GIGABYTE GA-7VRXP

 

Specifications

Processor	- Socket A for AMD Athlon ™XP / Athlon ™/ Duron ™processor
Chipset	- Southbridge : VIA 8233A(CE) - VIA V-Link architecture (266MB/s) - VIA VT6202 USB 2.0 controller - Super I/O : ITE IT8705F - Smart I/O : Winbond Smart@IO - Promise PDC20276 ATA 133 RAID controller - Realtek 8100BL Ethernet 10/100Mb LAN controller - Creative CT5880 PCI sound controller - Dual BIOS
Memory	- Type : DDR333 (PC2700) / DDR266 (PC2100) / DDR200 (PC1600) - Max capacity : Up to 3GB by 3 DIMM slots(DDR266/200)
On-Board EIDE	- 4 x UDMA ATA133/100/66 Bus Master IDE ports - Supports for PIO Mode 3, 4, UATA 133/100/66 IDE & ATAPI CD-ROM
Integrated Super I/O	- PS/2 Keyboard / Mouse - 2 x USB 1.1 ports - 2 x COM ports - 1 x RJ45 LAN port - Audio (1 x Line-in / 1 x Line-out / 1 x Mic) connector - 1 x joystick - 1 x 2ports USB 1.1 connector (by cable with rear USB bracket) - 2 x 2ports USB 2.0 connector (by cable with rear USB bracket) - Memory Stick / Security Digital (MMC) / Smart Card Reader connectors - 1 x FDD port
Expansion Slots	- 1 x AGP universal slot (4X/2X-AGP 2.0 compliant) - 5 x PCI slots (PCI 2.2 compliant) - 2 x cooling fan pin header
Form Factor	- ATX Form Factor (235mm x 304mm)
BIOS	- Dual AMI BIOS, 2 x 2M bit flash ROM - AMI BIOS with enhanced ACPI feature for PC98/Win98/Win2000/WinMe/XP compliance, Green, PnP, DMI, INT13 (>8.4GB) and Anti-Virus functions - IDE#1~#4, SCSI, LS120, ZIP and CD-ROM bootable - AC recovery ON/OFF control
Other Features	- Suspend-To-RAM (STR) - Supports USB KB/MS Wake up from S3 - Poly fuse for keyboard over-current protection

This is totally different case compared to Soltek SL-75DRV5. Features included are RAID (with Promise PDC20276), 10/100 LAN (Realtek 8100BL), USB2.0 (VT6202) and Creative CT5880 that is two channel chip but it still supports SPDIF. One must not forget Dual BIOS that provides protection against failed bios flashes that could render your board useless. The are two separate BIOS chips on the motherboard and if the other fails the other takes over and allows user to repair defective one.

 

 

Package

Package

With the motherboard you will receive the following bundle:

• User's manual
• Easy installation quide
• Quick PC Installation quide
• Sticker with all the dip switches and connectors printed
• Two Gigabyte ad stickers
• One CD with the following software
• Drivers and overclocking utility
• Norton Antivirus / Personal Firewall 2002 (oem version)
• Three ATA133 cables
• Floppy drive cable
• One USB1.1 rear bracket (two connectors)
• One USB2.0 rear bracket (four connectors)
• I/O plate

Because this motherboard has RAID it's nice to see that Gigabyte added three ATA cables. Same goes with USB2.0. Rear bracket with four connectors should be enough for most of us. Not enough you say? Two USB1.1 connectors on the board and two more on another rear bracket gives us total of eight USB ports. That should do it.

Features

Socket

Quite well designed surroundings but there is one capasitor on the upper right corner that can cause some troubles with some coolers. Four mounting holes are in place and on the right you can see the only dip switches that are on the board. They are used to select multiplier for the CPU. Gigabyte's thermal sensor differs from other manufacturers solutions. It is bendy and can therefore make a physical contact with the CPU and give more accurate reports about the temperature. GA-7VRXP also supports Athlon XP's internal thermal diode.

Connectors

Gigabyte has tried to place all the essential connectors to one place. It's easier to find the connectors but when you connect all the cables it can get crowded. Connectors are facing the same way so they won't be any problems to sort the cables and route them where you like them to go. ATX connector is placed to the same corner with the IDE connectors. This way it won't block the cooling of the CPU. Also visible are the headers for Smart Card, Secure Digital Memory Card and Memory Stick interfaces.

Passive cooling

Only board in this review that has passive cooling. With the normal clock speeds the system was totally stable but the heat sink was very hot. If you plan to overclock your system you might want to add a fan to cool the heat sink down a bit if there are stability problems.

Chips

Because there isn't built-in support for USB2.0 in VT8233A South Bridge Gigabyte uses VIA VT6202 chip to add this function. Also used are RTL8100BL from Realtek to add 10/100 LAN support and PDC20276 from Promise for RAID. For sound GA-7VRXP uses CT5880 chip from Creative Labs.

Two bios chips are mounted on the motherboard next to each other. They are soldered so you can't remove them if you somehow manage to damage them both.

Connectors

All the usual connectors plus one added RJ-45 for twisted pair network cable. This is also why Gigabyte has added new I/O plate to the package.

AGP card lock

GA-7VRXP was the only board to include locking mechanism for the GFX card. Just press the card in and the lock will keep it in place. When you want to remove it just pull the pin and pull the card up. Simple but effective.

BIOS

Health monitor and voltages

Memory settings

Everything is bios adjustable except the multiplier that has to be set with dip switches.

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