A few comments on the A7V333
Written: May 30 '02 (Updated Jun 26 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: On-board sound, good BIOS controls for system optimization
Cons: IRQ conflict with Windows98(?)
The Bottom Line: If you want a board that makes it easy to overclock your AMD and has the latest chipsets, the A7V333 is worth looking into.
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| Matt.'s Full Review: ASUS VIA KT333 Chipset A7V333 (A7V333/PA/RAID/U2/1... |
In putting together a new PC, I wanted to use components that are at the high end of current technology so that's why I chose the Asus A7V333 motherboard.
First, it has the latest chipset (VIA KT333) giving it a possible 333MHz memory bus. If set up properly with the right memory, this can give a very high performance boost when data is shuffled between the DDRAM and the CPU. It also has 6 channel on board sound and IEEE 1394 firewire ports which I wanted. (Sound and IEEE are optional, so if you want them, make sure you get the correct version of this board.) Lastly, this board and its BIOS make it easy to optimize system performance (overclocking) which I wanted to experiment with.
Physically, the layout of components is somewhat crowded, as with most newer boards, because they have squeezed so many options onto it. Many of the jumpers and sockets for cord plugs are impossible to get at once the board is installed, especially if you have a few PCI cards in place. So plan your installation carefully or you will be pulling things back apart to get at jumpers or sockets that you need to plug something into.
The BIOS has many options for setting just about everything you would want to tweek. Lots of settings here for the CPU, memory, and bus speeds so you can really push your silicon to the limit if you want to. Flashing the BIOS to the latest version was quick and easy with the Aflash utility.
One thing that I like is the Hardware Monitor which displays your CPU temperature, cooling fan speeds, and core voltages. You can observe these from time to time to make sure everything is within limits. You can even have the system shut itself down if something gets too hot.
The POST (power on self test) on this board also has a cool feature. Instead of just a few beeps when you start the machine, there is a voice that tells you what is happening and also alerts you if there is any problem (such as "Memory module not detected"). You can turn the voice off if you want, or when you get tired of it, but for the first few start-ups it can be helpful.
One problem I encountered is getting the on-board sound to work with games. I think there is a problem with Windows98 assigning the same IRQ to the IEEE Host Controller and the C-Media sound device, thereby creating a conflict. For now, I have to turn off the IEEE controller in Device Manager to play games or the system freezes. I'm not totally sure what the problem is though, or if there is some way the IEEE controller and the C-Media sound device can live peacefully together in Win98. I'm still working on it. Eventually I will upgrade my OS anyway, so hopefully this problem will go away, but just wanted to mention it if you are planning to run this board with Win98.
As with any item as complex as a motherboard, you can expect to have some issues when you combine it with various other hardware and software components. The best thing to do in this case is hit the message boards and forums where you can find a lot of helpful information. One of the forums I have used for AMD motherboards can be found at http://www.amdmb.com/vb/index.php
Other than the IEEE/sound conflict I'm having (which I blame on Win98), I am basically happy with this board's features and performance.
Update added 6/26/02 - Updated my OS to Windows XP and still have the same problem with system lock up when playing The Sims. If I disable the IEEE controller, The Sims will run fine. No lock ups with any other games in Windows XP (so far) with IEEE enabled.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 120
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Epinions.com ID:
Matt.
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Member: Matt
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 2 members
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