Abit KT7A: Workstation Powerhouse!
Written: Sep 08 '01 (Updated Sep 09 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great performance, great price, easy installation...
Cons: None so far...
The Bottom Line: Great motherboard for the AMD Athlon and Duron family of processors, with RAID functionality built in. A board ready-made for building a powerful workstation.
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| vemartin's Full Review: Abit KT7-RAID Motherboard |
Disclaimer: this review is intended for computer layman who have a very good understanding of the terms used throughout this review, and a broad understanding of motherboard technology.
My beloved and much heralded Abit BE6-II motherboard, died a painful death recently, much to my dismay. The signs of its eminent demise were evident for some time; frequent Operating System (OS) lockups, system wide slow downs for no apparent reason, and the system clock was chronically one hour behind. I puzzled over this last happenstance for the longest time, because I could not figure out what was making the system clock reset itself. I would reset the clock to the right time, and the next day it would have slowed to exactly one hour behind!
Finally, I restarted Nubia (my computer’s name) one day and the she refused to boot into POST (Pre-Operating System Test). The case fan would spin up, which told me I had power, but the CPU fan was idle, which told me the motherboard had left this world, probably never to return. So I called Multiwave Direct and they sent me a brand new Abit KT7A-RAID “Socket-A” motherboard as a replacement. I choose Abit again because, despite the BE-II’s untimely demise, I still trust the brand.
The Abit KT7-RAID motherboard is actually manufactured in two different configurations: the KT-7 & the KT-7A. Both motherboards support RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives), and both support AMD Duron and Athlon processors in the Slot-A configuration, but the KT-7A supports the latest Thunderbird Athlons processors running on a 266MHz frontside bus (FSB). This feature allows the use of processors up to the current AMD 1333MHz—or 1.3Ghz, and faster, when they become available; the KT7-Raid in contrast only supports 200MHz FSB. Both motherboards support the same level RAID configurations.
The KT-7A features the following: one AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) graphics card slot, 5 PCI expansion slots, and one shared ISA/PCI expansion slot. I like the ISA port for backwards compatibility, not that I need it, but its nice to know its there. Surprisingly enough the KT-7A also includes four USB ports. Two are located in the regular location below the PS/2 mouse & keyboard ports, and two are located on the board itself, and require a USB motherboard adapter (included). This adapter then pugs into and open expansion slot bay giving you the two more USB ports. The KT-7A also supports wake on ring (for modems); wake on LAN (for networking), and infrared, all of which need additional hardware in order to utilize.
The KT-7A motherboard features two BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) chip-sets; the Award/Soft Menu III BIOS, which sets the configuration for the primary computer features of the motherboard, including but not limited to:
* Basic BIOS set-up & configuration (system time, floppy set-up, memory set-up, etc).
* System drive (floppy drive, hard drive, CD-ROM drive) boot device order.
* Built-in peripherals (parallel & serial ports, AGP, USB ports).
* Advanced BIOS set-up & configuration.
* Advanced power management.
* Memory configuration
* Password configuration.
The other system BIOS, the HPT-370 BIOS is used to configure the ATA/100 drives and RAID functionality.
I mated the KT-7A with an AMD Athlon Thunderbird processor rated at 1.133 GHz running on 266 FSB. The processor fit snugly and easily into the Socket-A socket, but the heat sink took a little work to install, but in the end all was well. I decided on the Thunderbird because of cost considerations and the proven performance of AMD processors; the processor has proven itself faster than the comparable Pentium III’s, at the same clock speed. And the Thunderbird runs at a much higher FSB, which means it can process more data per clock cycle, thereby increasing overall system speed and performance.
Note: after the processor is installed you will need to set it up via Abit’s easy to use Soft Menu III BIOS utility.
I do not use the RAID features on the motherboard because I felt it wasn’t needed. As such, I will not discuss the features here, but will address RAID in my upcoming review of the Abit BX133 RAID motherboard to be released tomorrow. The KT-7A will support up to eight EIDE devices; four utilizing ATA/100 and below, and four utilizing ATA/66 and below. I did install two ATA/100 devices however, two 20GB hard drives, in order to take advantage of the ATA100 bus, and two CD-ROM drive, which I attached to the ATA/66 bus controller. All were recognized by the BIOS without input from me, but I could have easily have set up the drives via the Soft Menu III.
Memory was a primary concern in building this new PC; I wanted as much as possible. The KT-7A supports both PC100 and PC133 SDRAM up to 1.5GB, in three slots that will recognize up to 512MB of SDRAM each, in various configurations. I installed two 256MB PC133modules for a total of 512MB of SDRAM.
I installed Windows 98 Me, without a problem, but Windows 2000 Professional and Server were a no-go; the installation continually locked up half-way through, so sad to admit, I gave up, I had not the time or stamina to deal with it. I do not know what was to blame, but I suspect the HPT-370 BIOS and drivers might be the culprits. And satisfied with the performance of Windows 98 Me, I have left the issue alone.
Overall, I’m liking the KT-7A. Although I don’t use the RAID feature I might in the future so its good to know its there. The performance of the system over-all is outstanding and I have no grips about the motherboard, but time will tell, time will tell. So far the system clock has kept accurate time!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 115.00
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Epinions.com ID:
vemartin
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Member: Vincent
Location: Aurora, IL
Reviews written: 1358
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...A Great Empire cannot be Conquered from Without until it first Destroys itself From Within...
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