What is the maximum CPU the Asus A7V KT133-A will take.

[bluewest11]

I have a Athlon T-bird 1200 (266fsb) and was considering buying an Asus A7V-KT133-A MB. Can someone please confirm if this board is suitable for the processor I have.

This will be the 3rd motherboard I have tried for my system if I buy it.

Also can anyone comment if the Iwill KK266-R would be a better choice than the Asus A7V for my processor.

Thx in advance for your time and help.


bluewest11 ( NOT Seti )

[davem73]

It does support the 266 mhz bus, also PC 133\VCM memory. AND you can overclock 1mhz at a time if you like. I use it everytime I build a 266 fsb system. Get it BW11.

Dave

[davem73]

Here ya go!


www.asus.com/Products/Motherboard/socketa/a7v133/index.html

Dave

[bluewest11]

Thx for your reply Dave but I have already checked out the A7V spec at Asus.com/tw. All it says is upto 1Ghz+. Does the + plus mean it will take upto 1200Mhz T-bird? I have found a better spec sheet for this board than the on a Asus. This PDF file can be found here:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/files/a7v133.zip

Even the above mentioned PDF with its superior info and tech details does not give me the answer to my question. If it does, I can't see it.

Cheers!

[bluewest11]

"Than the one at Asus", I meant to say above. Not quite woken up yet.

[davem73]

A bios update will take it to 1.33ghz.

When you see something like 1000mhz+, it is saying that bios updates will support higher speeds as the CPU's get faster.

You can get the latest drivers and bios updates at:

www.download.asus.com.tw/

Dave

[davem73]

Ouch, its down right now, but keep checking back. I go there often.

BTW: If you are not familiar with updating a bios, you may be better off waiting for the latest revision to go to retail.

Dave

[bluewest11]

Thanks Dave,

Now I get what the + fasters processors means. I will also do as you suggest and make sure my board supports the CPU when I buy it retail as I will not flash bios under any circumstances.

I havent had much luck with building this so called super system. First board I tried was an Abit KT7A-RAID then a Asus A7A 266. The graphics card ( Elsa Gladiac Ultra 64 ) was faulty and took 3 weeks to get a RMA from Elsa, new Elsa gladiac is working fine.

Right, thx again for your help Dave.

[Darren Wilson]

What was the matter with the KT7A-RAID Bluewest?

[imd14u]

Originally posted by Darren Wilson:
What was the matter with the KT7A-RAID Bluewest?

WOOO HOOO WOOO HOOO HOOO WAAAHHH WAAAHHH WAAAAAAHHHHHHH
(Clint Eastwood Western tune)
I think I heard a pin drop.

[bluewest11]

The Abit KT7A-RAID was the first board I tried with this particular system. All the settings within the bios were a little bit above my level. I could not get the AGP working and I had problems getting everything running in sync. For example, the memory I have is Crucial PC 133mhz (cas2) and the CPU is an Athlon T-bird 1200mhz (266mhz). The CPU X multiplyer would only run the memory with PCICLK+HCLK enabled if the CPU X mulpliyer was set to 12X12 and was removed as an option if I set the X multipley to 12X9 which I belived to be the correct setting (Sandra would show the memory running at 150mhz at 12X12 and 133mhz at 12X9). I even downloaded the entire Pauls unofficial Abit KT7A guide and printed all the info (approx 147 pages) and went through it with a fine tooth comb but still did not manage to resolve the issues despite how informative the site was. I then called Abit in the USA at about 11.30pm our time and went through a step by step bios setup with one of their techs but this also proved to be fruitless. Regarding the AGP, If an AGP card was installed the system went totally down hill, games would crash, the DVD hardware player would not work and kept re-starting the machine etc. A PCI graphics card worked without any problems at all. One big mistake I did make was not following your advice and getting a Ge-Force 2 Ultra 64 instead of a ATI Raddion. The card was faulty for a start and needed to be replaced by the manufacturer ( lines rippling up the screen even without the drivers installed ). The replacement card was fine regarding the lines but I do believe there are other issues which are problematicle with the Ge-force 2 Ultra in particular and not an issue with Raddions which would have saved me a hell of a lot of aggro with hardware and software compatability. In the end I gave up and ordered an Asus A7A 266 with the Alimagic1 chipset. This board was a breeze to install and setup (jumperless mode), Unfortunately, the motherboards thermal monitior started showing "error" messages, bootup would halt and a Hardware Monitoring error message would come up giving me the option to either press f1 to continue or delete to enter bios. After countless hours stripping the system and checking every square mm of the computer I removed the board. I even added 120mm motherboard cooling fans but there was still no improvement. The MB temp was reading 80c even from a cold boot and beginning to flash red. I dare not risk keeping the computer on for more than 5mins at a time in this state. The board temp reading finally went back to normal but this did not last long and the "error" messages were soon to return, 68c, 54c, 80c, 82c, 53c etc.........

