DDR For AMD: 16 Boards With VIA KT266

Gigabyte GA-7VTX: Countless Jumpers

Board revision: 0.3

A mark of distinction: The Gigabyte has a blue PCB design.

Gigabyte has made a good name for itself with its light-blue PCB design. Its dual BIOS is almost a standard feature, and the PCI sound chip from Creative is another positive feature. The manufacturer doesn't bother with positioning a fan above the Northbridge. A particularly negative aspect we encountered during the test were the countless jumpers that are strewn over the entire board. In addition, four DIP switches are available to permit the manual adjustment of the CPU core voltage, FSB clock rate and the multiplier. But what's missing? An additional USB cable for the fifth and sixth port. An unnecessary feature is the AMR slot for which no components are available anyway. This board achieves a solid midfield position in the benchmark tests.

The dual BIOS is a standard feature of this board.

Sound chip from Creative: Better sound and lower CPU load than with an AC'97 or AC'99 chip.