Good board, but want the DDR
Written: Jun 12 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 4x AGP, 133 Mhz RAM support
Cons: bandwidth issues- soon to be rectified
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| smijolovic's Full Review: EPoX EP-7KXA Motherboard |
This opinion is more on the KX-133 chipset and not the board, so this will help readers both now and in the future about whether or not they want to support it.
Yes, the transition to 133MHz and 4x AGP has been slow. The KX-133 is quite an accomplishment, because there were plenty of issues to overcome. There are still some memory bandwidth issues with this chipset and the net KT-133 chipset, but I would recommend most if not all boards using them. The real test will be the release of the 760 with DDR SDRAM.
The main reason why I wrote this article was to inform readers why AMD fans have had to suffer with superior chips that have been slowed down by the hardware around them.
The story begins with....you guessed it.....Intel. It is no longer a rumor, but a documented fact, and I think all should know this. As AMD began to inch its way into the market with the K6-2 and eventually the
K6-3, there was plenty of interest to the major board manufacturers in Taiwan. These manufacturers began inquiring AMD and Cyrix for specs so that they could begin production of boards that would be compatible. Intel, in their monopolistic way, pouted about the competition, and looked for ways to eliminate their competition. They found a means, and that was through the suffocation of Intel chipsets to motherboard manufacturers that were producing chipsets for other processors. This put a few motherboard manufacturers that supported AMD and Cyrix out of business, and significantly hurt other processor manufacturers.
With this in mind, it's amazing how far AMD has come. They were forced to initiate chiset manufacturing for their Athlon, because other chipset manufacturers were afraid to look AMD's way and face retaliation from Intel. The Irongate chipset wasn't the best, but it got the ball rolling. I still consider it to be one of the most astounding technological achievements, because of the pressure it had to overcome. If it wasn't for the persistence of AMD, VIA would be in deep trouble for their support. SiS and Ali would have never considered it last year.
The KX-133 and the KT-133 are cases of improvements that happen over time, as well as the 760 I can't wait to see. But all AMD fans, and computer fans for that matter, should all pay their respect to the Irongate chipset. It's one of the reasons why Intel fans can get their Celerons, P II, and P III's cheaper
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
smijolovic
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Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 2 members
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