I am now expecting a Gigabyte GA-7ZXR rev 2.2 to be delivered tomorrow morning. Lets hope this will be third time lucky. Im running out of space.

[Antimatter]

If you're looking for a good compromise board try the Soltek SL-75KAV. Apart from the write problem with 100Mb IDE Zip drives they come out above the Gigabyte and FIC boards in my book. The newest bios upgrade supports manual PCI interrupt assignment so that problem's gone.

I've found the Asus A7V133 to be a better board but there is a considerable price difference.

[Darren Wilson]

Originally posted by bluewest11:
The Abit KT7A-RAID was the first board I tried with this particular system. All the settings within the bios were a little bit above my level. I could not get the AGP working and I had problems getting everything running in sync. For example, the memory I have is Crucial PC 133mhz (cas2) and the CPU is an Athlon T-bird 1200mhz (266mhz). The CPU X multiplyer would only run the memory with PCICLK+HCLK enabled if the CPU X mulpliyer was set to 12X12 and was removed as an option if I set the X multipley to 12X9 which I belived to be the correct setting (Sandra would show the memory running at 150mhz at 12X12 and 133mhz at 12X9). I even downloaded the entire Pauls unofficial Abit KT7A guide and printed all the info (approx 147 pages) and went through it with a fine tooth comb but still did not manage to resolve the issues despite how informative the site was. I then called Abit in the USA at about 11.30pm our time and went through a step by step bios setup with one of their techs but this also proved to be fruitless. Regarding the AGP, If an AGP card was installed the system went totally down hill, games would crash, the DVD hardware player would not work and kept re-starting the machine etc. A PCI graphics card worked without any problems at all. One big mistake I did make was not following your advice and getting a Ge-Force 2 Ultra 64 instead of a ATI Raddion. The card was faulty for a start and needed to be replaced by the manufacturer ( lines rippling up the screen even without the drivers installed ). The replacement card was fine regarding the lines but I do believe there are other issues which are problematicle with the Ge-force 2 Ultra in particular and not an issue with Raddions which would have saved me a hell of a lot of aggro with hardware and software compatability. In the end I gave up and ordered an Asus A7A 266 with the Alimagic1 chipset. This board was a breeze to install and setup (jumperless mode), Unfortunately, the motherboards thermal monitior started showing "error" messages, bootup would halt and a Hardware Monitoring error message would come up giving me the option to either press f1 to continue or delete to enter bios. After countless hours stripping the system and checking every square mm of the computer I removed the board. I even added 120mm motherboard cooling fans but there was still no improvement. The MB temp was reading 80c even from a cold boot and beginning to flash red. I dare not risk keeping the computer on for more than 5mins at a time in this state. The board temp reading finally went back to normal but this did not last long and the "error" messages were soon to return, 68c, 54c, 80c, 82c, 53c etc.........

I am now expecting a Gigabyte GA-7ZXR rev 2.2 to be delivered tomorrow morning. Lets hope this will be third time lucky. Im running out of space.

I agree the KT7A-RAID boards do need a bit of BIOS tweaking to perform fully. I have no regrets with mine and I must admit it is as stable as my old BX board was!!! Still, everyone keeps saying how good the Asus 266 is, so it looks like a good choice.