Introduction:
This board from ABIT, a company otherwise mostly known for manufacturing great
overclockable motherboards such as the BX6 and BH6 (see our review of the BH6, it got a
whooping 96%) is based on the Intel i740 chipset. The Intel i740 chipset was developed in
cooperation with Real3D with one thing in mind, the mainstream computer users and a big
OEM market.
And infact the intention was never to break any speed records, and it doesn't, but this
isn't really important when it comes to a chip that has a retail price of less than $40
(board equipped with 8Mb SDRAM). But what the Intel i740 does offer is stable,
well-supported and fully acceptable 3D support both through Microsofts API D3D and through
a full OpenGL ICD, and it does it good.
One of the main reasons for this is very good drivers, infact, because of the drivers
the i740 is one of the current top performers in tests done by ID Software in their
upcoming release Quake 3 Arena.
Currently I'm using the ABIT G740 card in my personal PC, not that it is a speed demon
in any way, but it plays all the games I play (Half-Life!) at a perfectly acceptable frame
rate in resolutions up to 800*600.
And if you don't feel like spending $100+ for a graphic card such as a Riva TNT based
card or an ATI Rage128, the ABIT G740 is an excellent choice at less than $40.
