3 2000. For some reason refuses to post with a Voodoo 4 (powercolor evilking 4)
- rather sensitive boards - the ALi Aladdin northbridge is easily damaged by overclocking and in some cases AGP cards.
- idiotic FSB jumper positioning - requires you to remove AGP cards to get to the jumpers.
- slow ATA33 IDE controller
As for other boards, the gigabyte GA-5AX is SLOW - I don't recommend this board at all. Came across two in my time collecting retro gear, and they both showed poor AGP performance as well as mediocre (at best) memory performance. The shuttle HOT-591P is a mediocre board - it doesn't stand out with either speed, overclockability or features.
I've heard good things about the DFI K6XV3+/66, but haven't had the chance to test one myself. The Chaintech 5AGM2 is also a very good board - great PCB design and more capacitors then any MVP3 I've seen. I used to have one back in 2001 running router software - the thing was on continually for 3 years and didn't act up once. The EPOX EP-MVP3G2 and EPOX EP-MVP3G5 are also supposedly very good but I've never been able to test one.
