X-bit labs

Six VIA KT400A Mainboards Roundup

Category: Mainboards

by Grigoriy Gubankov

[ 08/22/2003 | 11:08 PM ]

Although VIA KT400A chipset is not the brand new solution any more, we tested a few mainboards based on it. As our tests showed, these solutions can become an excellent basis for inexpensive Socket A systems.

Table of contents:

• Mainboards Specifications
  
• AOpen AK77-400 Max
  
• AOpen AK77-400 Max: Features
  
• AOpen AK77-400 Max:  PCB Design
  
• AOpen AK77-400 Max: BIOS
  
• ABIT KD7-S
  
• ABIT KD7-S: Features
  
• ABIT KD7-S: PCB Design
  
• ABIT KD7-S: BIOS
  
• DFI LAN PARTY KT400A
  
• DFI LAN PARTY KT400A: Features
  
• DFI LAN PARTY KT400A: PCB Design
  
• DFI LAN PARTY KT400A: BIOS
  
• EPoX EP-8K9A9I
  
• EPoX EP-8K9A9I: Features
  
• EPoX EP-8K9A9I: PCB Design
  
• EPoX EP-8K9A9I: BIOS
  
• GIGABYTE 7VAXP-A ULTRA
  
• GIGABYTE 7VAXP-A ULTRA: Features
  
•  GIGABYTE 7VAXP-A ULTRA: PCB Design
  
• GIGABYTE 7VAXP-A ULTRA: BIOS
  
• SOLTEK SL-KT400A-L
  
• SOLTEK SL-KT400A-L: Features
  
• SOLTEK SL-KT400A-L: PCB Design
  
• SOLTEK SL-KT400A-L: BIOS
  
• Overclocking
  
• Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

Notwithstanding VIA’s recent announcement of the new KT600 chipset, the previous product from this manufacturer, KT400A, should not be considered out-dated. The functionality of KT400A can satisfy most users as Athlon XP processors for the 200MHz system bus are still not very widely spread in the market (because they belong to the upper price range), while PC2700 memory, with which KT400A operates quite well, and the 166MHz-bus processors are widespread. Another advantage of KT600 (besides its higher system bus frequency) is Serial ATA support, but, in my opinion, it is not a crucial factor: Serial ATA drives are quite rare. By the time they have ousted Parallel ATA altogether, you will probably need to upgrade the mainboard. Moreover, since KT400A is no fresh novelty in the chipset market anymore, it has another advantage: mainboards based on it are going to cost less than KT600-based ones.

So, these are the reasons I wrote this roundup now. We will discuss six mainboards based on the VIA KT400A chipset. After studying their main features, we will talk about our overclocking experience with them and their performance level.

We won’t go into detail about the chipset itself, as we already did it in our MSI KT4 Ultra Mainboard Review. So, let’s jump straight to the mainboards.

Mainboards Specifications

First, let’s have a look at the characteristics of the reviewed mainboards.

As you see, the mainboards differ a lot in their features. We have a rather unpretentious Soltek and EPoX boards and a somewhat more functional ABIT next to the masterpieces of the modern engineering thought from AOpen, Gigabyte and DFI. That’s why we cannot directly compare the mainboards among themselves as the latter three products obviously provide richer opportunities. So, the only criterion for comparison is overclocking potential.

Now, we will talk about each mainboard in more detail.