Written By:
Date Posted: April 26, 2002

Abit motherboards have a very good reputation for stability and ease in overclocking. The have rightly earned respect from users across the globe. So when a friend of mine asked me to build him a gaming machine, I had no hesitation in choosing Abit's latest offering, the KR7A - RAID.

This board from Abit is an AMD Socket A motherboard based around the KT266a Chipset from VIA which offers greater performance than its predecessor. The KR7A - RAID also includes the High Point HPT372 RAID controller which allows for ATA133 devices to be attached to the system, as well as all the other options common to most motherboards, such as USB (not USB 2.0), and AGP 4x.

Specifications

AMD Socket A Based ATXMainboard
PC1600/PC2100 DDR DRAM & ATA 133 RAID 0,1,1/0
SoftMenu"III Technology

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ~1900+/AMD Athlon 700MHz~1.4GHz/AMD Duron 600MHz ~ 950 MHz
Chipset: VIA KT266A / VIA VT8233
Memory: Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4 GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module
BIOS: SoftMenu"III Technology to set CPU parameters

Functions and Misc

Four channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to 8 Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133( RAID 0 /1/0+1).
Ultra DMA 100/RAID
High Point HPT372 IDE Controller
Ultra DMA 133MB/sec data transfer rate
1 AGP slot, 6 PCI slots.
2 x USB
2 x USB headers (additional 2 slots on a PCI bracket included)
304mm x 245mm ATX

As previously stated in our earlier KT266A reviews...

Like the KT133A was to the KT133, the KT266A is an upgrade to the KT266. Here are more official specifications...

Supports AMD Duron" and Athlon" Socket A processors
200/266MHz FSB settings
Support for AGP 2X/4X
Supports up to 4.0GB DDR200/266 SDRAM as well as PC100/133 SDRAM and Virtual Channel memory
266MB/sec high bandwidth North/South Bridge V-Link
Support for Advanced Communications Riser (ACR) Card Standard
Integrated 6 channel AC-97 Audio
Integrated MC-97 Modem
Integrated 10/100 BaseT Ethernet and 1/10Mb HomePNA controller
Support for ATA 33/66/100
6 USB ports, UHCI compliant
Advanced power management capabilities including ACPI/OnNow and AMD's PowerNow"
552-pin BGA VT8366A North Bridge
376-pin BGA VT8233 South Bridge

Of course, the most important consumer features are the Athlon 200/266 Front Side Bus, and DDR Ram support. As explained on the first page, the V-Link is a proprietary link between the Northbridge and Southbridge, bypassing the PCI bus. At 266MHz, it's double the speed as well. The KT266A is pin compatible with the KT266, so it's a simple upgrade for manufacturers to replace their KT266 motherboards with the newer chipset. Unfortunently for the end-user, this is done at the factory, and you cannot do this yourself.

Next Page - A Closer Look