Features

All to often when reviews are written you find articles on issues that have little relevance in assisting you to make a purchasing decision. In this particular section we shall focus on technical issues that really do matter, when it comes to buying a good motherboard. These issues are clearly defined in our labs, performance, reliability, and compatibility. However, when it comes to upgrading our opinions differ somewhat, as there is one school of thought that states yes it's important and must be paramount in any decision making process, whilst the other opinion is still yes but to an extent only, as the last couple of years or so we have seen tremendous changes on the technological motherboard platform which in turn has rendered many a good motherboard obsolete when it comes to upgrading to new processors. Taking this into consideration it is best to concentrate on upgrades that relate to memory, drives, processor and any other pc related components.

ABIT KT7-RAID
Motherboard Revision: 1.01

SYSTEM BIOS

Award Plug and Play BIOS ID - KT7UL, The motherboard is truly jumperless providing settings for FSB, Voltage, and Clock Multiplier using ABIT's splendid SOFTMENUTM III technology, along with other extra features in the Bios makes it a must for PC enthusiasts wanting a performance lead motherboard with all the features.

AGP GRAPHICS

Full support for 2 x and 4 x AGP graphics - dedicated AGP Slot

SYSTEM MEMORY

3 x 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting PC100/PC133 SDRAM module, to a maximum of 1.5GB Maximum (8,16,32,64,128,512MB SDRAM), in addition to supporting the VCM module.

ON BOARD IDE

2 channels of Bus Master supporting up to four UDMA 33/66/100 (up to 4 HDD devices) and 2 channels of Bus Master supporting up to four UDMA 33/66 (up to 4 HDD devices).

ABIT provide support for ATA-100 by incorporating the splendid Highpoint HPT370 controller, which also provides RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring), and RAID 0+1 (striping + mirroring), includes Hot Swapping, which allows the removal of drives without shutting the system down.

NOTE: This enables you to install eight devices in total, however care must be taken to ensure the power supply unit is capable of taking eight units. To obtain full optimisation and performance UDMA 33/66 devices should not be mixed with UDMA 100 devices on the SAME CHANNEL. CPU VOLTAGE SOLUTION

Excess heat generated by processors and chipsets shortens the processor lifespan, and creates instability within the system environment. The dilemma facing manufacturers is the amount of heat generated by current processors and to find a solution to handle new processors that will be launched which inevitably will generate even more heat. To overcome this problem, one way would be to include a higher phase power solution either on the motherboard directly or by making an allowance for a VRM module. The former is probably the best solution, only if a lot of thought is applied to the design of the motherboard to ensure no other component positioning is compromised. The latter is possibly a better solution if the VRM is upgradeable allowing future proofing if and when required.

ABIT's 3-Phase Power Solution (6 transistor solution)

ABIT it seems is only too aware of these issues and has made provision for this by providing a 3-Phase power configuration (6 transistor solution), which dissipates heat more effectively on-board, and this was clearly borne out by us testing the heat dissipation on the 1.1GHz processor, it is no exaggeration to say after leaving the system overnight, we had no burned fingers to complain about, it really was cool to touch. Abit has also added a cooler fan to the VIA Northbridge VT8363 chipset to ensure optimum cooling stability.

ASUS A7V
Motherboard Revision: 1.02

SYSTEM BIOS

Award Medallion Plug and Play BIOS ID - A7V1004a. The ASUS A7V has a JumperFree FSB and Voltage set-up for the processor you may be using, and ASUS's SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) that allows processor frequency to be set at 1MHz increments. The only drawback is currently highest voltage setting is up to 1.85v, and the A7V's JumperFree set-up does not allow for clock multiplier manipulations which can only be carried out using a set of dip-switches on the motherboard.

AGP GRAPHICS

The A7V has full support for 2 x and 4 x AGP graphics, with the added bonus of an additional AGP 4 x Pro slot for future graphic solutions. This slot is slightly longer than the normal AGP slot and is capable of delivering more voltage to the video card. The slot if mainly for high-end graphics, and to date we have yet to see one. We have assumed this is a useful feature incorporating future compliance.

SYSTEM MEMORY

3 x 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting PC100/PC133 SDRAM module, to a maximum of 1.5GB Maximum (8,16,32,64,128,512MB SDRAM), in addition to supporting the VCM module.

ON BOARD IDE

2 channels of Bus Master supporting up to four UDMA 33/66/100 (up to 4 HDD devices) and 2 channels of Bus Master supporting up to four UDMA 33/66 (up to 4 HDD devices). ASUS provide support for ATA-100 by incorporating the Promise Technology ULTRA100 controller onboard this however, does not have any RAID support in comparison to the ABIT offering.

CPU VOLTAGE SOLUTION

ASUS has also recognised the need for providing a sensible power solution, and has elected not to have it directly onboard, but by way of a VRM module. The explanation for this solution is to simply not crowd the area around the processor socket, so as to enable larger heatsink solutions to be implemented, without undue problems. The VRM module is fixed and not removable.

MICROSTAR K7T-Pro
Motherboard Revision: 1

SYSTEM BIOS

Award Plug and Play BIOS ID - W6330VMS.V1.3. The MSI "Live BIOS" is a unique feature that allows on-line detecting and updates the version of BIOS on your motherboard. This is only possible once the MSI installation tool is installed. Although this saves a lot of messing around, you can run the risk of a power failure, or PSU failure occurring whilst updating, you know what they say about SODS LAW don't you?

AGP GRAPHICS

Full support for 2 x and 4 x AGP graphics - dedicated AGP Slot

SYSTEM MEMORY

3 x 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting PC100/PC133 SDRAM module, to a maximum of 1.5GB Maximum (8,16,32,64,128,512MB SDRAM), in addition to supporting the VCM module.

ON BOARD IDE

2 channels of Bus Master supporting up to four UDMA 33/66 (up to 4 HDD devices). CPU VOLTAGE SOLUTION

MSI has the normal 2-Phase Power Solution (4 transistor solution), the transistor's were somewhat "hot" to touch and although you should not be duly concerned up to 1.1GHz processor, but this may not be the case if a higher frequency processor is used.

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