Chaintech is a motherboard manufacturer not known by many.  This, however, does not mean their motherboard solutions are not up to par with some of the bigger companies like ABIT, ASUS, and Microstar.  They are growing and constantly delivering quality motherboards such as the CT-6BTM and the CT-6AIA.  The company’s main focus has been on quality and stability, items that are demonstrated in most of their products.

We have yet to see a reason for motherboard manufacturers to stay away from making motherboards for use with AMD processors.  Even Iwill, a company that has historically stayed with Intel, released the KV200 and the KV200-R for AMD Socket-A CPUs.  Since the AMD processor market is growing so rapidly, motherboard manufacturers are fiercely competing against each other for this piece of the market.

There are a lot of ways for manufacturers to attract buyers.   Some make motherboards with the best performance.  Some put in more advanced options for high-end users.  Some make well-rounded motherboards for OEMs.  It is definitely a good idea to include all of the above on one board, but that is virtually impossible, either economically or technically.

Chaintech has a couple of motherboards equipped with the VIA KT133 chipset, and one of those is the CT-7AIV2.  If we were to categorize this motherboard, it will fall into the OEM market.  How does this micro-ATX motherboard compare to other KT133 motherboards?  Let’s find out.

The Good

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The Chaintech CT-7AIV2 measures 9.5 by 8.5 inches, which is reasonable for a micro-ATX board.  The nice thing about micro-ATX boards is that they use smaller PCBs, resulting in lower manufacturing costs.  This is important for OEMs since they always want to reduce their costs so that they can price their systems lower.

One big disadvantage of the micro-ATX format, unfortunately, is the overcrowded environment.  As you can see, at least for the Chaintech CT-7AIV2, the 462-pin Socket-A sits right at the edge of the motherboard, which means it will be directly under the power supply when seated inside the case.  Next to the socket is the VIA 8363 North Bridge (under the silver heat sink), and right next to the North Bridge is the NVidia TNT2 M64 chip (under the black heat sink).  These three components generate considerably amount of heat. With the SDRAM sitting right in front of these chips, a large amount of heat is trapped here, a situation that will only get worse when overclocking.  In our test lab, after running the system for 24 hours, we could hardly touch the video card heat sink or the bottom of the board with our bare hands.

The power supply connector is next to the serial / parallel ports and a bit left of the socket.  This means that you will have to run your ATX power cable over the memory and the CPU, potentially cluttering the case with cables.  So far from what we have seen, the best place to place the power supply connector is the right edge of the PCB, where it will be directly under the power supply inside the case, so the cables do not have to run over the CPU and memory.  However, putting the connector on the right edge can be really hard in the case of micro-ATX where space is a big concern.

The VIA 8363 North Bridge is the core of the KT133 chipset, providing the major features of the KT133, including the 133 MHz memory bus and AGP 4X support.  In the case of the CT-7AIV2, the on-board TNT2 M64 takes advantage of that AGP 4X interface, so there is no AGP slot.

Similar to other KT133 motherboards, the 8363 memory controller in the CT-7AIV2 is nice enough to let you run your memory at either 133MHz or 100MHz.  Therefore, users with PC133 SDRAM can take advantage of the increased bandwidth over PC100 SDRAM, going from 800MB/s to 1.06GB/s.  This can be done easily in the BIOS by setting the memory bus to +33MHz.  There is also a CAS latency setting in BIOS, so users can push their memory to the limit.

The memory controller supports both PC133 and VC133 SDRAM.  However, there are only two DIMM slots on the board so users can install a maximum of 1GB memory.  From what we see there is actually space to put in a third DIMM slot in, an addition that would increase the maximum memory potential of the CT-7AIV2 1.5GB.  We are not sure why Chaintech does not include the third DIMM slot, but it might to reduce cost.  1GB memory is a lot even for advanced users, but two DIMM slots do limit the flexibility and expandability.

One thing that OEMs look for in a motherboard is stability.  Experienced users who like to build their own systems will not go for micro-ATX because of its lack of expandability.  However, for inexperienced users who just want to buy stable systems, it is the OEMs’ responsibilities to supply these computers with stable motherboards.  In order to make sure that the CT-7AIV2 is stable, Chaintech puts twelve high quality 2200uF capacitors around the 462-pin Socket-A to guarantee sufficient power for the CPU and clean signals going in and out of the CPU.  This is probably the reason why the board is still rock solid even with with the extreme amount of heat generated around the CPU area. 

Lack of expandability is the biggest disadvantage of micro-ATX boards.  For VIA KT133 chipset, there can be a maximum of one AGP slot, five PCI slots, and one ISA/PCI slot.  However, due to the size constraints of the motherboard, the CT-7AIV2 only has 4 PCI slots.  Chaintech even chose to give up the AGP slot to allow an extra PCI slot.  In order to make the absence of the AGP slot possible, Chaintech chose to integrate NVidia's TNT2 M64 on-board AGP video.  Unfortunately, this can be bad news for users who care about 3D performance.  As shown in our tests, the 3D performance of this video chip is not up to par with some high-end graphic cards like the NVidia GeForce GTS we generally use for testing.  Chaintech knows the lack of an AGP slot can be a serious performance problem, so they also make the CT-7AIA.  It has almost the same features as the CT-7AIV2 has, with the exception of no on-board video but the addition of an AGP slot.  Even though this board is available, some OEMs will choose the CT-7AIV2 with on-board video even though it has poor 3D performance, since they can produce even cheaper systems for users who seldom run 3D applications.

