ABIT Socket A RAID MOBO AMD Duron or XP CPUs
Written: Apr 23 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to install, very expandable and flexible. Easy to overclock.
Cons: The front panel headers on this board did not match up with case.
The Bottom Line: It's a great board for the money. A RAID drive controller board by itself runs almost $100.
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| mustpar65's Full Review: Abit KD7-RAID Motherboard |
ABIT
KD7-R (RAID) Socket-A (AMD Processor) Motherboard.
BACKGROUND
I have been building my own computers for over 15 years, starting with an XT Turbo way back in.the dark “DOS Days” of the industry. I don’t do it often enough to be an expert; only once every 2 or 3 years but I’m reasonably competent. It’s A LOT easier now with jumperless motherboards, plug and play BIOS and such. When building a new computer I always want to be sure that it will be flexible and upgradeable enough to last for several years. I chose an ABIT board because it has been my experience that their documentation is excellent. Cheaper boards often come with poorly Xeroxed “Manuals” that have obviously been translated rather ham-handedly into “Engrish”. The manuals for cheapo boards are also often made up for several different models of the manufacturer’s motherboards and you have to somehow decipher what information is applicable to your particular model. With ABIT you get an actual bound handbook specifically dedicated to the model of motherboard that you bought.
GENERAL
This is an ATX Form Factor, “Socket A” Motherboard for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Microprocessors. Abit boards are often used by overclockers.
PROCESSOR
The ABIT KD7-R motherboard can handle AMD Athlon Duron, Thunderbird or XP processors. That’s quite a range of chips, you could start with a 700 MHz Duron on the cheap and eventually work your way all the up to an XP 2700. I installed an Athlon XP 2100 CPU which is well back from the bleeding edge of CPU technology. But the price was right and the chip is more than fast enough for my needs.
MEMORY
The KD7R has four 184-pin DIMM sockets supporting a variety of possible memory configurations.
2 DIMM DDR 333/400 (Max. 2GB)
3 DIMM Unbuffered DDR 200/266 (Max. 3GB)
4 DIMM Registered DDR 200/266 (Max. 3.5GB)
HARD DRIVE INTERFACE
This is where this board gets interesting. It has a built-High Point HPT372 IDE RAID Controller that supports Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133. I’m not going to go into a full discussion of what a RAID controller can do. Two of the things it can do are: Make 2 hard dives into one big drive or make one drive “Mirror” the other drive so if one fails the backup is available instantly. The KD7 board can also handle up to 8 individual drives which for me is the main benefit.
CARD SLOTS
The ABIT KD7-R is fitted with 6 PCI slots and 1 AGP (up to 8X) slot.
EXTERNAL CONNECTORS
The obvious ones are all there, PS2 Keyboard and Mouse, 2 Nine Pin Serial ports, 1 Parallel Printer port. 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 SPDIF port and an RJ 45 ethernet port. The board is also equipped with an onboard sound card, well there is no actual “card” the sound card functions are built into the board. 1 Line In, 2 Speaker and 1 Mic connection are available to the right of the 9 pin serial ports.
LAN.
There is a built-in VIA VT6102 MAC controller 10/100 Mb. This could be useful for networking (duh) or connecting a cable or DSL modem. But in my case I didn’t need it
CPU INSTALLATION
No problems. Figure out where Pin 1 is on the CPU and drop it into place. There are clear instructions in the manual with photos. The heatsink/fan installation is always a little nerve-wracking, it feels like you’re using way too much force to set the clips but it worked out okay for me. Always install the CPU and memory before installing the board into the case.
MEMORY INSTALLATION
Piece of cake. I used a single 256MB PC2100 DDR DIMM. Someday I’ll add more and/or faster memory but it’s enough for right now.
CASE INSTALLATION
Pretty standard. It’s an ATX form factor board so if you buy an ATX case you should be all set. The external connectors are slightly different from those of a rock stock ATX board but Abit supplies you with a special “faceplate” to install into your case. The board has 4 available fan headers for your case fans. My board installed quickly and easily.
POWER CONNECTION
This board uses both the standard ATX power connector and the “ATX2” power connector. When you buy your case make sure the power supply has a “ATX2” connector. Most newer ATX power supplies have this connector and you could probably get an adapter for one that didn’t but why not save yourself the hassle.
CARD INSTALLATION
Everything on the board lined up properly with my case. No problems here.
DRIVE CONNECTION
Very simple. The IDE 1 and IDE 2 connectors are at the edge of the board nearest the drive bays. The floppy connector is in kind of an awkward position but it was not a major problem.
TECH SUPPORT
The best thing you can ever say about a company’s tech support department is “I didn’t need to contact tech support”. If the product is done right that company’s tech guys will be like the Maytag repairmen, rarely if ever needed. I can’t tell you about Abit’s tech support department, because I didn’t need to contact Abit’s tech support department.
SUMMARY
This is a solid, quality motherboard from a reputable established manufacturer. The documentation is excellent. I was able to get my new system up and running on the first try. There were no major or even minor glitches. The board offers a comprehensive set of features. There’s a lot of flexibility for choice of CPU and memory.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 109.00
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Epinions.com ID:
mustpar65
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Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 2 members
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