MicroStar K7T Turbo review

[NaughtyusMaximus]

Anand has stated many times that his reviews have nothing to do with his advertising. He contracts out the advertising for this site to another company, and makes sure that no one company has preference over another. MSI must have sought out that advertising space - through the advertising company, not Anand. None of that has anything to do whatsoever with Anand's reviews, as they are separate businesses.

 

[Zucchini]

When are the asus/msi coming out?

 

[Gothmoth]

ok, i believe that.
like i believe bill clinton ;-)

if someone pay your bills you will find nice words to say "p*ss off".

 

[Howard]

JoPalm

You can install extra fans by using the Molex connectors coming out of the power supply. Molexes are the 4-pin power connectors, they end in white, rectangular plugs. The corners on one side of the plug are truncated.

Almost all fans, I believe, use the 4-pin connection to draw power. I don't think I've ever seen an 80mm fan use a 3-pin header.

 

[Castellan]

The k7t Turbo was listed on pricewatch earlier today at 250ish, but its gone again. Any ideas?

 

[PCResources]

<< 1) The Abit KT7A-R's HighPoint controllers supports RAID 0 + 1 >>



And you state that having a HiPoint controller is a good thing for this board... give me a break, if any controller has ever shown problems with HDD's it is this one...



<< 2) The Abit KT7A-R has a fan on the north bridge. >>



Yeah... but is that necessary?? NO, it is not...




<< 3) The Abit KT7A-R has no AMR slot. >>



Is that an advantage at all?? i will rather use the AMR slot and get a slight hit in CPU perfomance than using the software based RAID controller with already CPU power consuming IDE disks...



<< 4) The Abit KT7A-R has no el cheapo built-in audio solution. >>



Why is that a disadvantage? if i do not need the el cheapo, i will simply disable it, if i can do with that sound, then i save the money for a sound card... right?





<< 5) The Abit KT7A-R has an ISA slot. >>



Sure, it does, so what will you be using it for, the same el-cheapo sound that comes with the other brands??





<< 6) The Abit KT7A-R has a second USB controller hub >>



This IS an advantage, but is that a big one... NO...




<< 7) The Abit KT7A-R is fully jumperless. >>



Well, i am a man from the old days, and i like jumpers sometimes, like the times when you need them...

The MSI board is more stable, that is the key, and there is NO question about it...

Stability is king, if you lack it, it really doesn't matter how fast your board is, now does it?

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

An old post discussing advertising on Anandtech, and the validity of Anand's reviews. Here's what Anand had to say:



<< Now we get to the issue of advertising. We've all got to make money somehow, so here's where we've got Anand, right? Wrong. I used to sell ads for AnandTech through about the end of 1998, and I quickly realized that I really hated selling ads. I wasn't here to do that, and I never really enjoyed it. I hated following up deadbeat advertisers, I hated negotiating with these guys, I hated everything about it. Ever hear of the separation of Church and State? Well, that's how advertising on AnandTech works. AnandTech, Inc. handles editorial content, and nothing more. Instead, I have a small sales force in California (with some reps in Taiwan) and they handle all of the ads. I don't know when a banner is going up until it actually appears on the site or until someone let's me know that the company has just signed on. I don't take advertising requests, I forward them all to my sales staff. And any editorial requests they receive are forwarded back to me. Don't get me wrong, often times manufacturers attempt to pull advertising based on things I have written, but those threats never make it to this side of the coast. I make it *very* clear that the only thing I deal with is editorial content and my sales staff makes it *very* clear that they hold no influence over what I write. Sure, I lose advertisers this way but I'm not here to please advertisers, I'm here because you all have placed your trust in me and your hard earned money in that trust as well. Would you turn down a $30,000 ad contract because it jeopardized that very philosophy? I would, and I have on many occaisions and I will continue to do so. Don't believe me? Disguise yourself as an advertiser and just see how far you'll get with a request to control editorial. >>

 

[NFS4]

<< << 1) The Abit KT7A-R's HighPoint controllers supports RAID 0 + 1 >>



And you state that having a HiPoint controller is a good thing for this board... give me a break, if any controller has ever shown problems with HDD's it is this one... >>


Not everyone has a problem with this controller. There are many people on this board that are using the highpoint controller on KT7/KT7A-RAID's with no problems


<< << 2) The Abit KT7A-R has a fan on the north bridge. >>



Yeah... but is that necessary?? NO, it is not... >>


Better safe than sorry. Every other manufacturer is using it, so either MSI is trying to penny pinch or they know something we don't. Here's an email I got from one of the guys at OCWorkbench when I made my Web News posting about the IWill KK266 hitting 165MHz:

It's because Iwill KK266 use the beta version of KT133A
chipset for their first batch of mass production .

If you remove the heatsink and compare it to other company's
board , you will find out that only Iwill use this version .
Ps : the version Iwill use does not contain a metal top on
the KT133A . All other KT133A board such as Asus A7V133 ,
Epox 8KTA3 and Abit KT7A all use the mass production batch
of chipset .

See the shot at OCworkbench ...
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/iwill/kk266r/kk266rp4.htm
Look at it's north bridge and you will see it's different from
other company's mass production chipset ...