Since the CT-7AIV2 has on-board video, one of the COM ports is replaced by the VGA connector, which means that you will run into trouble if you have more than one device requiring a serial port.

As usual, the VIA 686A South Bridge provides two ATA-33/66 channels to support a total of 4 IDE devices.  The IDE channel connectors are placed on the front edge of the motherboard, so the drives cables will not have to run over any other components which may block airflow.

Moreover, the VIA 686A South Bridge also supports up to 4 USB devices.  Beside the two traditional USB ports mounted at the back of the motherboard together with the serial / parallel ports, there is also a connector for USB 3 and 4 on the left edge of the board.  However, Chaintech does not include any USB headers to take advantage of the extra two USB connectors.

The Chaintech CT-7AIV2 uses the Award Modular BIOS 6.00PG, which supports Jumperless CPU setups.  The FSB settings can be found under Frequency / Voltage Control in the BIOS.  FSB settings include 100 / 102 / 103 / 107 / 110 / 113 / 117 / 120.  From our experience, AMD’s chips running on VIA chipset cannot be stable at any FSB higher than 110MHz, so settings over 110MHz are not that useful.  We would prefer more FSB settings between 100MHz and 110MHz so that users can squeeze the last bit of power out of their CPU.

The PC Health Status can also be found in the BIOS.  From here users can get information on the CPU temperature, system temperature, and also the speed of up to two fans.  It also reports the voltage of the CPU, but it provides no information on the AGP voltage.

One thing to notice is that there are 2 sets of dipswitches on the front side of the motherboard.  In the motherboard manual, it states that these dipswitches are set to factory defaults already, and they are only for future support.  We have no idea if they are actually for changing the multiplier settings for AMD processors, but with a total of 12 switches, Chaintech must be having something in mind.

In order to make their board ready for OEMs, Chaintech drops the usual AC97 CODEC and uses the C-media CMI-8738 3D 4.1 Hardware Sound chip for the onboard sound, which has a much better sound quality.  It provides 2 wave channels (front/rear + subwoofer), known as the 4.1 speaker system.  The CMI-8738 uses a technology from CRL 3D Audio, the 32-voice HRTF-base 3D positional audio part, which helps position sound sources when using 4.1 speakers systems.  This technology supports Microsoft Direct Sound 3D and Aureal’s A3D interfaces, so games and applications software that utilize these interfaces will be able to take advantage of the HRTF 3D positional audio.  For example when executing the “Helicopter” demo within the CRD HRTF Positional Audio Demos together with a 4.1 speaker system, the rear speakers will work to generate 3D sound effects when the helicopter is behind you,.

The onboard sound should be enough for users who need some decent 3D sound.  However, for users who want only the best 3D sound quality, they will prefer to search for some other PCI sound cards.  But again, this board mainly targets the OEM market, where users are generally not that picky.

In our sample we did not find any manual.  However, it is included in the CD, containing detailed information on all the jumpers and connectors on the motherboard.  The manual does not have information on how to install the motherboard, drivers, and applications, instructions which are essential for first time users.  Included in the CD you can also find all the drivers and software you need for the motherboard as well as the on-board sound and video.  Chaintech also includes what they call the AIRBAG (AntiVirus, Instant Recovery & Busmaster Application Group) package, which includes the Norton AntiVirus, Norton Ghost, PC-cillin 98, and the Xstore Pro.

The Bad

We should not really list the micro-ATX form format as a disadvantage here since Chaintech targets this board for the OEM market where it is important to lower the board cost by using micro-ATX.  After all, they have the ATX version of the KT133 motherboard, the CT-7AJA, for all advanced users.

The placement of the power supply connector might block the airflow and could have been placed on the right edge of the board.  But again, space is the main challenge when working with the micro-ATX form format.

There are two sets of dipswitches on the motherboard.  We are not sure what they are for, but if they are there for changing the multiplier of the CPU, something essential for more reliable overclocking, it would be a huge feature of the motherboard.  Unfortunately we have yet to hear from Chaintech about the use of these dipswitches.

Chaintech does not include the necessary cables to take advantage of the 2 extra USB connectors onboard, a feature that would definitely be nice to have.  Also it would be better if Chaintech put the extra USB connectors on the front instead of the left edge of the board to prevent cable clutter.

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

Recommended SDRAM

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

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

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

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

The Test

Choosing a motherboard can no longer be determined by a Winstone score. Many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other no longer exists. Therefore you should not 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.

Micro-ATX motherboards have the disadvantage of less expandability.  However it does not mean that they cannot be good motherboards.  The Chaintech CT-7AIV2 is a good example of this.  It targets the OEM market by using the micro-ATX format, 2 DIMMs, on-board sound and video.  Yet the motherboard is extremely stable and has good performance, as long as 3D applications are not concerned.  This is excellent news for OEM builders because they need cheap solutions that provide acceptable performance and great stability.  Advanced users should search elsewhere for motherboards with fewer constraints and more expandability.  But for users who are not picky about components, they should find out which OEM builders are using the Chaintech CT-7AIV2 and buy from them.

How it Rates