Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Introduction

Not a day goes by that someone somewhere doesn't release a new motherboard, and that became especially true with the release of the VIA KT266A chipset. Today, we'll be reviewing the DFI AD70-SR. The SR is an alternate rendition of the AD70 that incorporates an integrated RAID controller in its design - a bold departure for DFI. And, because its based on the KT266A, the AD70-SR comes with support for AMD Athlon XP processors. In short, the AD70-SR has some compelling virtues.

So, what are we waiting for? Let's head in to the review...

Configuration

The AD70-SR can't claim to feature a truly Jumperless design. For the record, it features several jumpers and Dip switches. JP7, for instance, can be used to set the FSB to 100MHz or 133MHz, JP8 can be used to reset the BIOS, while Dip array SW1 can be used to set the clock multiplier to between 5X and 12.5X.

All other possible adjustments should be accessed via the BIOS, with all CPU-related features located within the "Frequency/Voltage Control" menu.

Once there, users will find, among other things, the option to set the FSB frequency to between 100MHz and 250MHz in 1MHz increments.

Unfortunately, the clock multiplier is not BIOS-adjustable, and must be set via DIP-array SW1.

The Vcore voltage, on the other hand, can be tweaked from the BIOS, though the same can't be said of the Vio voltage.

Finally, as you might expect, options are provided within the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu that allow users to tweak a number of memory timing options (e.g. CAS, Bank Interleave, command rate, etc...), and also includes the ability to set the memory bus frequency to either 100Mhz (200Mhz DDR), or 133Mhz (266Mhz DDR).

Next: Technical details.