Howvere , this version is still under pilot run stage , and
it does not get a bug-free stamp now .
And also it's not in large volume of mass production stage .

That's why other company does not use this version to mass
production their board right now .

If reader read the review and buy a new Iwill KK266R ,
his KK266R may not be able to get the FSB as what we see in
the first batch of KK266R when his KK266R does not use that
version.


This was not a production model, and could very well use a different stepping of the chip. You never know, the production model could come with a fan on the chipset.


<< << 3) The Abit KT7A-R has no AMR slot. >>



Is that an advantage at all?? i will rather use the AMR slot and get a slight hit in CPU perfomance than using the software based RAID controller with already CPU power consuming IDE disks... >>


Try finding an AMR card, or better yet try finding someone here that uses an AMR card


<< << 4) The Abit KT7A-R has no el cheapo built-in audio solution. >>



Why is that a disadvantage? if i do not need the el cheapo, i will simply disable it, if i can do with that sound, then i save the money for a sound card... right? >>


Don't need it, don't want it. Saves $$$ and most people don't bother with the onboard sound. If someone is buying a high end board like a KT133A, they will NOT be using onboard audio...I'm 99.5% sure of that.


<< << 5) The Abit KT7A-R has an ISA slot. >>



Sure, it does, so what will you be using it for, the same el-cheapo sound that comes with the other brands?? >>


People still use hardware-based ISA 56k modems. Did you think of that? Most PCI 56k modems are Winmodems.


<< << 6) The Abit KT7A-R has a second USB controller hub >>



This IS an advantage, but is that a big one... NO... >>


I have 8 USB devices (and counting)...that is a BIG advantage.


<< << 7) The Abit KT7A-R is fully jumperless. >>



Well, i am a man from the old days, and i like jumpers sometimes, like the times when you need them... >>


You must be the only one. Most people would choose jumperless over jumpers anyday. I'd rather change the option in BIOS than have to shut down my computer, open my case, and move dipswitches. There's NO excuse for this.

 

[ElFenix]

not to mention the fact that the highpoint controller, when it does run properly, is slower than the promise controller.

 

[Insane3D]

I have to agree with NFS4 here. I have used the Highpoint 370 in RAID and non-RAID setups in a few Abit boards, and I have never had any problems with my 75GXP's. There were a ton of problems with the Highpoint 366 chips, but I know of quite a few people here who have no problems with the 370's. I have used both the Promise card and 370, and they both perform nearly identical in my experience.

 

[JoPalm]

Thx yucky! ..hehe &quot;yucky&quot;

 

[xodarap]

Poll

well your started lets make it offical

 

[Pyro]

1) Do you need a northbridge fan for regular OCing? No, its stable enough. Can you add a fan if you want? Sure you can, and you can probably get a better one that the default Abit or Epox one.

2) If someone's planning to use an 'el oldo' ISA card, they shouldnt be complaining about 'el cheapo' sound /modem solutions. If you're a business user and just want to hook up two speakers without getting an extra card, you're outta luck with Abit. Just an example. Similarly the AMR slot does not get in the way or anything. Why complain then?

3) For most people one USB header is enough and the Turbo has a second one. If you have as many USB devices, you could simply invest in a USB hub.

4) ONE JUMPER! OH MY GOD! You are SO nitpicking this poor board. This jumper needs to be set only ONCE. It will take you 2-3 SECONDS and you are complaining? Oh come on!

 

[NFS4]

<< If someone's planning to use an 'el oldo' ISA card, they shouldnt be complaining about 'el cheapo' sound /modem solutions. >>


You can't compare onboard audio to using an ISA hardware modem. Doesn't even compare. Name me how many hardware PCI modems are out there...


<< If you're a business user and just want to hook up two speakers without getting an extra card, you're outta luck with Abit. >>


How many buisness users do you know of that are running KT133A boards, or AMD processros to start with? Most of them are running PIII's and Celerons on integrated i810 mobos

 

[j@cko]

holy christ, PCResources you don't know whwat you're talking about, don't you?
There are many NFS4 said are so true, visa versa you were so wrong about many thins about KT7A.... and you said you have tested many computer hardware before, I think you're so FULL of it...

 

[LXi]

Let's see here, there are several attacks on this board, mainly made by Abit zealots....

1. Northbridge absolutely has to have active cooling.

Like many have said there is no need for it. It is proven by the OC test that both MSI and Abit maxed out at 147MHz, I highly doubt using another RAM stick will change this. Plus, aren't some of us today persue to accomplish a &quot;Quiet PC&quot;? Personally I'd like to have a quiet and power efficient PC over a loud and power consuming one, but its all just a matter of perference whether that fan is important to you or not. I doubt MSI is being stingy by not putting on active cooling, they've always used higher quality components than Abit, how come nobody is calling Abit stingy for that?

2. Abit is fully jumperless, MSI is not.

This argument makes the MSI sound like a complete jumper solution, which is not true. All you have to do is change the jumper once to get to 133MHz. This has been the biggest argument against the MSI 815E Pro provided by the Asus CUSL2 zealots. Once you got to 133Mhz and above, do you have to open your case every time? Absolutely not.

