ABIT KV7 - ABIT KV7

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KV7

 

 

Benchmarks (continued)

3DMark2001 SE v330

 

Here you see the KV7 take the crown at default settings but give it right back after overclocking. This is odd since the KV7 ran a higher FSB and total CPU frequency while overclocked.

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3DMark03

 

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Here the KV7 is able to hold off the AU13 at default and overclocked settings. Too bad this is only one of two demo benchmarks that it won outright.

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Comanche 4 Demo

 

Comanche 4 shows the KV7 getting owned across the board. The FIC AU13 Chameleon produced 15% - 18% higher frame rates than the KV7.

 

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Aquamark Demo

Again, the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset is able to win out over the KT-600 chipset even with a FSB and multiplier handicap.

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CodeCreatures Demo

 

Here we see the other benchmark test that the KV7 won completely. We see from the small official score screen captures that both the FIC AU13 and the ABIT KV7 scored worse during overclocking. However the framerate scores from both motherboards always remained within 1 frame of each other.

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Conclusions

The ABIT KV7 with the new VIA KT-600 chipset was supposed to provide some real competition for the Nvidia nForce2 Ultra based motherboards, but from my experience with this motherboard. Nvidia can rest easy for now. I do have to hand it to ABIT and VIA, this board ran at the 400MHz FSB spec flawlessly but because of the crippled ratio divider, higher BIOS settings were horribly unstable. I like ABIT. I even still have an ABIT BE6-II motherboard that still performs great. But this is one ABIT product that I can't endorse given the many fine options for AMD processors from the nForce2 based motherboards. My recommendation is to stay away from this board. Get the FIC AU13. It's cheaper and more effective.

Pros

• Very small form factor

• 400MHz FSB is rock solid stable

• Northbridge has an active cooler

• SoftMenu™ provides easy access to BIOS settings for overclocking

• User manual is well written and contains detailed documentation

• IDE and SATA connectors are well placed on the motherboard 

Cons

• Lack of ratio dividers beyond 6/2/1 cripples overclocking ability of the BIOS

• Clock generator accuracy seems suspect according to diagnostic software readings

• Poor placement of floppy connector and tight fit on 4 pin 12V connector, CPU fan, system fan, and Northbridge fan headers

• False advertising from ABIT for it's FlashMenu™ program which is not compatible with this motherboard BIOS

• Board has a "stripped down" feel to it

Like I said, I like ABIT's products. I just don't like this one. I've seen nForce2 boards beat out the KT-400A based motherboards and now I have seen first hand the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset beat out the VIA KT-600 chipset even with a FSB and clock multiplier disadvantage. This board feels like a throwaway by ABIT to at least allow them to say they fielded a KT-600. Maybe it's just the first iteration and another version release will be better. Who knows. But the KV7, for right now is not the answer. I want to thank ABIT for providing this motherboard for review. I hope it will see some improvements in the near future (ratio dividers).

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