ECS K7VZM KT133 Motherboard

Introduction

Well folks, it’s been quite a while since we looked at a mainboard over here at Technoyard. Today we have the pleasure of bringing to you the K7VZM one of Elite Computer Systems Micro-ATX boards. One before I go into the details of this board, keep in mind one aspect, Micro-ATX boards are limited in expansion slots; therefore if you’re on of those tweakers who looks at expanding his system periodically these boards will not suite you at all.

So for whom are these Micro-ATX boards aimed at? Well mostly it’s for budget conscious users who require a very basic PC or for small-scale offices.

What does the K7VZM have in store? Basically it’s a Socket 462 board accommodating AMD Athlon processors and is based on the VIA KT 133 chipset. So take a look at the specs to see what exactly this board has in offer.

Specifications

PROCESSORS	AMD® Athlon (K7) processors up to 1.2GHz(100MHz FSB) and 1.2CGHz(133MHz FSB) AMD® Duron processors up to 850MHz Full series of Athlon processors including the newest Duron and Thunderbird processors. (Can support the future 1.5GHz Thunderbird)
CHIPSET	VIA® VT8363 (NB) & VT82C686A (SB) support AGP 2.0 specification (4X) Super I/O – Integrated in VT82C686A (SB) System Hardware Monitor: Integrated in VT82C686A (SB) LAN: RealTek 8139C AC97 Audio Codec: Avance ALC100(RealTek) Compliant with AC97 2.1 specification
MEMORY	Two 168-pin DIMM sockets for 3.3V SDRAM (Ready for PC100, PC133) Maximum: 1.0GB
SYSTEM BIOS	Award BIOS with 4MB Flash ROM in Firmwave Hub (FWH) Supports Plug and Play 1.0a, AMP 1.2, Multi Boot, DMI Full Support for ACPI revision 1.0A specification
I/O INTERFACE	Supports Plug and Play function PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors Four USB Ports (Two USB Connectors as header onboard) Two – 16550 high-speed serial I/O ports Audio Ports (Line-in, Line-out, Mic-in, CD-in and game port) Dual PCI IDE interfaces – support four IDE devices (PIO mode 4, DMA Mode 2, Ultra DMA 33/66) Ports, Headers and Others: IrDA header Extra IR/KB/Mouse header Extra MIC/Line-out header Green, HDD, Power indicator LED headers CPU and Case Fan headers Modem Ring Wake-Up header
EXPANSION SLOTS	2 PCI slots, 1 AGP slot, 1 AMR slot
FORM FACTOR	microATX (244mm*220mm)

Installation and Bundle

Well this was the first time I had actually handled a Micro-ATX board. Nevertheless it’s no different to installing an ATX board; it might feel a bit awkward though. Opening the box you’re offered with the standard items that are offered with any mainboard today. 1 Floppy drive cable, 1 ATA/66 IDE cable, user manual and a software CD.

Since the board includes only 2 PCI slots and one AGP slot, I installed an Nvidia GeForce 2 MX, Monster MX400 and a NIC card. As for the physical installation process of the board, it was completely hassle free right throughout. The board does not need any jumper configurations either, which makes this task even simpler.

As for the software bundle, the board comes with one CD containing the VIA 4-in-1 driver pack (v5.2), drivers for the integrated AC”97 sound-card and some handy utilities such as GAMUT (An Audio rack program), Media Ring, PC-CILLIN and Super Voice. Well that’s all about the bundle, so after a quick installation of the required drivers I went on to see how this baby works.