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Introduction
The
variety of KT266A boards really gave AMD a nice
opportunity to popularize themselves in the market.
The various Socket A chipsets gave users more
options but in the end, VIA would again take the
crown for the best performing chipset. Like the
KT133A is to the KT133, so is the KT266A to the
KT266 which is basically an improvement from the
previous chipset. The KT333 is out but the performance
gains are not that big yet since the FSB of AMD
CPU's is still at the most, only at 133MHz DDR.
As it stands right now, the KT266A is still a
very good option to go for and now that the KT333
is out, expect prices of KT266A boards to become
more affordable.
Chaintech
7VJDA
Each
board has a target for itself. Due to the competition,
the differences of high end products to mid-range
and low end products are not that easy to tell
anymore. From a perspective, Chaintech might not
qualify for high end but it is definitely not
low end. The 7VJDA pretty much finds itself at
the middle of the bunch.
From
the looks of it, the Chaintech board is basically
a simple board. No onboard RAID, no debug LED...none
of the extra bells and whistles. The necessary
stuff are there though, 3 DIMM slots, 5 PCI slots.
The layout is clean and simple. The only thing
that might pose a problem is the closeness of
the DIMM slots to the AGP slot. Using long AGP
cards might pose a problem for removing/replacing
DDR memory but this problem is not exclusive to
the 7VJDA. Other boards like the Epox 8KHA+ and
Shuttle AK35GTR suffer the same.
The
picture at the left shows the expansion configuration
of the Chaintech 7VJDA. 5 PCI slots is good enough
to hold the various PCI devices although having
6 would've been better. Two new slots can be seen:
the blueish one that looks like an inverted PCI
slot is the ACR slot (Audio Communications Riser)
and the brownish one at the bottom of the board
is the CNR slot (Communications Network Riser).
While these slots have yet to be taken advantage
of, having them isn't really a bad thing though
some would think otherwise.
Taking
it up at the north side of the board, there are
some capacitors that are close to the Socket and
thus, might pose a problem for some big heatsinks.
Nevertheless, the placement and facing of the
socket is like that of Abit and Iwill. Mounting
heatsinks in this type of configuration does not
need the removal of the DDR memory sticks. The
northbridge does not have an active cooling fan
but the size of it is good enough to maintain
the stability of the board at high bus speeds.
For normal usage, it is more than enough already.
Not having a northbridge fan would also add up
to the quietness of the entire system...kudos
to Shuttle.
Onboard
sound is also available in the Chaintech 7VJDA
but Chaintech did not opt for a software-based
AC97 codec but instead opted for the better and
more popular C-Media 8738 chip which provides
basic sound functionalities and 5.1 channel output.
It may not be up to the level of an SB Live! but
it definitely does the job well for basic sound
functions.
BIOS
The
7VJDA uses the Award BIOS that is more popular
in board makers. The basics are there as well
as memory options under advanced chipset features.
Overclocking options are also available but multiplier
adjustments are available via dipswitches. FSB
adjustments can be adjusted in 1MHz incriments
and voltages can be set to higher than 1.85v thru
the BIOS and not thru jumpers and dipswitches.
That option is a double-edged sword but, having
those extra voltages is definitely a plus. Enabling/disabling
onboard peripherals is also available in the BIOS
so no more jumpers are needed for them. A jumper
though is there to set the default fsb of the
CPU. To sum it up, the Chaintech 7VJDA is a combination
of jumpers/dipswitches and in-BIOS options. Might
not be too hobbyist-friendly but, it still does
the job.
Specifications
and Test System |
