Asus A7V133 VIA KT133A socket A
Tuesday, April 17, 2001
Introduction
After a long wait, Asus' A7V133 - the first Asus board to feature the KT133A chipset - has hit our lab.
Reviewing Asus products is always a pleasure - in no small part due to the many refinements, and attention to detail that the Asus team always affords its creations - and we can always expect them to take full advantage of their incorporated technologies.
To wit, among the A7V133's more interesting features, we found a RAID controller which permits the board to support up to 8 drives right out of the box.
Clearly, the A7V133 is off to a good start, so let's say we skip down to the analysis, and see if can keep up the momentum.
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Asus A7V133 Hardware Characteristics
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CPU
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Socket A for AMD¨ AthlonTM / DuronTM 550MHz ~ 1GHz+ CPU 200/266MHz System Interface Speed processors
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Chipset
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VIA KT133A - VT8363A/VT82C686B
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Form factor
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ATX - 30.5cm X 24.5cm
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Expansion
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5 PCI - 0 ISA - 1 AMR - 1 AGP Pro
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Memory
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3X 168-pin DIMM 1.5Gb SDRAM PC100 - PC133 - VCM
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FSB
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90Mhz, 95Mhz and 100Mhz to 166Mhz in steps of 1Mhz
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Vcore adj.
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1.10 to 1.85 in steps of 0.05v
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Vio adj.
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3.3v, 3.45v, 3.56v
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Audio
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embeded into the chipset
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Configuration
Like most Asus boards, configuration of the CPU can either be done through the use of jumpers & switches, or by using the BIOS.
As expected, Asus provides the option for a totally Jumperfree setup, thus allowing users to perform their work from within the comfort of the BIOS menu-system.
To use the on-board jumpers & switches mode, jumper JEN should be set to position 1-2. For a Jumperfree configuration, JEN must be set to 2-3, VID1 through VID4 should be on 3-4, and the DSW interrupts should be turned Off.
The array of Dip switches labeled DSW can be used to set the FSB to any of the following frequencies: 100Mhz, 103Mhz, 105Mhz, 110Mhz, or 133Mhz.
To set the FSB from within the BIOS, the board must be set for Jumperfree configuration, otherwise the jumper & Dip settings will take priority.
Alterations to the processor's clock multiplier can be done using Dip switches DSFID, and permit settings of between 5X and 12.5X.
Also on board, one may find jumpers VID1 and VID4, which can be used to set the Vcore voltage to between 1.1v and 1.85v.
User's who opt to configure the A7V133 from within the BIOS should find all similar functions located within the "Advanced" menu.
Among those we found were options to:
Set the FSB to a frequency between 90MHz and 166MHz, in steps of 1MHz.
Set the memory bus to operate at either 100MHz or 133MHz.
Set the Vcore to between 1.10v and 1.85v in 0.05v steps.
Set the clock multiplier to between 5X and 12.5X.
... as well as many other others usual functions that are too numerous to list.
Next: Technical details.
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