ABIT has taken an interesting path with their KX7-333R. This is a high-end motherboard to be sure, but it is also includes only the most basic amenities. An example is the ATX backplate, which features only PS/2, USB, serial and LPT ports, and does not even have basic on-board audio. In addition to the absence of audio, LAN and other integrated options, the ABIT KX7-333R has no support for USB 2.0. On the flip side, ABIT does include 4 DIMM sockets (3 for standard DDR, 4 for Registered), a HighPoint IDE RAID controller, and a full overclocking BIOS. We appreciate ABIT not including spurious extras and maintaining performance and overclocking options, but this feature set is still a bit lean for our liking.
The ABIT KX7-333R retail box contains the motherboard, one Floppy cable, two ATA-66/100/133 EIDE cables, one USB bracket, a driver CD, a HPT372 RAID driver floppy, and a hardcopy user manual. Since ABIT has chosen a Spartan ATX I/O backpanel, we would have liked to see a specific I/O backplate included with the package. We still miss those ultra-cool, black ABIT-branded cables, but this selection of hardware more than fits the bill. The user manual is once again a highly-detailed, well-organized guide that will be invaluable to both newbie and experienced users alike.
ABIT certainly knows how to design motherboards and the KX7-333R is another very good effort. The layout is nice, with the ATX power connector being ideally situated at the top of the PCB and a lot real estate for large CPU heatsinks. AGP cards still come into contact with the DIMM locking mechanism, and while the GeForce4 Ti 4600 installed without issue, ABIT has stuck a pile of smaller capacitors directly on line with the AGP slot.
The main issues we have with the layout are the position of the CPU socket (mounted vertically, so attaching the HSF may not be possible inside a smaller case) and the location of the floppy connector, which is far down at the bottom of the board and may impact those with full tower cases and top-mounted floppy drives. The board itself doesn't match up exactly to ATX specs, so there is a slight board overhang from the standard 9-screw ATX case layout. These are small concerns shared with many other motherboards, and from an overall viewpoint, the ABIT KX7-333R rates very well in layout and design.
ABIT motherboards can be more difficult to install than more basic products. Their wealth of BIOS options and on-board RAID features usually make things a little tougher on users, but the KX7-333R was surprisingly easy to setup and the software OS load also progressed quite nicely. On a side note, we had some initial difficulty installing the CPU on our review board, as it would crash soon after boot. We found that the temperature monitor was situated quite high in the socket, thereby pushing upwards on the CPU itself. Since the temperatures were still low (and did not change afterwards) this was likely a short or linkage issue, so we physically bent it down a bit and the motherboard was absolutely rock solid afterwards.
Although ASUS, EPoX and MSI all feature incredible overclocking BIOS options, ABIT's SoftMenu III is one of the more fully-featured and easy to use designs we've come across. The ABIT KX7-333R BIOS includes support for CPU multiplier, core voltage, DDR voltage, 1 MHz FSB speed increments, and AGP/PCI ratios. In our testing, the KX7-333R was right up there with the other high-performance boards and exhibited incredible stability at ultra-high bus speeds.
The ABIT KX7-333R is a definite case of give and take. In return for excellent overclocking, high performance, and a super software BIOS, you are giving up a wide range of on-board options such as audio, LAN and USB 2.0. This is a choice only the end-user can make, but for our money the only one we really miss would be the high-speed USB. Still, the KX7-333R is a superior KT333 motherboard, and a great match for a lean and mean performance system.
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