Gigabyte GA-7ZXR Rev2.1 Socket A Motherboard Review - PAGE 1
Daryl Grant - Tuesday, April 3rd, 2001

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-- Article Quick Nav -- 1 - Introduction & Specs2 - Features3 - Box Contents & Installation4 - Impressions, Benchmarks & Final Thoughts

Introduction

GigaByte GA-7ZXR, Manual & IDE Cables

Gigabyte has been a staunch AMD supporter since the release of the Athlon back in 1999. They were one of the first companies out of the gates with their GA-7IX along with MSI, and FIC. The GA-7IX was also one of the better Slot A mobos in that first batch of boards. That was during a time when other manufacturers were unsure about supporting what has been come to known as a worthy adversary to Intel’s PIII.

Another forerunner, the original GA-7ZX was one of the first Socket-A motherboards available based on VIA’s KT133 chipset, although it wasn’t anything special. Over time Gigabyte has continued to develop the board and the latest version is the GA-7ZXR rev2.1 which is very much improved mobo. Overclocking settings have been introduced, it now supports the fast 266MHz FSB Athlon CPUs, and a Promise RAID/ATA100 chip has been added to the board. The GA-7ZXR rev2.1 board has a lot going for it – here are the rest of the specs:

Specs

CPU Interface	Socket A (200/266MHz AMD Athlon / Duron)
Chipset	VIA KT133A
IDE	2 – UDMA ATA 33/66/100 channels 2 – Ultra ATA 33/66/100 RAID channels (onboard Promise chip)
RAM	3 – 168pin DIMM slots (PC100/PC133) max 1.5GB
Expansion	1AGP (4x) / 6PCI / 1AMR
FSB Speeds	95MHz – 150MHz in 1MHz steps (via BIOS) or 95 / 100 / 102 / 105 / 110 / 113 / 115 / 120 / 133 / 135 / 137 / 139 / 141 / 143 / 145 / 150 MHz (via DIP switch)
Clock Multiples	5 – 12.5 in 0.5 increments (via DIP switch)
Core Voltages	1.5V – 1.85V in 0.025V increments (via DIP switch)
Memory Voltages	3.3V, 3.4V, 3.5V (via DIP switch)
AGP Voltages	1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V (via DIP switch)
Other	DualBIOS, onboard sound (Creative CT5880 chip)

While the 266MHz FSB Athlon CPUs are still tough to find, having a board that supports them gives one an excellent upgrade path and increases the life of the board by a fair chunk.

The 6 PCI slots are great to see, especially with the onboard RAID chip. Anyone wanting more IDE action would need to take up a PCI slot, but this is not the case here. 6 slots are available for your expansion love – imagine all the possibilities… The only thing that could improve this configuration is the addition of an ISA for anyone still clinging to a legacy device.

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