JFP

Darth, using Netscape 4.76. I will try 5.5 but generally don't use it. Won't get a chance to retry with IE until tonight. Thanks.

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Malevolent

Very nice review. I have read several of them and that is one of the best in my opinion. As you point out many things that some other reviewers do not. But one thing you didn't mention anything about is the agp slots. Is it really not important that the A7M266, A7AM266 and M7MIA have agp pro slots for part of the consideration? I mean with the geforce 3 cards coming out.

wha?

i'm currently using an A7A m/b with AMD 1.33ghz
Why is that there are 3 options for internal frequency? (manual, 1000, 1333) is there any reason why would a 1.33ghz chip would have to run at 1ghz?

DARTH

In terms of consumer retail graphics card AGP Pro really doesn't matter. It is when you get into high-end workstations that this becoes important. Essentially the Pro is I believe just the extra notch which allows for more voltage to the slot.

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harth

the reason that the A7A bios has a setting for 1ghz and 1.33 ghz is that a 1.33 ghz athlon has a 10x multiplier, so you can choose a 100 mhz system bus for 1000mhz or a 133 mhz system bus for 1333 mhz. The bios cannot detect weather the proc should run a 100 or 133 bus, so it gives you the two options.

V'Pier

Hey, I have a couple of questions.

1. What is the deal with A7A266, does it mean it runs at 266mhz? and what is the 1.2 Athlon Thunderbird? is that the name for the A B or C version, and is it supposed to run at 266mhz?

2. DDR Ram, is it supposed to run at 266mhz? I've seen them at 128meg size.

3. Does the A7A266 come with 6 USB ports out of the box? or is it just 4 (2 on MB and 2 on a kit) with an option to buy another USB port kit?

4. What is the deal with the BIOS settings saying 100/133mhz from what I've been researching on the net.

I hope these questions aren't stupid, I want to know the details. I'm thinking about getting this board but I want to know if everything on it runs at 266mhz, or is it really 133mhz in disguise.

Thanks!

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V'Pier

harth

evidently you don't know too much about the ddr architecture and the thunderbird archictures. firstly,
A, B, C are differenmt versions of the AMD T-bird. A was the first version of the chip, runnung at a 200 mhz fsb, B was the second version of the chip, still runnung at 200mhz fsb, and C is the latest version of the chipp, runnung a 266 mhz fsb. The 1.2 ghz thunderbird comes in B and C I believe. DDr ram transmits on the rising and falling edges of te clock cycle, making it the equivilent of twice its real speed. (266(pc2100) is actrually running at 133mhz double pumped.) like i just sad, pc1600 DDr is acrtually runnung at the equiveling of 200 mzh sdr ram, and pc2100 is running at the equivilent of 266 mhz sdr ram. buy your ddr ram from crucial becaise they have the fricken lowest prices ever. the a7a comes with 2 usb ports and 1 2 port expansion card. it also has room for another 2 port card, but i recomend just getting a hub because the card uses up an expansion slot in your case. as i said earlier 100/133 is the real buss speeds that the t-bird runns on but it transmits twice durring a buss cycle making it equivelent to 200/266 mhz. if you dont want to get ddr memory immediently you should certainly get the a7a 266 because it will also support sdr memory making the updrade easier.

V'Pier

Ahhh, I see, now that explains alot of things pretty good. So a A7A266 is a pretty decent board, especially if ya throw a DDR ram card in there :-)

So on the USB subject, so they basically come with a single 2 port USB Kit, combined with the 2 ports built into the motherboard to make 4?

I keep reading the info and they all keep saying 6 usb ports, makes me wonder if there is a missing 2 port kit.

