Chaintech 7VJDA KT266A Motherboard
Introduction
We all know the wonders the KT 266A chipset has brought upon the AMD user market. So far a Athlon XP 1800+ and a good KT266A chip motherboard can perform almost as equally to a Pentium 4. The basic facts that are going against Intel is the price AMD is offering their solutions. Considering the fact that one could get hold of a AMD AthlonXP CPU and a good KT266A mainboard for the price of a Intel P4 CPU and still get equal performance, there’s no logical explanation in going for a P4. It’s no wonder that AMD is the most sort after solution in the overclocking community. KT 266A was introduced in replacement for the KT 266 chipset. Even though the KT 266 was a stable and a relatively good performer, it lacked the kick it needed to have the edge in comparison to most other performance chipsets such as the AMD 761 and SIS 730 chipsets. The new KT 266A chipset was an overnight hit, breaking benchmark barriers no one ever dreamt of.
Today we bring to you a KT266A chipset based motherboard offered by Chaintech. Chaintech has been the motherboard market for quite a long time now. Even though they are not known for producing the most high performance boards, their solutions have always inspired the budget conscious user. Incorporated in 1986 Chaintech also manufactures display cards, audio and modem riser cards as well as TV set-top-box devices.
Since most of us know everything that’s to known about the KT266A chip, I won’t be going to touch that topic :. So far some of the best Kt266A mainboards that are available in the market are the Soltek 75DRV4 and the Soyo Dragon Plus. Lets see how well this board performs in contrast to these big giants.
Specifications
| Hardware | CPU AMD® Socket A. System frequency 200/266 MHz FSB Chipset VIA KT266A + VT8233 Memory (3) DDR DIMM (3GB |
| Physical | Form Factor: ATX Dimensions: 305mm x 230mm |
| Expansion | (5) PCI, (1) AGP, (1) CNR, (1) ACR (2) UDMA-66/100 connectors |
| AV Subsystems | Audio CMI 8738-6CH / Option AC’97 Codec |
| CPU | Supports AMD® Socket A Duron™ /Athlon™ CPU System clock supports 200/266 MHz |
| Chipset | VIA KT266A + VT8233 |
| Main Memory | Three 184 pin DDR DIMM up to 3GB Supports PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM modules |
| Expansion Slots | – One Universal-AGP slot for both 2x/4xAGP (v2.0 compliant) – Five 32-Bit PCI slots (v2.2 compliant) – One ACR slot support modem, audio and LAN riser – One CNR slot support modem, audio riser |
| Audio Subsystem | On-Board Audio 8738 – With external high quality AC’97 CODEC – Complete software driver support for Windows OS Option Audio Subsystem via AC-Link |
| Video Subsystem | – One Universal-AGP slot for both 2x/4xAGP (v2.0 compliant) |
| UltraDMA IDE Ports | – Supports PIO Mode 4 up to 16.6 Mbps, Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 and Ultra DMA mode 5 up to 100MB/s with Bus Mastering – Bus-Mastering software drivers for all common multitasking operating systems |
| Embedded USB Controller | – UHCI compliant USB host controller with Root hub – Six USB ports (UHCI v1.0 compliant) w/ over-current protection – Optional USB adapter for additional USB ports |
| On Board Super I/O Controller | – Two UARTs supports two serial port and IR function (up to 115.2Kbps) for HPSIR and ASKIR – One SPP/ECP/EPP parallel port – One floppy disk drive connector supports up to 2.88MB |
| Software | – Driver CD (Chipset Autodetect) – Value Pack 2002 |
Installation
The package the most standard features that you’ll get with any motherboard. Nothing fancy as what SOYO includes with their boards, nevertheless this is good enough. The board comes with two Ultra DMA ATA100 IDE cables and a Floppy drive cable. Before you install the board make sure that you set all the jumper settings appropriately. Depending on your CPU’s FSB change it to 100MHz or 133MHz. Installing a huge heatsink as also not a problem as the board is well designed to hold a good sized cooler. The board was installed with a TITI V86 cooler, which we had no problem in getting in. Furthermore I installed a 50mm fan on top of the board’s north bridge, just to make to board more stable when overclocked. There are a few other jumper settings that you’ll have to manipulate if you want further functionality such as USB power on, Keyboard power on, etc. So make sure you so through the supplied installation manual and see if you require these functions. The manual is detailed enough to get you through everything. We didn’t come across any real issues while installing the board that’s worth talking about here, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be straight forward for most of you guys.
