Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Abit KR7A-133R
Abit's latest and greatest motherboard is not only fast, it's also highly configurable, writes Dave Cook.
| Product | KR7A-133R |
|---|---|
| Company | Abit |
| Web | www.abit.com.tw |
| Price | £132 inc. VAT |
| We like | Performance, RAID options, overclocking capabilities. |
| We don't like | First DIMM socket could be sited better. |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
Once upon a time, upgrading a motherboard was best left to the techies, geeks, propeller-heads, call them what you will. Nowadays, thanks to manufacturers like Abit and its jumperless motherboards, such upgrades are within the capabilities of virtually anyone.
Take, for example, Abit's KR7A-133R motherboard. Everything from the voltage core, multiplier, and FSB is adjustable via the BIOS. In fact the board contains just one jumper and that's for clearing the CMOS - a task most users rarely, if ever, will have to perform.
Main Features
The KR7A-133R supports Socket A CPUs based on AMD Athlon XP, and Athlon processors using either the 266 or 200 MHz system bus. Duron processors are also supported based on a 200MHz system bus.
The board supports both PC2100 and PC1600 DDR memory and features four DIMM sockets. All four DIMMs can be occupied with registered DDR memory, up to a maximum of 4GB - although .5GB of this is reserved for PCI I/O space. Alternatively, the board supports up to 3GB standard (unbuffered) DDR.
As with many high-performance motherboards, the KR7A-133R lacks an integrated sound or graphics chip - though some people would argue that's not necessarily a bad thing. And anyway, the board easily makes up for it in other areas.
For example, the KR7A-133R supports the Ultra DMA 133 IDE protocol with the new VIA VT8233A Southbridge chip; and RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 modes for both data striping and disk mirroring via the updated HighPoint HPT 372 IDE controller.
If you decide to purchase the Abit KR7A-133R, treat yourself to at least two of the latest Ultra DMA 133 hard drives at the same time - you won't regret it. Selecting RAID 0+1 mode is best since it allows you to opt for the highest performance combined with the highest level of data protection. Note, however, that RAID 0+1 requires 4 hard drives.
It's possible to connect up to 8 IDE devices in total to the board. Two 80-wire/40-pin ribbon cables are included with the KR7A-133R, plus 1 standard floppy cable.
The KR7A-133R also provides one AGP slot (2X and 4X mode support), six PCI slots (plenty of room for expansion there!), built-in Wake on LAN header, built-in IrDA TX/RX header, built-in Wake On Ring header, and hardware monitoring.
All the usual floppy/serial/parallel port connectors are supplied including two USB ports plus one USB header (cables and connectors supplied), making 4 USB connectors in total. Unfortunately, the USB version is 1.1, and not the faster USB 2.0 now available on some boards.
SoftMenu
As touched on earlier, all configuration settings can be applied via the BIOS. This is due in no small part to Abit's hugely popular SoftMenu III, which on the KR7A-133R is as configurable as ever.
For example, the Advanced Chipset Features menu provides a number of memory timing options including the ability to set the independent memory bus frequency to 100MHz, or 133MH. Alternatively, you can choose the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) option, which enables the system to determine the frequency automatically.
Overclocking enthusiasts might also like to be aware of the CPU Fast Command Rate option. This enables you to boost processor performance using a more aggressive setting, albeit at the risk of lowering system stability.
Installation
Overall access to the board is excellent, and the sensible positioning of the ATX supply avoids having to drape any cables over the CPU fan. However, the first DIMM socket could have been a tad better positioned since one of its levers cannot be fully opened while any AGP graphics adapter is present.
Installation of the operating system was entirely flawless, and both the board and Windows XP seemed very comfortable with each other. Windows XP installed easily, and the supplied RAID drivers initialised without issue.
As is the norm with Abit products there's a very informative user guide included, along some really useful goodies on the accompanying CD. These include drivers, hardware monitoring, Norton AntiVirus (or even Antivirous), and WinDVD.
Verdict
From the nervous newbie to the overconfident overclocker, the KR7A-133A has something for everyone. Designed in the main for speed, this board is both highly configurable and extremely stable. It comes highly recommended.
