ABIT KT7A-RAID Socket-A KT133A ATX

Notice that the North Bridge is rotated by 45 degrees, just like it was on the KT7-RAID.  So far we have only seen this design in two series of motherboards, the ABIT KT7 and the MSI K7T.  Their claim is that this results in shorter traces, resulting in better performance and also cleaner signals, thus better stability. 

Like the KT7-RAID, the power supply connector is placed on the right edge of the motherboard.  This is probably the best place since the power cables won’t necessarily have to run over the CPU, memory, or the North Bridge anymore, which would otherwise restrict airflow over those hot components in your case.

The only major complaint with the board layout is that the CPU socket is placed very close to the right edge of the motherboard.  This can make changing the CPU an exceptionally tough job if the board is already installed in your case.  With the amount of pressure required to mount Socket-A heatsinks using a screwdriver to actually get the unit to lock isn’t too uncommon. With the CPU socket in the current position, trying to fit a screwdriver or any other tool to give you more leverage when mounting a heatsink between the HSF and the power supply in your case will be quite difficult.  This can be avoided by installing your HSF before mounting the motherboard in your case but it will be a problem if you ever decide to replace your HSF or CPU later on.

Some of the capacitors also sit very close to the CPU socket and we have seen quite a few cases where this affects the installation of some larger HSF units.  Therefore, users have to be careful in choosing the right kind of HSF so that they don’t interfere with the capacitors during the install. 

All the IDE and floppy connectors are placed in front of the DIMM slots, so they will not block the placement of any expansion cards.  For a board that is 12 by 9 inches, ABIT really did a good job in the layout of the board, but we already knew that as we complimented them on it when we reviewed the original KT7-RAID.