Gigabyte GA-7ZXR
AMD Athlon VIA KT133
Monday, January 08, 2001
Tests results
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Motherboard
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BIOS
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Chipset
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Drivers
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Gigabyte GA-7ZXR
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7ZXR F4
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VIA KT133
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VIA 4-in-1 4.23
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Processor
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Memory
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AMD T-Bird 1Ghz
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128MB SDRAM PC133 CAS2
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Hardrive
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Graphics card
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Quantum Fireball KA 9.1Gig
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Chaintech R170 GeForce 256 32Mb SDR
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Operating system
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Build
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Video drivers
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DirectX
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Windows98
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4.10 1998
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Nvidia 4.11.01.0368
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7.0a
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Colours
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake2 3.20
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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bi-linear
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Colours
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake3 1.08
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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Tri-linear
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Suggested memory
Corsair 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Mushkin 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2
Mushkin 128Mb HSDRAM PC150 CAS2 = Tested
Micron 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Transcend 128Mb SDRAM PC133
Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Winbench CPUmark99
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89.87
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Business Winstone99
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33.3
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Content Creation 2000
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33.23
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Bapco Sysmark2000
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Benchmark
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Official Run
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187
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Video sub-system tests
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Quake2 version 3.20
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1Ghz @ 1Ghz
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AMD Athlon
Classic @ 1060hz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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181.51 FPS
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182.82
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Quake3
Test 1.08
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1Ghz @ 1Ghz
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AMD Athlon
Classic 1Ghz @ 1060Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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99.03 FPS
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100.96
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Our Overclocking tests went pretty well this time around. We were able to push the GA-7ZXR's FSB to 106MHz without any difficulties.
Disk sub-system tests
Overall Quality Evaluation
The evaluation table below shows both the strong and weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remind you that performance is not the sole purchasing criteria in a motherboard. Most of today's motherboards exhibit performance very close to each other, so we need additional information in order to help us distinguish the real advantages of a motherboard compared to its competitors. This is exactly where this evaluation table comes in handy.
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Gigabyte GA-7ZXR
AMD Athlon VIA KT133
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Feature
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Evaluation
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Design Originality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Component Layout
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Heatsink space around CPU
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Capacitiors
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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CPU Retention Mechanism
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Amounts of Expansion Slots
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Amount of Memory sockets
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Ease of installation
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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BIOS Setup Design
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Performance
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Overclockability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Stability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Bundled Software
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Bundled Hardware
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Users Manual Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Packing Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Features supported
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ATA66
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PC133
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Wake On LAN
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Modem ring
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Pwr Fail Res
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5
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Features supported (suite)
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Sensor
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AMR
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Mouse Pwr On
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Susp. to RAM
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Susp. to Disk
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4
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Features supported (suite)
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IRDA
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SCSI
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Keyb. Pwr On
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Hardw. mon.
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Vcore adj.
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3
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Features supported (suite)
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RAID
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Alarm
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Jumperless
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L2 latency adj.
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IRQ assign.
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3
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Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
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84 points out of 100
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Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
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Conclusions
The weak points
No Vcore adjustment options
Impossible to manually assign IRQs
Poor BIOS
Memory bus lacking of flexibility
Weak hardware bundle
The strong points
Plenty of space for a large heatsink
Excellent software bundle
Onboard RAID controler
Support for a number of hardrives
Integrated hardware monitoring
Excellent BIOS protection against viral infection
Integrated AC"97 sound-card
Special mentions
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Thanks to its two drive controllers, Gigabyte's GA-7ZXR can support 8 drives right out of the box - 4 of which can be configured for RAID operations. This gives the GA-7ZXR a definite edge, and would certainly serve it well in a server environment. It's DualBIOS also offers an added bit of security - another important consideration for a server. Unfortunately, many potential users will be put off by the GA-7ZXR's BIOS, and the fact that it doesn't allow the CPU's voltages to be adjusted. In short, the GA-7ZXR responds well to Overclocking, lacks a bit of finish, but - by all appearances - seems well suited to its target audience. For its overall score, the Gigabyte GA-7ZXR deserves our "High Grade Hardware Award".
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For more information, please visit Gigabyte.
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