Athlon motherboards group test review - page 9
the latest boards with the latest features
Review date: 25 June, 2002. Review by: IT Reviews Staff
As we've already noted, all the boards tested here will handle anything of a Socket A nature that you'd care to throw at them - Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP, etc.
More than ever before, then, motherboard selection comes down to what features you actually need or may need in the near future. A point worth noting is that although most of the boards we looked at are feature-laden, many manufacturers do also offer a basic version of their board, so it is worth looking on their Web sites if you're after a more simple, less expensive option
Another point to take into consideration is that neither ATA/133 nor DDR333 are the ultimate performance boosters that some of the manufactures like to claim. Only one hard drive manufacturer, Maxtor, produces ATA/133 hard drives and their advantage in normal everyday use over ATA/100 is hardly noticeable. The only time the increase in bandwidth comes into effect is when such drives are set up in a RAID array. Similarly, DDR333 isn't that much faster than the previous DDR2100 memory, although if you're a real hardcore speed freak then every little bit helps.
As for the boards themselves, Abit's AT7 shows one direction that motherboard design may go towards in the near future, namely legacy-free. It is a brilliantly designed board, but expensive, full of features that most people won't ever need and only really worth investing in if you have lots of USB devices and use your PC for large file applications, such as video editing. If so, the 4-disk RAID array would be of major benefit.
It is hard to recommend a single, general purpose board out of all we've reviewed here, because such a decision is largely dependant on what you want out of your PC, but for all round ease of configuration and stability we'd opt for either the feature-laden MSI KT3 Ultra or the more basic Soltek SL75-DRV5. Rest assured, though, that there were no lemons in this group test; every board we tested performed well and did what it was supposed to do.
Company: Gigabyte
Website: http://Dabs.com
Contact: 0870 429 3010
Company: Asus
Website: http://Ebuyer.com
Contact: 0870 888 3021
Company: Aopen
Website: http://Dabs.com
Contact: 0870 429 3010
Company: Abit
Contact: 01782 339600
Company: ECS
Website: http://Ebuyer.com
Contact: 0870 888 3021
Company: MSI
Contact: 0870 755 4747
Company: Soltek
Website: http://Ebuyer.com
Contact: 0870 888 3021
