VIA KT266A Motherboard Roundup - January 2002

The Winners and Conclusion

With the departure of the AMD 760 chipset, the VIA KT266A has taken control of the market and is now the most widely available AMD chipset. The chipset is by far the fastest AMD platform out there, and it's capable of bringing out the full potential of AMD processors. As the chipset continues to mature, we will start to see more solid KT266A solutions in terms of performance and stability. At the same time a lot of manufacturers have put in some very nice features in their boards to make them stand out from the crowd.

Just in time to get their board in for our KT266A roundup, Shuttle earns our AnandTech Editors Choice Bronze Award with the AK35GTR. As a successor of their AK31 Rev. 3.1, the AK35GTR offers an extra IDE RAID controller and upgraded audio. The board performs very well and it offers some reasonable overclocking. If anything, the 4 DIMM slots on the AK35GTR helps Shuttle to edge the third runner up, the Soyo Dragon Plus!.

It has been a very long road for EPoX, but they have also gone a long way. Their former products didn't catch many eyes, but their recent products stand out. The EPoX EP-8KHA+, our AnandTech Editors Choice Silver Award winner, is yet another example. When it first came out, there was no doubt it was one of the best KT266A boards yet. Even with the challenged posted by the ABIT KR7-RAID, EPoX was able to keep up with a new BIOS release that enables a lot of people to reach FSB speeds of well over 200MHz. While we weren't able to reach that milestone, what EPoX has done with the EP-8KHA+ definitely earns them the title.

Time after time, ABIT surprises us. They used to be one of the pioneers in releasing new motherboards using a new chipset, but that hasn't been the case lately. They take their time to find out what's truly needed by users and design the best solution. The ABIT KR7-RAID didn't come out until the end of November 2001, but without a doubt, it's the best KT266A board out there. The most important thing ABIT did was the implementation of 4 DIMM slots, something hardly any other manufacturers have attempted. The board also overclocks very well, and the new Highpoint RAID controller definitely helps to make the KR7-RAID the recipient of AnandTech Editors Choice Gold Award.

However, we should never forget about the Iwill XP333-R. The board offers a lot of room for overclocking, and its performance is on par with the KR7-RAID. It does not have the same level of flexibility with the KR7-RAID in terms of memory configuration, but it does overclock better and it has a very nice integrated audio device. Both boards offer the Highpoint HPT372 RAID controller, which is a plus, but keep in mind that the XP333-R runs at around $40 cheaper than the KR7-RAID.

Again, it ultimately comes down to what you need. Do you need the four DIMM slots for more memory? If so the KR7-RAID is definitely the way to go. But if you are only planning on installing 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM, it could be more beneficial to go after the XP333-R, which is cheaper, has better overclocking, and nice integrated audio.