The A7M266 is a DDR mobo and designed to run with the new EV266 TBirds. But of course you can also use it with current EV200 TBirds/Durons. The board has the new AMD 760 chipset with a VIA Southbridge. The EV266 Tbirds are not yet available, and I didn't want to wait any longer. I purchased a Duron 700 and sank into the beauty, just to see what happens:
www.asus.com.tw/whatsnew/bga7m266.jpg
*BIOS/TWEAKING*
- several interesting new features for AGP and DDR memory settings (never seen before)
- 1 Hz FSB settings in jumper-free mode
- turbo mode/normal mode
- jumper/dip switch settings for 3 different voltages: core, clock generator voltage, and chipset/memory
- NO multiplier settings (but possible by modding/soldering)
The latest bios revision (1.2 beta 002) seems to be a bit "raw". Although disabled in the BIOS, the integrated sound was still working. Also: the BIOS settings are different from the manual. The originally planned and in the Asus press release picture (see above)for this board actually shown dip switches for the multiplier setting are missing at the currently sold retail version.
*OVERCLOCKING*
Duron 700 with locked L1 bridge
Alpha PAL 6035 with aluminium adaptor for the 80mm Delta Fan/60 CFM
PC 2100 2x128 (2.5) Samsung (this is the Asus validated DDR memory)
Kennwood 72X
Pioneer 115 DVD
Asus I-Panel
40 Giga Maxtor HDD
G-Force GTS (32MB)
Voodoo 3 (16MB)
650 Watt Enermax
bla bla bla ...
**Duron 700@980** (7x140) stable running 3D games (all 3 voltages in default)
**Duron 700@1036** (7x148) stable running 3D games with the core voltage at 1.825 volt, the chipset/memory voltage at 2.8 volt and the clock generator voltage at 3.45 volt
Later I found out, that the voltage increases for the V-Core, the clock-generator, and the chipset/memory have NO influence on the maximum FSB.
Ambient temp 25 C / CPU load temp between 38C and 39C thanks to the most excellent adaptor with the 80mm Delta fan and of course Silver Artic.
3DM2000 in default settings (GF2 not tweaked or overclocked) was 7.100. I didn't have time to take other benchmarks, but I had a good feeling regarding responsiveness of my business applications.(MS Office Access & Excel with big data files and spread sheet caculations.
The overall quality impression is, as usual for Asus, good. My last Abit board came with 2 dead headers! Given the fact, that the AMD 760 is a new chipset, I was prepared for some hardware problems (similar to the problems we had with the early VIA chips). But nothing: Every piece of hardware was properly detected and initiated, everything was running completely stable, no freezing, no crashes. The clock generator got hot, when I went beyond FSB 140, all other chips remained "cold", even when the VIO voltages were increased to the maximum. The only issue was with the G-Force GTS: I got several times the infamous *long-short-short-short* error beep,indicating no video signal. Later I found out that this is realted to the cool looking Asus I-Panel. As soon as I unplugged the I-panel, all probs were gone.
*CONCLUSION*
I'm delighted, but not "thrilled" with this board. To take a Duron 700 without any effort to 1030 MHz and without changing the multiplier, shows the enormous headroom you have with DDR memory. I'm sure with some tweaking it's possible to run a Duron 700@1100 on the A7M266 just with air-cooling. There are tons of settings to try, and it will take some more time to find out. I also have no idea how good the Duron is I'm using, and there are now benchmarks for my PC2100 memory to compare. The missing multiplier setting is a shame, but as already pointed out in this A7M266 review: The AMD 760 chipset gives much more headroom for FSB increases than VIA:
www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/asus-a7m266.html
Having the multiplier setting or not should therefore not make a big difference with this board. And just to get maybe 50 Mhz more, I don't think I will solder the A7M266 to unlock the multiplier.
