a fine MB for Athlon XP
Written: Jul 24 '03 (Updated Jul 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: RAID, good onboard audio, very stable, USB 2.0, plenty of USB ports.
Cons: just a few (see below).
The Bottom Line: if you get this motherboard, get the updates, and I think you'll be quite happy with your new computer.
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| stonecutter2's Full Review: Abit NV7-133R Motherboard |
I've got this motherboard running an Athlon XP 1800+ with 768MB of PC2100 RAM, and it's stable as can be. i'm using a cooler master heatsink. set up was easy, one thing to keep in mind is to make sure you get your RAM in before your video card - the gap between the RAM clip and your video card (if it's a bit long) is about 1/8" or so when your RAM is in place. a tight fit. nothing too bad, though. just don't crunch your video card.
Regarding the USB drivers, make sure to download the new USB 2.0 patch at abit.com - otherwise your USB 2.0 won't work right. this board, with all the updates, has been the most stable computer i've ever owned.
The onboard RAID controller is great...I've got 2 60GB hard drives that are striped (not mirrored) so it treats them like one big 120GB hard drive. And, file transfers are incredibly fast! For those unfamiliar with RAID, striping uses 2 drives as one, and increases performance. Mirroring basically uses 1 of the drives for backup, copying all data on 1 of the drives. this way, if your computer crashes, or one of the hard drives fails, you can recover the data. Also, keep in mind that you can shut off the RAID controller and just use it like additional IDE interfaces, for CD drives or hard drives or whatever. I've got my OS hard drive on an IDE that has RAID turned off, and it performs great.
the manual is very helpful and informative, but in typical abit style has some broken english that can either be frustrating or worth a bit of a laugh. There are some good pictures, though, which help out when you can't make out what they're trying to say. Expect to be a *bit* confused here and there while reading it.
i used this in the first computer i built, and it's been a great box. i recommend it to anyone with little experience, who wants to build a solid reliable computer.
UPDATE: I've been running this computer for about a year, and the only troubles I've had is with the audio. It gets messed up every so often, making one snippet of sound repeat again and again until you shut down the system. I've put a new sound card in, but the troubles persist. I think it's either the game, or a driver issue. This board is great, but it's important to keep those drivers up-to-date!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 90
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Epinions.com ID:
stonecutter2
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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