Reinforcements: 6 New Athlon Boards With VIA's KT133A

SPECviewperf 6.1.2: ProCDRS

ProCDRS is also split into two sections. Again, Asus and Epox are performing excellent, Azza is also able to score a good position.

Conclusion & Recommendations

The initial review did not reveal too many differences between the boards. Now, with a new Asus BIOS released and new, strong competitors, the formerly tested boards cannot always keep pace with the newcomers.

Asus proved very well that a simple BIOS update can tremendously improve the system overall performance. In terms of performance and overclocking, Asus managed to gain the crown of this review on the second try.

However, my two personal favorites are the AOpen AK73-1394 and IWill's KK266-R. Both have a much better price/performance ratios than the Asus A7V133, giving you similar features and overclocking capabilities. AOpen is the only manufacturer that includes a FireWire controller. That is particularly important for people who want to use external storage solutions or video devices. Also the possible Vcore range goes down to 1.1 V, which is an excellent basis for future Athlon CPUs.

IWill also comes with a great and reliable motherboard, good performance and a complete shipment.

Everybody who is looking for a cheap motherboard should consider Soltek, DFI or Azza. They all run absolutely reliable as well. If you do not need any special features, you should be content with those boards, as none of them has a real disadvantage.