The A7M266 seems to be an excellent choice for somebody who wants to upgrade from an "older" AMD system now. DDR memory is certainly the thing to go for. The currrent Durons and TBirds with EV200 get a performance boost between 10% and 15%, even when "only" using the cheaper PC1600 in comparison with PC133 as shown here:
www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/ga-7dx.html
But the A7M266 is certainly not a "must have" for somebody with a relatively new system, considering the price of PC2100 (320 $$ USD for my 2x128). The A7M266 is designed for CPUs with EV266 ("C" line), the true test will come, when in a couple of weeks the first OEM chips are in retail. Until then I enjoy my 50 $$ (USD) CPU running at 1050 MHz.
www.asus.com.tw/whatsnew/bga7m266.jpg
*BIOS/TWEAKING*
- several interesting new features for AGP and DDR memory settings (never seen before)
- 1 Hz FSB settings in jumper-free mode
- turbo mode/normal mode
- jumper/dip switch settings for 3 different voltages: core, clock generator voltage, and chipset/memory
- NO multiplier settings (but possible by modding/soldering)
The latest bios revision (1.2 beta 002) seems to be a bit "raw". Although disabled in the BIOS, the integrated sound was still working. Also: the BIOS settings are different from the manual. The originally planned and in the Asus press release picture (see above)for this board actually shown dip switches for the multiplier setting are missing at the currently sold retail version.
*OVERCLOCKING*
Duron 700 with locked L1 bridge
Alpha PAL 6035 with aluminium adaptor for the 80mm Delta Fan/60 CFM
PC 2100 2x128 (2.5) Samsung (this is the Asus validated DDR memory)
Kennwood 72X
Pioneer 115 DVD
Asus I-Panel
40 Giga Maxtor HDD
G-Force GTS (32MB)
Voodoo 3 (16MB)
650 Watt Enermax
bla bla bla ...
**Duron 700@980** (7x140) stable running 3D games (all 3 voltages in default)
**Duron 700@1036** (7x148) stable running 3D games with the core voltage at 1.825 volt, the chipset/memory voltage at 2.8 volt and the clock generator voltage at 3.45 volt
Later I found out, that the voltage increases for the V-Core, the clock-generator, and the chipset/memory have NO influence on the maximum FSB.
Ambient temp 25 C / CPU load temp between 38C and 39C thanks to the most excellent adaptor with the 80mm Delta fan and of course Silver Artic.
3DM2000 in default settings (GF2 not tweaked or overclocked) was 7.100. I didn't have time to take other benchmarks, but I had a good feeling regarding responsiveness of my business applications.(MS Office Access & Excel with big data files and spread sheet caculations.
The overall quality impression is, as usual for Asus, good. My last Abit board came with 2 dead headers! Given the fact, that the AMD 760 is a new chipset, I was prepared for some hardware problems (similar to the problems we had with the early VIA chips). But nothing: Every piece of hardware was properly detected and initiated, everything was running completely stable, no freezing, no crashes. The clock generator got hot, when I went beyond FSB 140, all other chips remained "cold", even when the VIO voltages were increased to the maximum. The only issue was with the G-Force GTS: I got several times the infamous *long-short-short-short* error beep,indicating no video signal. Later I found out that this is realted to the cool looking Asus I-Panel. As soon as I unplugged the I-panel, all probs were gone.
*CONCLUSION*
I'm delighted, but not "thrilled" with this board. To take a Duron 700 without any effort to 1030 MHz and without changing the multiplier, shows the enormous headroom you have with DDR memory. I'm sure with some tweaking it's possible to run a Duron 700@1100 on the A7M266 just with air-cooling. There are tons of settings to try, and it will take some more time to find out. I also have no idea how good the Duron is I'm using, and there are now benchmarks for my PC2100 memory to compare. The missing multiplier setting is a shame, but as already pointed out in this A7M266 review: The AMD 760 chipset gives much more headroom for FSB increases than VIA:
www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/asus-a7m266.html
Having the multiplier setting or not should therefore not make a big difference with this board. And just to get maybe 50 Mhz more, I don't think I will solder the A7M266 to unlock the multiplier.
The A7M266 seems to be an excellent choice for somebody who wants to upgrade from an "older" AMD system now. DDR memory is certainly the thing to go for. The currrent Durons and TBirds with EV200 get a performance boost between 10% and 15%, even when "only" using the cheaper PC1600 in comparison with PC133 as shown here:
www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/ga-7dx.html
But the A7M266 is certainly not a "must have" for somebody with a relatively new system, considering the price of PC2100 (320 $$ USD for my 2x128). The A7M266 is designed for CPUs with EV266 ("C" line), the true test will come, when in a couple of weeks the first OEM chips are in retail. Until then I enjoy my 50 $$ (USD) CPU running at 1050 MHz.
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