Young Jedi

Darth,

What were the exact settings that you guys used and found optimal for the 1.2, 266 FSB chip? If you could be as articulate as possible I'm sure it will help others with the same issue.
I recently bought the A7A266 board with the 1.2, 266 FSB Athlon processor. Like an earlier post, the documentation that comes with the board is pretty confusing. The book basically says that you can do either the default settings and use the"Jumper Free" mode and try to manipulate the BIOS, or use the jumpers and dip switches to set it up correctly.
Here is the confusing part - the documentation does not say that the board can detect your RAM and set your parameters automatically so you assume it does. It does say however that if you use the 133 for both cpu and bus speed then set dip switch 4 to on, and SDRAM then set dip switch 5, DDR RAM then dip switch X, etc., and that you then have to disable jumper free mode. (Does that mean it won't run at optimum speed if default is used?) No matter what I set it for, the clock multiplier shows it at 9.0, yet my friend who has a 1.1 GH processor has his set at 11.0. Something doesn't make sense here. Seems like mine should be set at 12.0.
The website also contradicts the insert that comes with the book that says how to disable or enable dip switch 10 and whether it is needed.
Go here to see for yourself http://www.asus.com/products/motherb...66/jumper.html
I had mine set for 1-On, 4-On, 5-On, 6-On, 7-On, 8-Off, 9-Off, 10-On & Off per the site.
Basically I want to know what you pros think to clear up this confusion.
Thanks.

harth

noticed you were a little confused on the setting of the multiplier. your friends chip runs a 200 mhz bus(200x11=1100) while your chip runs a 266 mhz bus (266x9=1200). if your chip used a 12.0 multiplier, it would clock at 3192 mhz. also about v'piers comment about the missing usb card, a second expansion card is not included because asus probably believes that because it would use up a valuable card slot, many people would opt for an external hub instead and not use the included card. im sure no one wants to pay for something they're not gunna use, right? By the way, if anyone wants to use ddr ram, i highly suggest buying the a7m266 and not the a7a 266 becuase that board is much faster. i made that mistake and hope no one else does, either.

harth

sorry i made a mistake on the multiplier issue. since the AMD bus is double-pumped to 266 mhz, you would multiply the multiplier my the bus speed of 133 not 266, meaning a 266 mhz fsb athlon with a 12.0 multiplier would clock at 1596mhz. sorry about that

V'Pier

So what do you mean? how much faster is the A7M266 in comparison to the A7A266? I mean how much faster is it really gonna be? would people REALLY notice the difference?

According to some websites the A7A266 still came out on top on some benchmarks, so it can't be all that bad?

BTW, has anyone considered that Windows is why computers are so slow, hehe

[Edited by V'Pier on 05-14-2001 at 09:10 PM]

harth

the a7m uses the amd 761 chipset which has about 100 megabytes more memory bandwith that the a7a's ali magik 1. you'll get up to 20 more fps in gaming and faster program loads in most cases with the a7m. in synthetic benchmarks, the a7a does slightly outpace the a7m in multimidea, but noy in real-world performance. since the first edition of the a7m is the same price as the a7a, and the new edition is only about 10-20 bucks more, id definatly go with the a7m

V'Pier

I see, I guess we learn something new everyday.

In Australia the pricing is a bit different, they go for about an average of $350-410 for the A7A and A7M boards (both between that range)

Young Jedi

Thanks harth. I was reading more into it than I should have and you pointed out how simple it was. I would still like to know the exact settings Darth used to get the most out of the system for his test though.

harth

i have an a7a 266 mobo rev. 1002 and appear to have either a very early version of the board or a missing set of dips. i am missing the whole row of dips used to set the cpu multiplier. since oi have first-edition ddr ram, i can't overclock my 1200 266 AXIA T-bird very far without access to the multiplier, and the bios multiplier adjustment is greyed out. any help or advice on hacking the bios or somehow setting/soldiring the dips for multiplier access. also, does anyone have the same problem that i have>?


thanks

BobyJo

The newer versions of the A7M and A7A do not allow for multiplyer adjustments, via switches or bios. The A7M's bios is so well written that the memory timmings and bandwidth really get out of spec's if the board is oc'ed very much higher than default settiings. I have the A7M and I will truthfully say I don't believe this board needs to be OC'ed to perform well. Gaming is simply great, extremely smooth, fps is very good, I use a Radeon DDR 32 retail vid card which does not OC well either. But this card will perform as well at 32bit color as most other cards do at 16 bit. The Radeon does not produce as high a rate of fps as the newer nVidia cards, but the on screen picture is extremely sharp, clear, and the colors are the best I have seen.