3. Abit has ISA slot, MSI does not.

Unless you have an ISA modem you still need to use, there is no reason MSI should be accused of not providing an ISA. Oh yea how come nobody is blaming Asus and others for not including ISA? Is it because MSI presents as a bigger threat to Abit? As for the CNR slot, we all can just ignore it, because in terms of PCI expandability, they're equal.

4. Onboard audio sucks

Whehter you like it or not, its better to have it than not. This is clearly not a disadvantage.

5. Abit has two USB hubs

It is an advantage, but Abit zealots seem to value such marginal advantage much more than it deserves.

6. Abit has more fan headers

Again, this is an advantage depending on your preference. Its not bad to have more, but it doesnt hurt if you're not going to use them.

7. MSI should've gotten an 8, not an 8.5

No they should not have gotten an 8, they should've gotten a 9 instead. Its much better than Epox in many areas, and its as good or better than the Abit.



Enough of arguments, Abit zealots seem to ignore the obvious advantages provided by MSI...


MSI is more stable, but so what? Abit is stable enough for me.

Rebooting several times a day sounds fun to you? I understand some of you have had no problems with Abit, but MSI is simply superior in this department and there is no excuse for ignoring it.

HighPoint controllers are not bad.

Given their track record and user feedback, I simply cannot agree. Many have already voiced out their unpleasant experience with HighPoint in this thread, Promise is much better regardless.

4 phase power

Not many of you noticed this, but the MSI has eight MOSFETs compare to Abit's six, effectively making it a 4 phase power solution.

Price

This is a point many of you have forgotten, the KT7A-RAID goes for $155, the MSI K7T Turbo is expected to be around $145, given the fact that MSI has always been cheaper than Abit and Asus, I have no doubt the Turbo will come out to be the cheapest of the three.

Quality, reliability

Patrick and I have stated this millions of times, MSI is higher quality than Abit, and their RMA rates are a lot lower.

 

[LXi]

jackc20_00:

We're talking about a man that has 15 years of experience in the industry, whether you like it or not his experience is very valuable.

 

[Insane3D]

&quot;Not many of you noticed this, but the MSI has eight MOSFETs compare to Abit's six, effectively making it a 4 phase power solution&quot;

LXi, sorry, I don't think they do have a &quot;4 phase&quot; solution. The MSI does have 8 MOSFETS vs. the 6 on most other KT133A boards, but there is only two coils. I believe each &quot;phase&quot; of a MOSFET power solution needs it's own coil...I could be wrong. I am not sure why they say the northbridge tops out out at 147mhz, my KT7A-RAID runs up to 156mhz, but it's only stable up to 150mhz...

One other thing, I think both boards are nice KT133A boards, but just because I prefer the Abit from my good experience with them does not make me an &quot;Abit zealot&quot;. I know you didn't specifically say who was, but I just wanted to make it clear I am not. Each board has it's place...

 

[LXi]

You're right about both of them being good boards, I have to agree.

My definition of zealot,

1. A brand perference over all the other. Of course, to a rather great extent.
2. Almost always consider this particular brand first.
3. Almost always defend this brand.
4. Most of the time ignore its disadvantages.

I am an MSI zealot, nobody will deny that, not myself, nobody.

 

[Insane3D]

LOL LXi..

 

[LXi]

Its sometimes a pleasure to reveal your zealotry rather &quot;trying&quot; to hide it.

 

[Modus]

Good work LXi. Stick it to the nitpickers

It all comes back to what Patrick said: &quot;Stability is king.&quot; And to that end, there is no motherboard in the history of the universe capable of running a 1.2 GHz CPU with the kind of stability displayed by the Microstar K7T Turbo.

End of discussion.

Modus

 

[Modus]

Oh and just in case you guys think the lack of a northbridge fan is an issue, check this out: VIA Hardware's review of the Iwill KK266 (which does NOT feature a fan).

It's stable at 166 MHz

Modus

 

[LXi]

Yep, I just read that over at VIAHardware, its becoming very clear now that the northbridge active cooling is not an issue.

 

[NFS4]

Did you guys read the post I made earlier up there about the IWill board? Here it is again in case you &quot;overlooked&quot; it. This is from the guys at OCWorkbench:

It's because Iwill KK266 use the beta version of KT133A
chipset for their first batch of mass production .

If you remove the heatsink and compare it to other company's
board , you will find out that only Iwill use this version .
Ps : the version Iwill use does not contain a metal top on
the KT133A . All other KT133A board such as Asus A7V133 ,
Epox 8KTA3 and Abit KT7A all use the mass production batch
of chipset .

See the shot at OCworkbench ...
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/iwill/kk266r/kk266rp4.htm
Look at it's north bridge and you will see it's different from
other company's mass production chipset ...

Howvere , this version is still under pilot run stage , and
it does not get a bug-free stamp now .
And also it's not in large volume of mass production stage .

That's why other company does not use this version to mass
production their board right now .

If reader read the review and buy a new Iwill KK266R ,
his KK266R may not be able to get the FSB as what we see in
the first batch of KK266R when his KK266R does not use that
version.