KT133 Chipset Features

We shall cover the basic features of the chipset that drives the motherboard and supports the other corresponding PC components. As mentioned earlier, the VIA Apollo KT133 chipset was designed to support SOCKET A - AMD Thunderbirds and Duron processors. Socket A is currently the new standard with an interface of 462 pins. The main reason for the change has been to integrate the super-fast L2 cache within the processor, this in turn reduces heat and helps reduce power requirements.

All the three motherboard on test have no issues with regards to support for SOCKET A standard, which is currently up to 1.1GHz, as soon as higher frequency processor are released each manufacturer will provide support by means of a new revision of the BIOS. As of late the AGP standard has increased from 2 x to 4 x we have to say it took its time coming and all motherboards support the standard in full. Memory bandwidth has increased from PC100 to PC133 supporting both SDRAM and VCR standards; all the motherboards accept both standards. A word of warning here; when selecting which memory to purchase, please ensure it is a branded variety and can support CAS Latency 2 as this will provide you with not only reliable memory but one that will allow you to optimise your system without undue concern for reliability. AMD processors are designed with a 200MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), and with the integration of the VIA Apollo KT133 chipset all motherboards are capable of supporting the 200MHz FSB. The ATA standard progressed from ATA-33 to ATA-66 a while ago, but as of late the standard has risen to ATA-100, probably a little late for VIA to incorporate within the Apollo KT133 chipset, this being the case, it normally falls in the laps of the motherboard manufacturers to value add. ABIT and ASUS have not failed us in this particular issue, as both have incorporated third party ATA-100 support for their respective motherboards, Microstar on the other hand have designed their motherboard to the VIA chipset specification, and to be fair to Microstar their motherboard was the first off the block in terms of availability. The ASUS A7V incorporates the popular Promise Technology UDMA100 solution, whilst this is an excellent solution to the ATA-66 scenario, ABIT has taken this a stage further by adding RAID 0,1 + 0+1 to their ATA-100 solution, using the Highpoint HPT370 UDMA ATA-100 solution (this was discussed in our previous review - click here to read all about). ABIT most certainly steals the show in this area; with a price difference, which is so negligible, it really should not be given second consideration. When it comes down to USB well the story is reversed with all the motherboard vendors providing four USB ports, but with ASUS you get an extra two, these might not be useful right now, but wait until you are ready to purchase USB, the plug and play aspect is a joy to use, you can unplug and plug while the system is on and guess what? you don't hang!. More to the point the two extra ports are useful as long as you keep you motherboard for a long period without upgrading. The new generation of chipsets over the horizon are going to be standard with four to six ports anyway, remember USB hubs can also be purchased to increase the number of ports. All in all the ABIT KT7-RAID comes out slightly ahead of the other two in this section with a couple of features the others do not have.

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