Abit KD7-S questions

[Lonyo]

I'm looking at a new solution to use with a 2500+ Barton.
I'm going Abit, because it's what I know, and have the option of the NF7-S v2.0 or the KD7-S.
It's really tight on the budget, and the difference between the 2 boards is £11 (£86 for the NF7-S, £75 for the KD7-S)
The KD7-S would therefore be my choice, depending on the following:

What sort of FSB might it get to (I'll be running probably a Radeon 9700 non-pro so I'm a bit worried about PCI frequency)?

What are the FSB/AGP/PCI dividers. I read about a 6:2:1 not working or something, does this mean it's only 5:2:1 max?

Does it unlock the CPU (I read it does)?

What are the FSB:Memory ratios?

If it will unlock a Barton then being limited to 166MHz FSB might not be too bad.
If I do up the FSB, then a 6:2:1 would be very nice, especially with the potential pickiness of the Radeon.

Thanks for all your help (and if anyone knows of any cheaper UK prices that'd be nice too!)

 

[Insidious]

My boards are similar to the KD7-S you are considering.

lets see... will it unlock the multipliers => YES
I have no idea about max FSB because I have poopie RAM 😱
the divide by 6 does not function with 166 FSB (KT400 chipset limitation)
you get 5:2:1 and 4:2:1

The ups:
It is typical ABit/SoftmenuIII (easy to set up and understand if you are used to SoftMenuIII)
It is nice and stable

The downs:
It doesn't lock the PCI and AGP frequencies and doesn't have divide by 6 ratio
On-board sound isn't anywhere close to the quality of the NF7-S

(I'm sure there are lot's more ups and downs, but those come to mind quickly


I chose the KD7-Raid because I wanted Raid-0 without replacing my HDs and I have Crucial PC2700 (512MB) RAM which is incompatible
with the NForce2 boards.

Without these limitations, I would probably have gone with the NF7-S.

-Sid