A few points for clarification:
The KT133A does not require active cooling. This is easily proven by both VIA's specs (which call only for a heatsink) and Anand's own tests which showed the Microstar K7T Turbo overclocking just as high as the Epox and ABit boards that featured a fan. In fact, the FSB overclocking results make it obvious that RAM is the limitting factor in AnandTech's tests. Whether northbridge cooling comes into play at higher FSB speeds is yet to be determined; all we know at this point is that the K7T Pro does without a fan what other boards do with one.
The so-called "stability problems" with the MSI K7T Pro-2a were not nearly as widespread as people make out. No major hardware site was able to reproduce the problem, and the vast majority of computer resellers and consultants in this forum, myself included, have sold collectively hundreds of units and received no more negative feedback than with any other board. Still, Microstar has just last week released a V2.2 BIOS update that corrects the rare problem that a small minority of boards were displaying. Bottom line, there is no reason not to treat the Pro-2a like the stability dynamo its predecessor proved to be.
The lack of an ISA slot and the inclusion of a CNR slot is absolutely irrelevant to the vast majority of users, and even most hardware enthusisasts now realize that a dirt cheap PCI modem can easily equal their expensive old ISA solution, which can be sold away at a profit. The CNR slot may be useless for our purposes but at least, being shared, it doesn't get in the way.
The inclusion of a VIA AC'97 codec is only a plus. One look at the size of the chip and you'll realize that it costs motherboard manufacturers all of $2 to include the capability on the board (since the 686x southbridges essentially have it built in). That is a small price to pay for the peace of mind should your main card fail, or when on a budget, sound quality that rivals any consumer card (signal to noise ratio and frequency response, the crucial factors, have been good enough for years and PC sound controllers these days are basically only discernable with high end audiophile equipment; more expensive sound solutions just provide more features). It certainly doesn't detract anything for the value of the board. ABit's decision not to implement any on board sound is simply an admition of defeat on their part that they cannot compromise their enthusiast and OEM markets.
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