Resp.toSeether166
Written: Dec 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Flexability/Control
Cons: Ability to fry thru. incorrect settings/Newness
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| schmitty's Full Review: Abit KT7 Motherboard |
I bought this board because after searching the web I thought that it was the best for-the-money/currently available! In the case of KT7 Troubles by Seether166, I sympathize, though is unfortunate that you haven't been able to experience the merits of this board. Have 750MHz Athlon, KT7, some kind of generic pc133 cas2 128 M module (does work at that setting though am getting skeptical about overclocking...) and ATI xPERT 98 card (and other peripherals of course...). Was instructed by ATI manual to install OS (WIndows 98 SE/Redhat 6.1... namely the first, Linux didn't care...) with other graphics card then "remove it" in device manager, then shut-down, install ATI card then have CD ready on reboot... this sounds familiar to what you said you experienced especially as was ancient ISA Diamond video card I used to install Windows!! It seems that the ATI card was maybe designed taking into the account the possiblity of being installed upon a motherboard with integrated audio/video a little too seriously! Anyway, if you didn't try what I suggested above, do so, as this may help you. Also, see no mention of OS or driver versions in your posting. Know for fact that Windows 98 SE HATES when I change any BIOS settings while Linux doesn't care except if motherboard drivers for HDD (actually IDE controller) aren't loaded (in which case it can't reboot the system, shuts it down instead... very annoying to wait 30 secs. to power back up!), this is reasonable. I have gone to this length because I have a KT7 and it rocks! However am not running so good video card (obviously) and have read a number of postings that detail problems with this board and high end cards... I think it may be worth your while to keep an eye out for both drivers for and any kind of bios update for your card (?!), I don't believe, (but am not certain, ABIT's site confuses me so far...) that there is a bios update for the KT7 board yet. This would probably help. Also have noted that Power Management seems to be a little weird on this board, in desperation I did something which I didn't quite understand (though I swear it made sense at the time) in the bios setup to kill Windows boot- reboots! (sometimes seemingly video card related, though can't substantiate yet... can't remember what and am not going to mess with what works for another 3 days or so...) Despite all these oddities, I swear that this board is solid and capable and worth further investigation... was able to take 750 to 843 through raising of bus speeds to ridiculous levels (considering that my PCI winmodem and sound card and AGP video card are nothing special) though had to decrease memory speed from HOST+CLK to HOST (133MHZ to 117 MHZ, i think) as HOST+CLK became far too large for my 133 Generic. Believe with addition of Mushkin PC150 or similiar and unlocked Athlon could really make this thing cook (actually this is certain)! This raising was without any special cooling (and probably would've taken some more... frequency that is...) except for the removal of the computer's side plate during a two hour internet/prime95 session (let CPU temp. slowly climb to 45C in VIA hardware monitor v2.04 before doing so... settled to 32C then without program/surfing interupption)[COOL HUH?!.. pun intended... this is sytem idle temp in current environment (cover installed) and current cooling hardware (generic)]
Have noticed minor non-fatal "OS-recoverable glitches" with respect to my ATI card. Much more so under Windows. Will dump me from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver occasionally with no warning... could only be game though (am considering possiblity is the game patch I applied as has only happened since patch).
Dialbo II, Unreal, no problem, more games a-waiting! (I mean really, both at the same time while Alt-Tabbing to Internet... I THINK with prime95 running though if not will report soon if can update postings) Good luck with this board as I believe it is definetly a diamond if only yet in the rough... Despite the problems I have listed, my experience with this board was (no pun intended) boring! These glitches have been... amusing and I have found myself taken to trying to help other people solve their computer problems a/o overclock this thing! My friends can verify that I keep wishing something would go wrong with this thing so that I could fix it! It has provided me with the happiest two weeks in recent memory, hopes to your future good fortune!
Take care when driving PCI devices even at the meager increase of 34 MHz!
Watch your HOST/HOST+CLK wrt. FSB/PCI settings!
Don't forget that on THIS BOARD holding/pressing Insert while reapplying power recovers from failure of BIOS settings (may require a couple attempts... make sure to hit Del to enter BIOS setup after VGA initializes: will hear the screen turn on, yet won't see anything quite yet..)!
Happy Computing.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
schmitty
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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