Abit KR7A, User Manual

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Introduction of KR7A/KR7A-RAID Features
User’s Manual
1-1
Chapter 1. Introduction of KR7A/KR7A-RAID
Features
1-1. Features of KR7A/KR7A-RAID Motherboard
This motherboard is designed for AMD Socket A Athlon
™
XP, Athlon
™
and Duron
™
CPUs. It supports
the AMD Socket-A structure, with up to 3 GB (Unbuffered) or 4 GB (Registered) of memory, super I/O,
and Green PC functions.
The KR7A/KR7A-RAID uses the VIA VT8366A and VT8233 chipsets (KT266A) to make the
evolutionary move from PC 100/PC 133 SDRAM to PC 1600/PC 2100 DDR SDRAM, increasing the
speed of the system and memory buses from 100 MHz to 133 MHz. Its 200/266 MHz memory interface
supports the wide range of PC 1600/PC 2100 DDR SDRAM memory devices now on the market.
VIA VT8366A is a system bus controller, or northbridge, that houses the high-speed system elements
critical to overall system performance while also containing the system interface to the processor. The
key functions of the VT8366A System Controller include the 266 MHz Athlon System Bus, the 266 MHz
DDR Memory Subsystem, the AGP 4X/2X/1X modes Graphics Interface (AGP 2.0 Compliant) and the
33 MHz/32-bit PCI Bus Interface (PCI 2.2 Compliant), including arbiter.
DDR SDRAM is the newest memory standard, it provides the maximum translation bandwith and also
greatly improves data transaction delays. This feature improves whole system performance and speed,
especially multimedia environment applications.
The KR7A/KR7A-RAID has a built in Ultra DMA 100 function. This means that it provides speedier
HDD throughput boosting overall system performance. Ultra DMA 100 is the new standard for IDE
devices. It enhances existing Ultra DMA 33 technology by increasing both performance and data integrity.
This new high-speed interface almost doubles the Ultra DMA 66 burst data transfer rate to 100
Mbytes/sec. The result is maximum disc performance using the current PCI local bus environment.
Another benefit is you can connect four IDE devices in your system through either Ultra DMA 66 or
Ultra DMA 100. You will have more flexibility to expand your computer system.
KR7A-RAID’s built-in HighPoint HPT 372 chipset gives you the capability to support Ultra DMA 133.
Ultra DMA 133 is the newest standard for IDE devices. It provides two IDE channels (IDE3, IDE4) that
also support Ultra DMA 133 specifications, and it allows for four additional IDE devices in your
computer system. It can give you high performance and efficiency data transfer rate through the IDE
channels. This also means that your computer, in total, can connect up to eight IDE devices (IDE1 ~
IDE4). This allows for maximum expandability for future hardware demands. This chipset also supports
IDE RAID, inlcuding RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1. This feature enables you to maximize your data
storage performance and security.
(KR7A-RAID Only)
KR7A/KR7A-RAID provides high flexibility to users building AMD Socket A Athlon
™
XP, Athlon
™
and
Duron
™
systems. It provides the option of 133MHz/133MHz CPU and memory bus combinations.
The KR7A/KR7A-RAID has built-in hardware monitoring functions (refer to Appendix B for detailed
information) to ensure a safe computing environment.