The Good

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The GA-7ZX is the followup to Gigabyte's first Socket-A motherboard, the GA-7ZM. Following the same pattern of their KX133 releases, the GA-7ZX features a PCB that's virtually identical to its little brother, the GA-7ZM, but of course it's a full ATX board instead of microATX. That means there is room for a few added features, primarily in the expansion department. This time around, we get a 5/1/1/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP/AMR) expansion slot configuration that should satisfy just about everyone, while hardware-based Creative Labs PCI sound is now optional. Interestingly, it is the ISA and AMR slot that is shared on the GA-7ZX.

ISA slots are becoming increasingly scarce these days, but they're not gone just yet. We know a lot of people still have various ISA peripherals that serve their purpose just fine. Thanks to the PCI-ISA bridge integrated in the VIA 686A Super South Bridge, it costs Gigabyte little more than the cost of the physical connector to implement that ISA slot.

Like just about every other motherboard on the market today, the AGP slot is a "universal AGP slot," which means it isn't keyed specifically for AGP 2X or AGP 4X cards, allowing the user to install virtually any currently available AGP card in the slot, whether it is an AGP 1X/2X or 4X card. Gigabyte adds a nice little feature to the AGP slot - an AGP retention mechanism. Apparently some OEM's were having trouble with AGP cards coming loose during shipping, so the retention mechanism serves to make sure this doesn't happen.

Located between the Socket-A connector and the AGP slot is the KT133's North Bridge, which is covered by Gigabyte's classic orange heatsink. The 8373 North Bridge is nearly identical to the 8371 of the KX133 with a few timing changes to support AMD's Socket-A CPU's. That North Bridge provides all the features of the KT133, most importantly 133MHz memory bus and AGP 4X support. The beauty of the 8373's memory controller is that it can run your memory at either 133MHz or 100MHz using a multiplier of the FSB frequency. So those users with PC133 SDRAM can take advantage of the increased bandwidth (1.06GB/s vs. 800MB/s) over PC100 SDRAM, while allowing backwards compatibility with older PC100 SDRAM. Support for VC100/VC133 memory is still included, but availability is still weak and prices high.

The GA-7ZX, as is the case with most Athlon motherboards, features 3 DIMM slots capable of accepting PC100/PC133 or VC100/VC133 SDRAM running at either a 3:3 (1:1) ratio with the FSB (by default, 100MHz) or a 4:3 ratio with the FSB (133MHz by default). This is the recommended maximum for PC133 support according to VIA.

The VIA 686A Super South Bridge helps reduce costs by integrating a number of features into a single chip. The VIA 686A actually adds a number of features, including support for 4 USB ports, integrated hardware monitoring, and an AMR interface. Two of those USB ports are available via the standard ATX I/O panel, while the other two are only available with an optional cable that can run to the front or back of your case. The Sigmatel STAC9708T AC 97 CODEC provides host-based audio support, but anyone that cares about their PC's sound will want to look into the optional on board hardware-based PCI sound solution that Gigabyte offers.

That solution comes in the form of the Creative Labs CT5880 chip mounted just behind the PCI slots. We've seen this chip on a number of motherboards and it provides good basic sound acceleration that is far better than the AC'97 software CODEC that has become virtually standard on any new motherboard. Drivers are available for the CT5880 under Windows 9x, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Linux and even BeOS. Gamers looking for a full 3D positional sound solution should look elsewhere, however.

Unlike just about every other manufacturer out there, Gigabyte still uses a DIP switch based CPU setup. Four dip switches control the FSB speed, which can be set to 95 / 100 / 105 / 110 / 113 / 115 / 117 / 133. Unfortunately, FSB speeds above 110 MHz have had little success on the EV6 bus. Although some KT133 boards that are on the way may allow unlocking the Athlon/Duron multiplier, but the GA-7ZM is not one of those boards.

In order to supply a stable signal to your shiny new Athlon or Duron CPU, Gigabyte outfitted the GA-7ZM with thirteen 1200uF capacitors next to the Socket-A connector. The stability of the GA-7ZX was comparable to the KX133-based GA-7VX, which was above average for a KX133 board, but not quite at the top of the pack.

Although the BIOS is technically the AMI Simple Setup 1.21, it looks exactly like the Award 4.51PG setup that we've come to know and love. Most of the tweaking options of the Award BIOS are still there, including control of the AGP transfer mode and the status of AGP fast writes, just like other VIA KT133/KX133 based boards. Readouts from the 686A hardware monitoring are available in the BIOS. Since all current AMD CPU's lack an on-die thermal diode, CPU temperature is read by a thermistor located in the center of the Socket-A connector.

Those of you that have experienced a failed BIOS flash attempt that has killed your motherboard or video card will appreciate Gigabyte's DualBIOS, which means there is actually a second BIOS chip on the motherboard with a backup copy of the BIOS. If there is corruption in the main BIOS for any reason, the backup BIOS takes over to allow the system to boot. With viruses beginning to attack the BIOS and the possibility of failed flashes, DualBIOS is a good safe guard measure that you'll see more and more manufacturers implement on their boards.

The typical Gigabyte manual ships with the GA-7ZX, which means that it lacks details on installing a motherboard, but is otherwise pretty good for the experienced user, and includes information on all connector pin outs as well as the various BIOS settings.

The Bad

We've yet to see any KT133 boards available with the ability to unlock the multiplier of AMD's Socket-A CPU's, but if such a feature does come to market, it will be sorely missed on the GA-7ZX by all overclockers. So far, the possibility of unlocking the Thunderbird and Duron is looking gloomy, but we're still holding out hope that someone will figure it out.

Also along the lines of overclocking, we'd like to see a jumperless CPU setup from Gigabyte with more bus speeds and the ability to tweak the CPU's core voltage. These features have proven to be quite useful for overclockers everywhere.

The second biggest complaint with the GA-7ZM, which is relatively minor overall, is the fact that Gigabyte continues to not include the header required to take advantage of the second set of USB ports.

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Corsair
Purchase Website: http://www.corsairmicro.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com

The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.

Final Words

Simply by having one of the first available KT133 boards, Gigabyte is bound to have a winner on their hands, and fortunately for all those early adopters, the GA-7ZX is an above average product. However, we still recommend waiting for the first wave of boards to be released and making your decision then, especially since the whole issue of unlocking the Socket-A CPU's multiplier is still up in the air.

How it Rates