VIA KT266A Motherboard Roundup - January 2002
by Mike Andrawes on January 18, 2002 4:48 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ECS K7VTA3
ECS K7VTA3 |
|
CPU
Interface
|
Socket-A
|
Chipset
|
VT8366A
North Bridge
VT8233 South Bridge |
Form
Factor
|
ATX
|
Bus
Speeds
|
100
/ 120 / 133 / 140 / 150 MHz
|
Core
Voltages Supported
|
Not
Configurable
|
I/O
Voltages Supported
|
Not
Configurable
|
DRAM
Voltages Supported
|
Not
Configurable
|
Memory
Slots
|
3
184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
|
Expansion
Slots
|
1
AGP Slot
5 PCI Slots 1 CNR Slot |
Onboard
RAID
|
N/A
|
Onboard
USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
|
N/A
|
Onboard
Audio
|
Avance
Logic ALC100P AC 97 CODEC
|
By no means is the ECS K7VTA3 for any of the hardware enthusiasts out there. This board lacks almost every single overclocking option, including the multiplier ratio setting. This effectively limits the amount of speed you can squeeze out.
There are no voltage options at all, and only 5 FSB settings between 100MHz and 150MHz. The board also doesn't have an on-board RAID controller and only has the simple AC97 audio.
As a matter of fact, ECS did not come out with the K7VTA3 for the overclockers out there. They mainly targeted the OEM builders who want cheap AMD platform with decent performance. At a price of just around 70 dollars, the K7VTA3 is simply the cheapest KT266A solution. It is perfect for a Duron system, where the end user does not need any overclocking or ultra high performance. The board was very stable during our tests and that's what OEM builders want.
Despite ECS's intention with the K7VTA3, we really hope that their next product will provide more features for the hardware community, both in overclocking and usage. ECS has always had pretty decent performance and stability, and they could definitely throw in more features.
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Anonymous User - Monday, September 29, 2003 - link
How do I get my Engine to Memory clock to run synchronous for my Epox 8kha+ boardxrror - Saturday, August 14, 2021 - link
This was such an exciting time in PC hardware. Intel was still trying to cram Rambus down the industry's throat - and obstinately trying to strong arm the mobo makers and force chipset makers to Rambus licensing. We still had VIA, SiS, ULi, and even nVidia in the chipset market, and with AMD's Athlon line still extraordinarily competitive and Intel in full attack they could no longer just consider AMD as a side-show - this was their leverage against Intel and they had to treat Socket A as premium platform.NegativeROG - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
I still have this board. AND, I invested all of a $10,000 inheritance in Rambus RDRAM. I'm smarter now (I hope). But, you are right about exciting times in the PC space. I navigated away from AMD for a bit, but came back, and will stay forever. Team RED!