Stable system board for a high price.
Written: Jul 29 '01 (Updated Nov 27 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very stable, Overclockable, UDMA-100 support.
Cons: Noisy, No ISA slots, Price.
The Bottom Line: The system board that will do it all if you can bare the noise.
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| janika's Full Review: Asus A7V |
Hello
The Asus A7V-133 System board
The subject is the ASUS A7V computer system board that I never tried but we have the Asus A7V-133 that we are currently using in our current system. The differences between the two boards are almost nothing. We needed something stable after going through two different personal computers. One had a QDI motherboard and the other had a Microstar. We did not really like neither of them. The QDI had a tendency to forget about the hard drive all together and the Microstar had a hard time coping with AGP video cards.
Basic Specs
-Supports AMD® ThunderbirdTM / DuronTM 550MHz ~ 1GHz CPU
-266/200MHz Front Side Bus
-Uses KT133A chipset
-New PCI v2.2 and USB v1.1 standards
-4 x PCI and 1 AGP +1 x PCI/AMR
-PC Health Monitoring
-3x DIMM support for 1.5GB PC133/PC100/VCM133 SDRAM
-Ultra DMA/100 and DMA/66 support
-Up to 4 USB Ports max
Configuration
We had the new system built by a reputable clone shop and when we ordered it, I specified to them what I want inside the computer. This way I get a two years warranty out of them. If I build it my self, the OEM parts carry a short three months warranty only. We have the following configuration: Asus A7V-133 system board, 256-Mb of PC-133 SDRAM memory, AMD T-Bird 900-Mhz, 20-Gb Quantum Fireball hard disk which is an Ultra ATA-100 at 7200-Rpm spin.
(This is rated as one of the fastest hard drives on the market today!) The hdd also has shock protection.
Riva TNT-2 32-Mb AGP Video card with the M-64 chip set.
I am not too crazy about this chip set. The card could be faster. Creative Labs, Sound Blaster PCI-128 voices.
I should of get the SB Live Value, but that is okay for now. Do not get me wrong. This is a beautiful card but it's a CPU hog. CDROM, Floppy, Modem, etc. We do not use the modem, only for the phone dialer when we make long distance calls, since we have cable. 450 Kb/sec, never go back! :-)
The good stuff
Here are the thinks I like about this system board: It is very reliable. It has a Promise ultra, on-board ATA-100 controller for fast hard drives, The board is easily overclockable for those folks who like to go into that kind of things. We do not. I believe to add more memory to a system or getting a faster hard disk will make a allot of difference, in fact more than gaining 100 or 133 - Mhz of CPU speed. The AMD CPUs run on higher temperatures compared to an Intel. Over clocking, it makes the processor running even hotter. Another nice thing is the AMR slot on this board. The AMR slot is smaller than the AGP and intends to replace PCI in some instances it is used for modems, etc.
The not so good
Things I don't really like about this system board are: Number one, it is noisy. I am not sure of the A7V but the A7V-133 has an extra fan built onto it nears the south bridge at the CPU. This means that if you build the system using this system board, you are looking at having at least three fans in your computer including this one at the processor. We have three fans in the system. #1 in the power supply which is by the way a 300-Watt, #2 On the CPU. This fan came with the processor, so as the heat sink. #3 is the fan I was mentioning by the CPU. The system never overheated on us. The board will warn you on the screen if the CPU temperature rises to a dangerously high level. The other think I don't like is the on-board virus scanner, which is a firmware. This can conflict with some utility applications. One more problem. Not really a problem, but it could be. There is no ISA slot on this board. It has five PCI slots and one-4X AGP and One PCI/AMR slots.
The last thing is the price. At $195- Cdn about $140- US this is an expensive board compare to the others.
Conclusion
Over all this is a very good board and the company ASUS is very helpful by supporting their products. There are always regular BIOS updates available for download at their web site and there are news groups where you can find more information than you will ever need. If you are an over clocker or not and looking for a good reliable board to support your AMD Duron / Athlon CPU, this is the board for you. Keep in mind that the max speed this board can do is 133-mhz bus. If you need a DDR system than this is not the board for you. Might want to look at the Asus A7A-266 or A7M boards instead. Best regards.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
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Epinions.com ID:
janika
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Location: North America
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
A hardware Gürü who likes computers, cars, travel & digital photography.
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