| ASUS A7M266 (AMD761 North Bridge VIA 686B South Bridge) |
| DDR lives!!!
(Review by MS)
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top page |
specs |
features, quality |
layout, hazardous voltages |
BIOS |
setup, stability, overclocking and voltage effects |
performance |
gaming |
conclusion
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Conclusion
The A7M266 is one of the best boards I have ever come across, if not the best. Using the original AMD761 North Bridge, ASUS has solved the noise problem by using higher quality components and it does show. It does show in the finish of the board which is unparalleled, it does show in the choice of components, from the tank-like DIMM slots to the massive heatsink on the chipset to the choice of ultra low ESR capacitors made by Nichicon and it does finally show in the performance.
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Looking at the A7M266 it is hardly conceivable how this board could meet the approval of the people with the red pens. But then, quality simply has its price and the extra money spent pays off in terms of stability, overclocking and speed. As of the moment, I have yet to see any real world benchmarks achieved on any other system that would match those achieved here on this test setup.
After all this laudatio, it is still time to sit back and scrutinize the negative points since they make setting up the A7M266 a bit trickier than most can handle.
- Lack of functional memory timing settings: Sure, it would be nice to have more options to play and tweak the BIOS but the current solution is not only acceptable but also needs to be considered the safest solution at the beginning of a new platform. It would be nice though, if at least the CAS latency could be changed to accommodate reduced output hold time (tOH) that can occur frequently, especially in single DIMM configurations.
- Excessive VI/O1 voltage: This is a more serious issue, however, everyone who has read the above will be aware of it and know the workaround. In addition, this info will be forwarded to ASUS-USA and whoever is interested. Bottom line here is that DDR is not SDRAM. Even though it is an evolutionary process in memory technology, there are fundamentally different aspects to it, from the internal voltage regulation to clock forwarding and, most importantly, sensitivity to even the slightest deviations of the standard timings caused by excess voltage converted into heat.
All in all, there are a few points but the points are justifiable or else easily correctable, even if they are not mentioned in the manual, one just needs to look. Other websites give awards, we don't but if we did, the A7M266 would deserve a 12 out of 10.
The END
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