ASUS A7V: Fast, to the Point , Just a Little Pain
Written: Oct 22 '00 (Updated Jul 13 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy-set-up, manual, layout, fast-start-up-memory-count, fast board,overclocking (if-have-multiplier DIP-switches-on-board - May be two versions, check manual)
Cons: DMA Ultra 100 workarounds- update takes care of that
The Bottom Line: Of the motherboards I have worked on, I like this one best. It's easy to use, and set up. Beyond a couple of idiosyncrasies, I've had no real problems.
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| Caprig's Full Review: Asus A7V |
I was happily chugging along on my P166 computer, deciding that I did not need to replace or upgrade for a long time. I was not interested in any new software (who ever learns their apps thoroughly anyway.....) and I was perfectly content with my current system. I was tired of building new systems and due to some radical changes in my life, I decided to take a break from the computer scene, put my business on hold, and spend a year or two just enjoying my old outdated computer. What a relief to be out of the rat race for a while.......
.....Then a member of our household that will remain nameless accidentally cut through the main power line severing my electrical power to my computer(after a huge surge) and doing all kinds of weird things to it. Talk about frustration.
So, in order to replace the now rather erratic parts, I was forced to look at a new motherboard. After all, who puts ISA slots in anything anymore, and so many of my older expansion boards were no longer compatible (despite the bogus promises of the manufacturers....)and many peripherals are USB....
I looked around and did a quick evaluation and study of the current computer trends and decided that I was going to go with a Thunderbird processor and an A7V board. Asus, of course.
HOW IS THIS BOARD?
The board is better than previous ASUS boards I have worked on. It is less crowded and a little more "builder friendly", but getting it also meant a whole host of new things- case included.
The board is for ATX cases (of course, AT is not an option any more it seems)
WHAT IS THIS BOARD DESIGNED FOR?
This board is specifically for the AMD processors- Duron and Athlon SOCKET A processors. The K7V board is for the slot version of the processors. The names are so close that unless you are familiar with them, you will get confused.
HOW IS THIS BOARD SET UP?
The Chip sets are VIA VT Apollo KT 133 system controller and VIA VT82C686A PCI
There are 5 PCI slots, 1 AGP slot and 1 AMR slot (shared- it is for onboard audio and modem)
NOTE: The top PCI slot needs to be left open because of AGP issues in many cases.
It has 2 sets of IDE connectors with ULTRA IDE support. One set is for 66 and the other is 100. The 100 side is color coded so that you do not make a mistake easily.
There is an onboard PS/2 mouse connector and a PS/2 keyboard connector. No need to buy an add on board for these.
1 parallel port connector and 2 serial connectors (COM 1 and 2)
2 USB connectors with expansion of 3 more possible with additional plug in card. Mine came with it, but it may be optional.
Wake on LAN connector and wake on ring connector.
System voltage monitoring (integrated in ASUS ASIC) and 3 fan power and speed monitoring connectors.
Power is ATX and you need a supply on the bigger side- like 350 watts, that, of course, being that this board is made to run Athlon processors and Athlon processors need bigger power supplies. I find that 350 works best for me, however, you could most likely get by with 300 watts if you did not have too many peripherals on your machine.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Special features are:
Onboard LED
Promise ULTRA DMA/100 chip
VRM module
The set up of the board is nicer than others I have used. Spacier and a little easier to reach things.
This board is jumperless, making all of the adjustments possible through the BIOS in the startup. You can opt for the jumper control, if you so desire, however. Both are on the same board. You just have to choose the mode you want.
MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE A7V
At first I did not like the board as it has a funny quirk in it. When you want to set it up for ULTRA DMA 100, you need to connect your IDE cables to the ULTRA 66 connectors first, install your components, OS and then install the software that ASUS gives you and THEN go back and reattach the connectors to the ULTRA 100 connectors. Only then will it work correctly. PAIN to do, but if you start out knowing that, it is much better than throwing the thing out the window in frustration a few times (OK, so that is a figurative analogy.....) I have been told that the new update for the VIA chipset corrects this.
I have been told a lot of things that end up not working for me, so take that with a grain of salt.
ONLY ONE STRANGE PROBLEM
Other than that, I am using Win98 SE and have had some challenges setting this up (WIN98 has this habit of piling up my IRQs ALL on IRQ 11). I tried reinstalling the devices a number of times and finally tried assigning the PCI slots specific IRQ's but my sound would not work then. (I have a SBLIVE card).
I reinstalled the (on a tip from a sympathetic colleague )recalcitrant sound card again with the new drivers from the site and everything seemed to go smoothly from then on. So, it was not really a MB problem. However, because of the problem I had to readjust the BIOS settings many times and was impressed with the clarity and ease of the process. This intense process I went through allowed me to experience the jumperless settings much more in depth than it normally would. I found it very simple to do.
NOTE: As of July 2001, the problem with the IRQ pile-up is as of yet unresolved. It seems to cause video dissolving while online only. That leads me to believe that something is trying to access certain IRQ's and causing a strange shift in location DURING THE SESSION- NOT AFTER REBOOTING.
In other words, when setting up the IRQ's, everything goes into a good place. I stay in the same session, and suddenly the IRQ's shift around, and I am left with everything piled up on 11 and a dissolving screen again.
No one I have talked to has been able to give me satisfactory information about this problem. It seems to be something rather often seen with Matrox G400 users, not necessarily with this motherboard. I have run every update for the VIA chipset and the Matrox video card and still, the problem continues.
If you have any information about this problem that is definitive, please email me. All of the so-called fixes have not worked. Including setting IRQ's to slots and manual. SB LIVE will not work then.
BOARD IS EASY TO USE
This board is easy to use and the settings are well described in the BIOS and the manual. The manual is very specific and excellently done. It is easy to find what you need to know, instead of thumbing all over it repeatedly.
PROCESSOR CAPACITY
This board can take up to a Gigahertz processor (AMD, of course) and 3 types of DIMMS- PC 100, PC 133, and VC 133.
OVERCLOCKING
I do know that I have since read several articles and have been told by a few others that this board is a very good candidate for overclocking. Since I have not opted to overclock in the past, I was not interested in that feature at the time I purchased the board, but I intend to experiment with it within the next few months. I will report on the results here on that as well.
CLOSING COMMENTS
For right now, that is all that I can think of to tell you about this board. I have had it for some time now and it is serving me well so far.
As I think of more, I will add it as I think of it. All in all, it is one of the better boards I have used and I am pleased with it. I just had to get to know a few of its peculiar tendencies (which I have described to you already).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 169
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Epinions.com ID:
Caprig
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Location: NE US- 2 email me delete REMOVETHIS
Reviews written: 448
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About Me:
Product-Evaluation/Information-Specialist. Too Busy to Be KIND to Others? You are TOO BUSY.
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