iXBT Labs - Computer Hardware in Detail

Platform

Video

Multimedia

Mobile

Other

Gigabyte 7VRXP (VIA KT333)



This is the first (non-reference) board on this chipset which we were able to get. Although the board is a pre-production sample, it is equipped with a good set of accessories and works excellently.

Accessories:

  • Package: an old design;
  • Cables: 3 ATA66/100/133 and 1 FDD;
  • Bracket with 4 USB ports;
  • Bracket with two USB ports;
  • Bracket for the rear panel;
  • CD with software including:
    • drivers;
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0;
    • Norton Antivirus 2002;
    • Norton Personal Firewall 2002;
    • several utilities for a smart card reader;
    • system monitoring programs;
    • Gigabyte EasyTune III;
    • Gigabyte Face Wizard;
    • Gigabyte Management Tool.

The layout is rather good, except audio-ins which are located in front of PCI slots, and too close components in the lower right-hand corner. It's not difficult to reach jumpers even when the board is already installed.

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 2 capacitors of 3300 uF, 2 of 1200 uF and several lower-capacity ones (although modern boards use a larger number of LowESR capacitors, it was enough for the card to work stable).

The following controllers are integrated: an audio one based on the Creative CT5880-DEQ, it has a connector for front outputs and inputs; USB 2.0 bus controller based on the VIA's VT6202 chip, it has 4 ports and is back compatible with USB 1.1 devices. The Winbond I/O controller (W83L518D) provides for installation of connectors for readers of smart cards and MS and SD cards.

The board incorporates the Gigabyte DualBIOS technology which allows using the second unsoldered BIOS chip as a reserve one.

Non-unsoldered connectors: jumpers and switches for clearing of the CMOS, changing a CPU frequency, BIOS protection from recording and connectors for 2 USB 1.1 ports, a fan, SPDIF, WOL and WOR.

The system monitoring is supported by the ITE IT8705F chip. Processor voltage (+/-3.3, +/-5 and +/-12 V), speed of 3 fans and temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor), the board (a built-in sensor) and an external sensor can be controlled. There are 2 connectors for adjustable connection of fans and 1 for non-adjustable.

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 4 USB 1.1/ 4 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x235 mm.

Adjustment can be carried out with:

jumpers and switches Switches to change a CPU multiplier x5-x>12.5
Jumper to change an IDE RAID mode ATA133 mode/ RAID mode
BIOS based on the v1.24i from AMI Setup of memory timings + CAS Latency, Command Rate, Fast Command
Setup of memory frequency + Auto, DDR266, DDR333
Setup of AGP bus +
Setup of PCI bus +
Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses -
Manual assignment of interrupts +
Changeable FSB frequency + in 1 MHz steps, 133-200 MHz
Changeable CPU multiplier -
Changeable core voltage + +5%, +7.5%, +10%
Changeable memory voltage -
Changeable chipset voltage -
Changeable AGP bus voltage -

We used the latest available version of the BIOS - F3.

The board features an excellent set of functions and good speed characteristics, but there are not many settings - it will hardly be a good choice for overclockers.

Test results:


Write a comment below. No registration needed!


Article navigation:



blog comments powered by Disqus

  Most Popular Reviews More    RSS  

AMD Phenom II X4 955, Phenom II X4 960T, Phenom II X6 1075T, and Intel Pentium G2120, Core i3-3220, Core i5-3330 Processors

Comparing old, cheap solutions from AMD with new, budget offerings from Intel.
February 1, 2013 · Processor Roundups

Inno3D GeForce GTX 670 iChill, Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti Graphics Cards

A couple of mid-range adapters with original cooling systems.
January 30, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1

An external X-Fi solution in tests.
September 9, 2008 · Sound Cards

AMD FX-8350 Processor

The first worthwhile Piledriver CPU.
September 11, 2012 · Processors: AMD

Consumed Power, Energy Consumption: Ivy Bridge vs. Sandy Bridge

Trying out the new method.
September 18, 2012 · Processors: Intel
  Latest Reviews More    RSS  

i3DSpeed, September 2013

Retested all graphics cards with the new drivers.
Oct 18, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, August 2013

Added new benchmarks: BioShock Infinite and Metro: Last Light.
Sep 06, 2013 · 3Digests

i3DSpeed, July 2013

Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 and AMD Radeon HD 7730.
Aug 05, 2013 · 3Digests

Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB Golden Sample Graphics Card

An excellent hybrid of GeForce GTX 650 Ti and GeForce GTX 660.
Jun 24, 2013 · Video cards: NVIDIA GPUs

i3DSpeed, May 2013

Added the test results of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770/780.
Jun 03, 2013 · 3Digests
  Latest News More    RSS  

Platform  ·  Video  ·  Multimedia  ·  Mobile  ·  Other  ||  About us & Privacy policy  ·  Twitter  ·  Facebook


Copyright © Byrds Research & Publishing, Ltd., 1997–2011. All rights reserved.