A-Trend ATC-6254M BX Slot-1

The Bad

The first complaint comes from A-Trend's decision to make a motherboard targeted at a gaming audience without including integrated 3D sound.  We have already seen examples of motherboards with integrated Aureal Vortex 1 controllers (that are pin compatible with the newer Vortex 2s), so it wouldn't be too difficult for A-Trend to have replaced the Yamaha 740 with a better gaming solution.  Th sound quality of the Yamaha controller isn't bad, however it isn't the best gaming solution out there, especially for a board that is specifically targeted at gamers.

Since the 6254M features a Voodoo3 2000 controller, it would have been interesting to see A-Trend make the Voodoo3 2000 PCI integrated instead of taking up the sole AGP device the BX chipset supports with the Voodoo3.  Considering that the benefit the Voodoo3 gets from being on the AGP bus is just the increased clock rate (66/133MHz AGP vs 33MHz PCI) as the chipset cannot take advantage of AGP texturing, it would make more sense to leave the AGP port unused and integrated a PCI Voodoo3 solution.  This would open up quite a few interesting avenues for multi-monitor configurations, especially with AGP TNT2's dropping in price, however it isn't a necessary move for A-Trend. 

The documentation the 6254M ships with isn't the best in the world, in spite of the helpful "How to Install LDCM" guide that came packaged, the 6254M could use a few touchups in the User's Manual before it's fit for use in the hands of a user that has very little or no experience with installing a motherboard (we all have to start somewhere). 

Considering the number of FSB settings supported by the 6254M's clock generator it would've been a definite improvement to see A-Trend include support for voltage tweaking ala ABIT on the motherboard, especially for overclockers that have trouble pushing the limits of their chips at the standard 2.0 or 2.8v settings.  Just a wish, not a demand...yet ;)

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: Mushkin SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM; Memory Man SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Memory-Man PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 256MB Corsair PC100 SDRAM DIMM (for compatibility testing only)

Manufacturer: The Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.mushkin.com