Gigabyte GA-7ZXR (Rev. 2.2) Socket-A KT133A ATX

Name: Gigabyte GA-7ZXR (Rev. 2.2) Socket-A KT133A ATX
Item: Gigabyte GA-7ZXR (Rev. 2.2) Socket-A KT133A ATX
Author: Mike Andrawes

by Mike Andrawes on June 7, 2001 2:34 AM EST

Posted in
Motherboards

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Final Words

Gigabyte probably could have done themselves a favor by giving this board a different name to help distinguish it from their KT133 solution more clearly. Nevertheless, the name certainly doesn’t hurt what this board is capable of doing. The GA-7ZXR (2.2) is not the best KT133A board we have looked at, but it’s definitely among the top. Performance is definitely something Gigabyte should work on to make sure it performs up to par with other KT133A boards out there, but the biggest problem with the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is the time of release. Released in March, the GA-7ZXR is two months late compared to some of the best KT133A motherboards, and it might just be too little too late after all, especially with AMD 760 and KT266 boards hitting the streets already.

Nevertheless, if we let the board stand on its own merits, it’s clear that Gigabyte has put a lot of effort into the GA-7ZXR (2.2) and indeed has made the board very competitive thanks to excellent features and stability. The addition of the multiplier ratio settings is certainly curcial, but it’s the ability for 1MHz increments for FSB speed that truly make this board a good choice for overclockers. Gigabyte also provides reasonable ranges for voltage tweaking of the CPU, I/O, and AGP. Of course the added flexibility provided by the onboard Promise IDE RAID controller is more than welcome.

All in all, the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is a very nice KT133A motherboard, that could have captured much more of the market had it been released earlier.

How it Rates

AnandTech Motherboard Rating
	Rating (x/10)
Performance The performance of the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is not very good, coming in last in our tests. With that said, keep in mind that all KT133A motherboards perform within a few percentage points of each other.	4.5
Price The GA-7ZXR (2.2) comes with an average price, which is pretty impressive considering the feature set.	5.0
Stability The GA-7ZXR (2.2) is much more stable than the original, crashing only two times in 24 hours on our stress tests. With some voltages tweaking, the system crashed only one time in 24 hours. Although it's not the most stable solution we have looked at, the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is definitely among the top.	8.0
Features Gigabyte included a lot of new features with the 2.2 revision of the GA-7ZXR. In terms of overclocking, the full overclocking package is there, all the way from multiplier ratio settings and FSB speeds to tweaks for CPU, I/O, and AGP voltages. Moreover, the board also features an onboard Promise IDE RAID controller, which is very useful for those who need the added performance or reliability of RAID or who simply have more than four IDE devices. Of course, Gigabyte's Dual BIOS is a nice touch as well. Although it won't be that useful on a regular basis, you'll appreciate it if it saves you just one time.	8.5
Layout he layout of the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is very nice, without any major obstacles.	7.5
Availability Gigabyte products are relatively easy to find in on-line stores, but you might have to do some searching if you want to get them from local stores.	6.5
Documentation & Software Bundle he manual included with the GA-7ZXR (2.2) is a big improvement compared to previous manuals from Gigabyte. It contains much more detail about software installation and RAID configuration. Although it's still not as good as those by ABIT and ASUS, it's clear that Gigabyte has put in quite a bit of effort in this department.	7.0
Overall Rating - not an average Click here to find out why	8.0

Gigabyte GA-7ZXR (Rev. 2.2) Socket-A KT133A ATX

Final Words

How it Rates

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