I bought my A7V about 4 weeks ago and it's a revision 1.02.
It does have the dip switchs and doesn't include on board audio.
I have been building pc's for a number of years now. I have dealt with as many problems as a pc can throw at you. My 1st system was a 386/16 and I have never bought anything other than parts ever since.
I now build systems for co-workers and friends as well as family. Last year a built 80 systems. The reason for this long wind start is to say that I do know quite a lot about pc's and I'm educated in pc components. ( to say the least )
Where can you start about this motherboard? Hmmm.
The feature set is a very good one. The company who makes it, Asus, is known for quality boards. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the A7V isn't one of boards that Asus should be proud to have it's name on.
I researched the board before I bought it from a number of popular web sites, Anandtech included. I'm beginning to believe that the hardware sites that are reviewing the boards are simply not taking enough time to find out all the little nuiances that these boards hide.
Here is what I have found concerning the Asus A7V.
Installing the A7V was the same as any other motherboard. It's an ATX factor and the boards layout is actually well thought out. The board will accept almost any large HSF combo. The power connection on the motherboard is in a great spot, but the IDE cable fittings need a little work. If you have a full tower case the ATA100 cables provided aren't long enough to extend to the two top 5.25 drive bays.
There are three fan headers on this board, I use all 3. This seems to be a problem for this board as the second and third headers frequently fail to report they are working. If you use the Asus probe utility it will flash to the screen when the headers report the fans aren't working. This happens several times a day. You can turn the reporting feature off, but that still doesn't resolve the header problem, just hides it. If you visually inspect the fans , they are indeed working.
If you look in the Asus newsgroups you will see a LARGE number of people having problems
with IRQ conflicts. Many of those posting aren't even aware that this is the problem they have. Unfortunately they are usually first time system builders and the board is really not designed for that.
Here is the problem with this board.
IRQ sharing looks like this.
AGP and Slot 1 share
Slot 2 and the ATA100 controller share
Slot 3 <<< none Sound card goes here
Slot 4 and 5 and USB share.
This IS the way the KT133 chipset operates. Not just the A7V.
There is no way to assign an IRQ to either the USB Hub or ATA100 controller that doesn't also change the IRQ's to thier respective PCI slots.
This is where all the fun starts.
I have tried a number of configurations and PCI components to see how this board reacts to them. Most notably NIC cards. If PCI IRQ steering is working correctly this shouldn't be an issue for newer cards, but it IS with this motherboard.
The AGP slot requires an IRQ to be assigned to it in the BIOS. This is usually the case for all popular video cards. If by chance you put any PCI device in the 1st slot that requires an IRQ the video sub-system will not have D3D capabilities, IF IT BOOTS.
Most people are aware of this and don't put anything in this slot for almost all newer motherboards not just the A7V.
Slot 2 shares the same IRQ with the ATA100 controller. If you use the ATA100 functionality you can not use Slot 2. The system either locks or ( in my case ) drive performance dropped by almost 30%. It did work with a NetGear TX310 NIC , but I had frequent BSOD's. I have an IBM ATA100 30 gig hard drive, unfortunately it has to be used on the ATA66 channel, I'll explain why in a couple of minutes.
Slot 3 well it works correctly. Since it's the ONLY non-sharing PCI slot this is a must for your sound card. I found with the MX400 and the SB Live line of cards the system is terribly unstable if either card is in ANY OTHER SLOT.
Slots 4 and 5 share with the USB Hub controller. I had some success with my NIC card in these slots, but there was still a problem with the system performance. After benchmarking repeatedly, the system was FASTER with nothing in these slots. BUMMER....
Here is where I finally lost it with this motherboard.
USB functionality.
Since I have an ATA100 hard drive I would really like to use the ATA100 controller.
As noted above, system stability or performance is compromised using Slo2, 4 and 5.
So I had a bright idea. I would just circum-navigate the whole problem and use a USB NIC leaving the Slot 2 IRQ free for the ATA100. Good idea!!! Doesn't work :frown:
This is what I have found.
I have an Intellimouse Explorer that works fine on the USB channel, but as soon as ANY USB device that requires power from the USB port the system locks hard. I tried a number of USB devices and the same problem crops up time and time again. The USB implementation is very flacky to say the least. When I saw this problem I went back to the newsgroups. Others were having the same or similar problems as myself. This appears enough that I believe that this is a motherboard problem that Asus needs to correct.
So for me to get performance and stability from this system, I had to use ATA66.
Here is another problem.
When booting the ATA100 controller checks each time to see if there isn't an ATA100 drive attached to it. This slows boot time as much as 30 seconds. There is a BETA bios available that has an option to exclude the controller from the booting process, BUT THE OPERATING SYSTEM STILL FINDS IT. It asks for drivers for the controller. If you provide them it assigns the Slot 2 IRQ to it even if it isn't functioning. This BIOS has aslo caused numerous problems with others whose systems lock while even web browsing.
So now to get my system to work correctly, I had to disable the ATA100 controller from the Device manager in both 98Se and Win2000.
The only way to get my system completely stable was to put the PCI NIC in slot 2 after the ATA100 controller was disabled in the device manager.
This isn't the way the motherboard was designed I'm sure. Or the chipset for that matter either.
*Highlights*
IRQ assigning and implementation , well sucks.
USB sucks
Motherboard defaults to ACPI
Once you throw out half the options available to you the system runs great. There are numerous tweaking options available, but it would really be nice to have a motherboard perform the way it should.
Main operating system is Win98 SE.
VIA's 4-1 drivers 4.24 now being used.
USB filter tested with and without.
AGP 4.03d installed.
Standard updates from Microsoft through Windows Update.
