ABIT KV7
Motherboard
Marc Dayton
The new KV7 motherboard from ABIT is
one of the latest additions using the VIA KT600 chipset. The KV7 utilizes the
KT600 north-bridge along with the VT8237 south-bridge chipsets that provides a
fast 8X V-Link connection (533MB/s) between the two to ensure no bottleneck in
performance. The combination of the KT600 and the VT8237 allows the KV7 to
support the Athlon XP 400Mhz FSB, 6.1 channels of audio, and Serial ATA and SATA
RAID along with the following features:
|
Processor
Support |
AMD-K7 Athlon/AthlonXP/Barton
FSB 200/266/333/400MHz Processors |
|
Memory
|
Three 184-pin
DIMM sockets
Supports 2 DIMM Un-buffered DDR 333/400 (Max. 2GB)
Supports 3 DIMM Un-buffered DDR 266 (Max. 3GB) |
|
Audio
|
6-Channel AC
97 CODEC on board
Optical S/P DIF Out |
|
Internal I/O
Connectors |
1 x AGP 8X
/4X (0.8V /1.5V), 5 x PCI slots
Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB
2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133 Connectors
2 x SATA 150 with support for RAID 0/1
2 x USB 2.0 headers, 1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN |
|
Back Panel
I/O |
1 x PS/2
Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse
1 x Serial, 1 x Parallel
Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in, Center/Sub, Surround
Speaker, S/P DIF Output)
4 x USB 2.0
1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector
|
Out of the Box
When I got the boxed package of the KV7
it looked like many of the other motherboards I have come across in the past,
and when I opened it there were no real surprises.
|
In the
Package
-
KV7 Motherboard x 1
-
FDD cable x 1
-
User's Manual x 1
-
SATA Single cable x 2
-
SATA power cable x 1
-
Quick Installation Guide x 1
-
Support CD x 1
-
SATA Driver Disk x 1
-
USB 2.0 port with bracket x 1
-
Jumper Setting Label x 1
-
I/O Shield x 1
-
Hard Drive ATA 133 Cable x 1
|
The accessories were like most any
other motherboards, which included the motherboard, cables (FDD, HD), rear IO
shield, manuals and software, but it did include a couple of nice additions.
The first is the rear mounted USB
bracket. I really liked this one because the pin header was one solid piece and
was very easy to install where other types of USB panels have had the wires
separated and you have to really work to connect each and every wire.
The new KV7 motherboard from ABIT is
one of the latest additions using the VIA KT600 chipset. The KV7 utilizes the
KT600 north-bridge along with the VT8237 south-bridge chipsets that provides a
fast 8X V-Link connection (533MB/s) between the two to ensure no bottleneck in
performance. The combination of the KT600 and the VT8237 allows the KV7 to
support the Athlon XP 400Mhz FSB, 6.1 channels of audio, and Serial ATA and SATA
RAID along with the following features:
|
Processor
Support |
AMD-K7 Athlon/AthlonXP/Barton
FSB 200/266/333/400MHz Processors |
|
Memory
|
Three 184-pin
DIMM sockets
Supports 2 DIMM Un-buffered DDR 333/400 (Max. 2GB)
Supports 3 DIMM Un-buffered DDR 266 (Max. 3GB) |
|
Audio
|
6-Channel AC
97 CODEC on board
Optical S/P DIF Out |
|
Internal I/O
Connectors |
1 x AGP 8X
/4X (0.8V /1.5V), 5 x PCI slots
Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB
2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133 Connectors
2 x SATA 150 with support for RAID 0/1
2 x USB 2.0 headers, 1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN |
|
Back Panel
I/O |
1 x PS/2
Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse
1 x Serial, 1 x Parallel
Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in, Center/Sub, Surround
Speaker, S/P DIF Output)
4 x USB 2.0
1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector
|
Out of the Box
When I got the boxed package of the KV7
it looked like many of the other motherboards I have come across in the past,
and when I opened it there were no real surprises.
In the Package
-
KV7 Motherboard x 1
-
FDD cable x 1
-
User's Manual x 1
-
SATA Single cable x 2
-
SATA power cable x 1
-
Quick Installation Guide x 1
-
Support CD x 1
-
SATA Driver Disk x 1
-
USB 2.0 port with bracket x 1
-
Jumper Setting Label x 1
-
I/O Shield x 1
-
Hard Drive ATA 133 Cable x 1
-
The accessories were like most any other motherboards,
which included the motherboard, cables (FDD, HD), rear IO shield, manuals and
software, but it did include a couple of nice additions.
The first is the rear mounted USB bracket. I really liked
this one because the pin header was one solid piece and was very easy to
install where other types of USB panels have had the wires separated and you
have to really work to connect each and every wire.
The accessories were like most any other motherboards,
which included the motherboard, cables (FDD, HD), rear IO shield, manuals and
software, but it did include a couple of nice additions.
The second was the SATA drive cables and a power adapter.
Finally, it included something else that I don’t normally see, a jumper
setting sticker. Usually you see these types of stickers pasted to the inside
of the case cover when you buy a computer from a company like Dell or Gateway.
I stuck it to the inside of the front panel of my case. It was handy when I
first set up the motherboard and will probably also come in handy later when I
have to move jumpers and I’ve lost the manual.
The Support CD had the typical drivers for the motherboard
along with some utilities, including a BIOS Flash utility and a program called
Hardware Doctor. I installed Hardware Doctor and it was interesting in that it
provided active monitoring of the various voltages on the motherboard as well
as temperatures and fan speeds. It is nice as far as a heads-up utility when
testing, but I don’t think it would very useful for everyday activity.
When I saw the flash utility I wondered if there were any
BIOS updates. Out of curiosity I looked for BIOS updates and there is one, but
after reading the BIOS appendix in the manual I found that my BIOS ID is 11,
and the only BIOS file available is named KV711.exe. Because ABIT tacks the
BIOS ID onto the filename, where KV7 is the model number of the motherboard
and 11 is the BIOS ID, I had the latest version already. During my search for
the BIOS update I came across a description of several of the advanced
features the KV7 provides.
by-http://www.sysopt.com
|
