CeBIT 2000 Coverage - Athlon Motherboards

Motherboard Specifications
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CPU Interface	Slot-A
Chipset	VIA KX133 VIA 371 North Bridge VIA 686A South Bridge
L2 Cache	N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor	microATX
Bus Speeds	Unknown
Voltages Supported	Unknown
Memory Slots	3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 AMR Slot 1 AGP Pro Slot 3 PCI Slots 0 ISA Slots
AC'97	Unknown
BIOS	AWARD 6.00PG

We've actually had this board in the lab for quite some time now, but at ASUS' request we refrained from reviewing the product. Why would ASUS make such a request?

Remember the K7M? That's all that needs to be said. The situation with the K7V-RM is quite interesting, while the board is a very stable solution (look for our review soon) it may be a while before ASUS claims that they even produce the board. Remember how long it took for the K7M to make its way to ASUS' website? Let's hope that ASUS wises up this time around and realizes that they're going to have to promote this product if they want to succeed in the growing Athlon motherboard market.

ASUS seems to be very intent on outfitting all of their capable boards with AGP Pro slots as the K7V-RM is the second board we've seen from ASUS to feature this slot. This brings one worry to mind, if current power supplies are having trouble supplying enough power to Athlon systems especially with graphics cards that also require quite a bit of current, what is a 50W AGP Pro card going to do to the situation? Luckily we have yet to see any mainstream AGP Pro cards on the market, so this isn't an issue.

ASUS K7V

Motherboard Specifications
Click to Enlarge
CPU Interface	Slot-A
Chipset	VIA KX133 VIA 371 North Bridge VIA 686A South Bridge
L2 Cache	N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor	ATX
Bus Speeds	Unknown
Voltages Supported	Unknown
Memory Slots	3 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 AMR Slot 1 AGP Pro Slot 5 PCI Slots 0 ISA Slots
AC'97	Unknown
BIOS	Unknown

The K7V is the successor to the K7M (with the K7V-RM being the successor to the K7M-RM) and should perform identically to the K7V-RM.

If ASUS decides not to actively promote the K7V-RM, don't expect them to promote the K7V much either. But when these K7V boards do become available to the public expect them to be quite popular as ASUS, like AOpen, has always been known for their quality and stability.