DX7a
Tests on all devices used in default BIOS settings as well as high performance, (as defined by me )
It does have the dip switchs and doesn't include on board audio.
I have been building pc's for a number of years now. I have dealt with as many problems as a pc can throw at you. My 1st system was a 386/16 and I have never bought anything other than parts ever since.
I now build systems for co-workers and friends as well as family. Last year a built 80 systems. The reason for this long wind start is to say that I do know quite a lot about pc's and I'm educated in pc components. ( to say the least )
Where can you start about this motherboard? Hmmm.
The feature set is a very good one. The company who makes it, Asus, is known for quality boards. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the A7V isn't one of boards that Asus should be proud to have it's name on.
I researched the board before I bought it from a number of popular web sites, Anandtech included. I'm beginning to believe that the hardware sites that are reviewing the boards are simply not taking enough time to find out all the little nuiances that these boards hide.
Here is what I have found concerning the Asus A7V.
Installing the A7V was the same as any other motherboard. It's an ATX factor and the boards layout is actually well thought out. The board will accept almost any large HSF combo. The power connection on the motherboard is in a great spot, but the IDE cable fittings need a little work. If you have a full tower case the ATA100 cables provided aren't long enough to extend to the two top 5.25 drive bays.
There are three fan headers on this board, I use all 3. This seems to be a problem for this board as the second and third headers frequently fail to report they are working. If you use the Asus probe utility it will flash to the screen when the headers report the fans aren't working. This happens several times a day. You can turn the reporting feature off, but that still doesn't resolve the header problem, just hides it. If you visually inspect the fans , they are indeed working.
If you look in the Asus newsgroups you will see a LARGE number of people having problems
with IRQ conflicts. Many of those posting aren't even aware that this is the problem they have. Unfortunately they are usually first time system builders and the board is really not designed for that.
Here is the problem with this board.
IRQ sharing looks like this.
AGP and Slot 1 share
Slot 2 and the ATA100 controller share
Slot 3 <<< none Sound card goes here
Slot 4 and 5 and USB share.
This IS the way the KT133 chipset operates. Not just the A7V.
There is no way to assign an IRQ to either the USB Hub or ATA100 controller that doesn't also change the IRQ's to thier respective PCI slots.
This is where all the fun starts.
I have tried a number of configurations and PCI components to see how this board reacts to them. Most notably NIC cards. If PCI IRQ steering is working correctly this shouldn't be an issue for newer cards, but it IS with this motherboard.
The AGP slot requires an IRQ to be assigned to it in the BIOS. This is usually the case for all popular video cards. If by chance you put any PCI device in the 1st slot that requires an IRQ the video sub-system will not have D3D capabilities, IF IT BOOTS.
Most people are aware of this and don't put anything in this slot for almost all newer motherboards not just the A7V.
Slot 2 shares the same IRQ with the ATA100 controller. If you use the ATA100 functionality you can not use Slot 2. The system either locks or ( in my case ) drive performance dropped by almost 30%. It did work with a NetGear TX310 NIC , but I had frequent BSOD's. I have an IBM ATA100 30 gig hard drive, unfortunately it has to be used on the ATA66 channel, I'll explain why in a couple of minutes.
Slot 3 well it works correctly. Since it's the ONLY non-sharing PCI slot this is a must for your sound card. I found with the MX400 and the SB Live line of cards the system is terribly unstable if either card is in ANY OTHER SLOT.
Slots 4 and 5 share with the USB Hub controller. I had some success with my NIC card in these slots, but there was still a problem with the system performance. After benchmarking repeatedly, the system was FASTER with nothing in these slots. BUMMER....
Here is where I finally lost it with this motherboard.
USB functionality.
Since I have an ATA100 hard drive I would really like to use the ATA100 controller.
As noted above, system stability or performance is compromised using Slo2, 4 and 5.
So I had a bright idea. I would just circum-navigate the whole problem and use a USB NIC leaving the Slot 2 IRQ free for the ATA100. Good idea!!! Doesn't work :frown:
This is what I have found.
I have an Intellimouse Explorer that works fine on the USB channel, but as soon as ANY USB device that requires power from the USB port the system locks hard. I tried a number of USB devices and the same problem crops up time and time again. The USB implementation is very flacky to say the least. When I saw this problem I went back to the newsgroups. Others were having the same or similar problems as myself. This appears enough that I believe that this is a motherboard problem that Asus needs to correct.
So for me to get performance and stability from this system, I had to use ATA66.
Here is another problem.
When booting the ATA100 controller checks each time to see if there isn't an ATA100 drive attached to it. This slows boot time as much as 30 seconds. There is a BETA bios available that has an option to exclude the controller from the booting process, BUT THE OPERATING SYSTEM STILL FINDS IT. It asks for drivers for the controller. If you provide them it assigns the Slot 2 IRQ to it even if it isn't functioning. This BIOS has aslo caused numerous problems with others whose systems lock while even web browsing.
So now to get my system to work correctly, I had to disable the ATA100 controller from the Device manager in both 98Se and Win2000.
The only way to get my system completely stable was to put the PCI NIC in slot 2 after the ATA100 controller was disabled in the device manager.
This isn't the way the motherboard was designed I'm sure. Or the chipset for that matter either.
*Highlights*
IRQ assigning and implementation , well sucks.
USB sucks
Motherboard defaults to ACPI
Once you throw out half the options available to you the system runs great. There are numerous tweaking options available, but it would really be nice to have a motherboard perform the way it should.
Main operating system is Win98 SE.
VIA's 4-1 drivers 4.24 now being used.
USB filter tested with and without.
AGP 4.03d installed.
Standard updates from Microsoft through Windows Update.
DX7a
Tests on all devices used in default BIOS settings as well as high performance, (as defined by me )
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