Availability: Available now to distributors, at retail soon.

Founded in 1987, Elitegroup has been in the motherboard business since the days of the 386SX chipset. In the PC industry, 12 years is a lifetime of experience and Elitegroup shows their progress with each new motherboard they release. Today we're looking at Elitegroup's P6IWT-A+ mainboard, which utilizes the new Intel i810 integrated core logic set solution.

Extending its ever-popular line of PPGA/Slot motherboards, Elitegroup has adopted Intel's i810 chipset in its latest foray into the motherboard arena. Almost unbelievably, this is Elitegroup's third i810 motherboard and their second containing the unconventional Slot-1/PPGA socket combo onboard.

As more companies jump on the i810 bandwagon, it's becoming apparent that these cost-effective motherboards are really finding a home with consumers. The cheaper costs of manufacturing created by removing the AGP/ISA slots and only including 2 DIMM connectors certainly do eliminate some flexibility, but with just the addition of a processor and some ram, these babies are raring and ready to go for a very low price.

Elitegroup's P6IWT-A+ is a motherboard touting its built-in sound, video, modem, jumperless overclocking and a price that's hard to argue with, so lets dive right in

Measuring in as big as most 440BX motherboards, the P6IWT-A+ is certainly bigger than most of it's i810 counterparts, and for good reason. With the added Slot-1/PPGA combo architecture and the clearance space needed to stick a CPU/Fan there, ECS engineers had to leave some extra space. Wisely, the DIMM slots are nowhere near either of the CPU sockets or any of the card slots. Its spacious design probably makes the P6IWT-A+ the best laid out board in the i810 market.

Aside from its two CPU connectors, a quick glance at the P6IWT-A+ reveals a few other interesting tidbits. Its gold colored heatsink (which will make your old motherboard's chipset jealous) and PC'99 color-coded connectors give this board more color than we're used to seeing.