Motherboards

Overclocking Performance

We have already covered off some of the overclocking options and features of these KT333 motherboards, but now it's time to put them to the ultimate test. For this we have selected an unlocked Athlon XP 1800+ processor and attempted to overclock each board to the 166, 180 and 200 MHz FSB speeds. The Athlon XP 1800+ was also kept at similar clock speeds at each of the higher FSB points, by lowering the clock multiplier.

To ensure that we have a level playing field, we have set memory timings to SPD, increased DDR voltage to 2.7V, and lowered other performance tweaks to standard settings. Since there have been concerns raised with the viability of USB functionality with high FSB speeds, we used a USB keyboard and mouse for all overclock testing. It would be impossible to test all types, brands and forms of USB hardware, and we were looking only for serious USB issues at high FSB speeds. Thankfully, we didn't find any USB problems, but we were right there on the job anyway.

Our first overclocking stop was the 166 MHz FSB, and here we started to separate the men from the boys. The ECS K7VTA3 V3.x did not include any form of multiplier selection (not to mention very limited FSB speeds) so it fell by the overclocking wayside quite quickly. The chart also shows the AOpen AK77-333 and Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra as passing the 166 MHZ FSB test, but their bar is yellow instead of a full-blown green. This is because while the boards did pass, it took a great deal of voltage increases, processor tweaks and other tricks to overclock them even this far. As expected, the jumper-less MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU, ASUS A7V333, ABIT KX7-333R and EPoX 8K3A+ easily reached the 166 MHz FSB.

Admittedly, this is a small test group, but we also have a reference Gigabyte GA-7VRXP that also uses a hardware jumper for divider settings, and it displays the same overclocking results as the AOpen and ECS boards. The Soyo KT333 also had a similar 100/133 FSB setting, but it was found in the System BIOS. We doubt that this is due to high AGP or PCI speeds at the 166 MHz FSB when using a 133 MHz divider, as the reference hardware can easily take the stress. If high FSB overclocking to 166 MHz and above is in the cards, then we highly recommend going with a board featuring a BIOS adjustable AGP/PCI divider and support for the 166 MHz FSB.

At the 180 MHz FSB, the same four boards continue their overclocking superiority the competition, and there is really no change in the overall rankings from the 166 MHz results.

At the 200 MHz FSB, the ASUS A7V333 unceremoniously drops off the chart, and although the board did boot easily at this speed, overall stability was not up to par. The MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU, ABIT KX7-333R and EPoX 8K3A+ took the 200 MHz FSB like the other tests and performed quite admirably. Of these three, the ABIT overclocked like a demon and was able to maintain higher memory timings at the overclocked FSB speeds. EPoX finished a very close second, and while third-place MSI was able to hit the 200 MHz FSB quite easily, the board couldn't handle the additional memory stress quite as well.

In choosing the best overclocking board, we also ran various tests on Athlon XP processors and determined the high-end potential in each of the boards. While not catalogued in the same manner as the FSB testing, this impromptu overclocking did give us a good feel for each of the products, their capabilities and how each handles a few different processors.