Abit KT7A RAID VIA KT133A

Thursday, April 05, 2001


Introduction

Recently, we had the pleasure of reviewing the KT7 RAID motherboard, which implemented the VIA KT133 chipset. Like many other manufacturers, though, Abit has seen fit to update some of their offerings by equipping them with the newer KT133A. Thus, we have before us the Abit KT7A RAID - an up-to-date rendition of the board we've all come to know and love. While being practically identical to its predecessor in nearly every way, the new KT7A RAID sets itself apart by offering support for 133MHz FSB Athlons, as well as ATA100 drives.

That said, lets see what our newest contestant has to offer.

Characteristics of the Abit KT7A RAID
CPU
AMD Athlon Duron & T-Bird Socket A
Chipset
VIA KT133A - VT8363A/VT82C686B
Form factor
ATX - 30.5cm X 23cm
Expansion
6 PCI - 1 ISA - 0 AMR - 1 AGP
Memory
1.5Gb 168-pin SDRAM PC100 - PC133 - VCM
FSB
100Mhz, 101Mhz, 103Mhz, 105Mhz, 107 , 110Mhz, 112Mhz, 115Mhz, 117Mhz, 120Mhz, 122Mhz, 124Mhz, 127Mhz, 133Mhz, 136Mhz, 140Mhz, 145Mhz, 150Mhz et 155Mhz plus the possibility to increase any which of these frequencies by as much as 28Mhz in steps of 1Mhz.
Vcore adj.
Ajustable from 1.1vdc to 8.50vdc in steps of 0.025vdc
Vio adj.
Ajustable from 3.2vdc to 3.9vdc in steps of 0.10vdc
Audio chipset
NA


Configuration

As has become the habit with Abit boards, the KT7A RAID can be easily configured from within the comfort of the BIOS, thus negating the need to set a single jumper.

The following is a description of what the BIOS has to offer:

As expected, the KT7A RAID allows users to set the clock multiplier to a setting ranging from 5X to 12.5X. This feature is only of use, of course, if the CPU installed comes without a multiplier lock.

Next on our plate, we find an immense selection of FSB settings, which range from 100MHz to 183MHz in steps of 1MHz. Users are also presented with a predefined selection ranging from 500MHz to 1250MHz, which can be used to accurately set the operating frequency of even the newer 133MHz FSB CPUs.

Vcore, and Vio adjustments are also available, and can be set to values accorded by the table above.

The memory bus can be set to operate at a frequency equal to either that of the FSB, or a setting equal to the sum of the FSB and PCI bus frequencies.

A number of processor addressing parameters can also be adjusted in a fairly aggressive fashion. Among the features provided, we can include:

  • Fast CPU Command Decode
  • CPU Drive strength
  • Enhance Chipset Performance
  • Force 4-Way Interleave

    ... all of which users will be interested in testing (one at a time, of course) using a proper Benchmark, in order to gauge the performance increase versus to cost in system stability.

    Unfortunately, no feature is provided that would allow the BIOS to be rolled-back to the last batch of valid settings. As a result, if the system fails to boot following an aggressive tweaking campaign, user's will be forced to reset the BIOS manually by means of the BIOS rest jumper located on the printed circuit board itself.



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