Face To Face With The KA7
On first glance, the boxed aesthetics immediately reflect telling changes to their marketing strategy. No longer is the box shrouded in a morbid blue setting with a semi-liquefied figure pointing at some distant object (Could some kind soul explain what that’s supposed to represent?) The marketing chaps have taken a less abstract approach, using a montage of high action sports, possibly symbolizing a company surging for new technological heights…
Sports to market motherboards?? What Next??
In addition, the sides are adorned with logos of websites that have previously endorsed ABIT boards.
But external packaging aside, let’s check out its bundle contents:- 01 x ABIT KA7 motherboard,
- 01 x thermal sensor cable
- 01 x UATA66 IDE HDD cable; 01 x FDD cable
- 01 x User Manual
- 01 x CD-ROM KA1.00M containing 4-in-1 VIA 4.20 drivers, VIA Hardware Monitor utility, BIOS Flash Utility, User’s Manual, HighPoint Xstore drivers, Acrobat Reader, Freeware – PointCast Network and Inforia Quest 98
The standard motherboard package. Strange, I had thought Gentus Linux would have been bundled??
In terms of specifications, the motherboard doesn’t disappoint:
The board is really feature-filled. Notably, its combination of abundant PCI, DIMM slots and Fan plugs renders it a cut above its other counterparts in the market. Coupled with Soft Menu III (more on this later), overclockers will be no less delighted with its tweakable options.
Granted that the only thing lacking seems to be onboard audio and gameport support (as compared with the KX133-based Asus and AOpen versions). But really, this isn’t disconcerting, as one would invariably substitute the onboard audio with a dedicated PCI sound card (Creative SBLive!! or Vortex 2), which offers much better features and uncompromising performance. Let’s take an in-depth look into some of its more distinct offerings…
|
