Difference between BE6 and BE6-II

[Xtremist]

Hey, is the only "real" difference between these two Abit boards that the latter supports a faster CPU? If not, what's the difference? That's all *I* could see...

 

[spamboy]

I don't remember perfectly, but I dimmy recall that the BE6 does not have onboard UDMA-66. There are some other little things, too I think. I like my BE6-II just fine, never had a problem with the 66 controller although I've heard that it wasn't the greatest model Highpoint ever came up with. Check to see if the BE6 has Softmenu II or III, as well, because the BE6-II has III, which is better (more options, I think).

 

[Xtremist]

ah ha. the be6 does have UDMA66 but it also uses SM-III... hmmmm... will have to think about this... the only reason i ask is cuz i LOVE my bh6. stable as a freakin' rock man, but i got some of that cheapo generic 256mb ram and i looked and it says it'll work on the BE6-II and BE6... so i might pick one up and see if that's the case. either that or just sell the ram and bite the bullet a bit... thanx though for pointing the softmenu issue out!

 

[Stallion]

I have both , the BE6 in my PC and a BE6-II in the wifes. I had a 550 Katmai on my BE6 but after I flashed my bios to the newest revision it now supports my 700.

One difference in the BE6 has 4 ide plugs. Two are for ATA66 and two are for regular ide. So in essence you can have 4 ata66 HDDs and then have a CD and a burner and two more HDDs for a total of 8.

The BE6-II just had two ide plugs.

The BE6 has FSB steps of 66,75,83,100,105,110,112,115,124,133,150. Might be a few more, but thats most of them.

The BE6-II has FSB steps from 66-150 in one step increments so the FSB speed you choose is limitless for the most part.

I'm almost sure the BE6 is soft menu III and the BE6-II has the soft menu III as well.

There might be a few more minor differences but those are the major players.

 

[Xtremist]

Hmmmm, the Abit site shows both the BE6 and BE6-II as having 4 IDE channels (2 - 33 | 2 - 66), but that could be wrong? I dunno I think I'll probably go with the BE6-II unless I can find a BE6 for considerably cheaper (and I mean WAY cheaper ) Thanx for the info

 

[Stallion]

Xtremist, my bad. I just went and looked and I was wrong. It does have 4 ide. sorry.

 

[Rigoletto]

Why do you ask? I have an unused BE6 and the latest BIOS update shows 633 Celerons and PIII800 as compatible. I'm not sure that its 133MHz is certified on this board though- it was only for overclockers at the time the board was first released? The board does seem very well featured so with a change of voltage I think Celerons would overclock to 950 on it. And they do!

 

[Poof]

Not mentioned here (unless I missed it... LOL) is that the BE6-II has the ATA/100 controller along with the 66 and 33, so perhaps that's the major diff...