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yippiekiyeh

I would have gotten a a7m266 but it doesn't provide any multiplier adjustments.

The FIC AD11 has that ability, plus it includes 4 usb connections. Two for the back and supports front usb ports, which my case has. So in all 4 ports. Plus it's DDR and uses the 761 chipset.

Now I have yet to mess with the multiplier yet, but currently the 1.2ghz is stable. I guess when I'm bored and in a tweaking mood I'll have the ability to mess with it. Since I'll only be messing with the multiplier, all the other bus speed functions aren't being OC'd the system overall is going to be pretty stable. Plus since the CPU that I have is an AXIA C 1.2ghz version, there's no need to unlock it, because it's already unlocked and makes the CPU multiplier adjustment easy!

I just have cpu cooling issues and until I can bring the temp of the cpu down to acceptable levels for OCing (arctic silver, more powerful fan/case fan) it will have to wait...

BobyJo

You might read the posts listed as "temp" and "heat problem" in this forum. There are some benchmarks on the cooler I have. Just installed it yesterday.

smithgotsurf

I am in the market for an Athlon board. I am looking at the Asus A7A266. I am also looking at the Abit KG7-Raid, but it is not currently for sale. I want an opinion on the Asus. I am an Abit owner, and could not be more pleased. I would like to know when the KG7-Raid is due for sale. I would also like to know if it has any down sides. And for the Asus, can you use SDRAM and DDR Ram at the same time? Any help would be great! Thanks. You can email me at smithgotsurf@hotmail.com.

Thanks again.

Josh

BobyJo

The A7A266 utilizes the ALi chipset, this chipset is not known for great performance. I would recommend the A7M266, utilizes the AMD 761 chipset. One of the most stable chipsets made. This chipset will be here for quite awhile in the future. The Crush chipset mobo's will be coming out in the next 30-60 days, they will be worth looking at. If you want to go with the upgrade now. I would strongly recommend the A7A266 by ASUS. DDR memory is at the lowest prices I have ever seen right now. Go with the AXIA Athlon 1.33. They have dropped in price to about $175.00 now. They may go down a little more in the next few days. But this is a great price. The A7M266 set up with 256mg of PC2100 memory, Athlon 1.33 AXIA, and a good vid card. I would recommend the Hercules 4500, don't remember the exact name but the price is in the $110.00 range. The Radeon DDR32 retail is about $130.00. Either of these cards will perform great. The Radeon will give you better screen colors, and clarity. The Hercules will give you faster frame rates if you are into online gaming. You will not have driver problems unless you go with Win2000. There are still problems with vid card drivers for Win2000 in about all good vid cards.

BobyJo

I did not see all your post. NO you cannot use DDR and SDRAM at the time. You must use DDR or PC133 but not both.

smithgotsurf

Do you have any opinions on the Abit KG7-Raid?? For a video card, I was looking at an Asus V7700 Deluxe 32 meg DDR. Any opinions on that? Thanks. Josh

smithgotsurf

I was also thinking of getting the new Thuderbird at 1.4 Ghz. Josh

BobyJo

The 1.4 Athlon is an excellent choice. The 1.33 AXIA will go to 1.4 and above if you keep it cool. The 1.4 is supposed to go to 1.6 if setup properly. The 1.33 tops out at 1.5 I believe. It has been awhile since I read the stepping and OC'ing these cpu's. On the AXIA 1.33 you need the Y stepping. The 1.4 only comes in one stepping, I believe. You can't go wrong with either one. The 1.4 is in the $50.00 more expensive than the 1.33. The ASUS Pure vid cards are extra good. Quite expensive though. This vid card will outproduce anything arround in fps if that is what you are interested in. nVidia has had driver problems in the past, I am sure they have resolved most of these problems with the newest drivers.