VIA Apollo Pro 133A Motherboard Roundup - July 2000

Microstar 694D Pro

Microstar 694D Pro Specifications
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CPU Interface	Dual Socket-370
Chipset	VIA Apollo 133A VIA 694X North Bridge VIA 686A South Bridge
L2 Cache	N/A (on-chip)
Form Factor	ATX
Bus Speeds	66 / 75 / 79 / 83 / 90 / 95 100 / 110 / 115 / 120 / 129 / 133 147 / 152 / 154 / 157 / 159 / 162 166 / 171 / 180 / 190 / 200
Voltages Supported	Auto Detect Increase by 0.05, 0.1 - 0.4 V (in 0.1V steps) Decrease by 0.05 - 0.1V
Memory Slots	4 168-pin DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 CNR Slot (Shared) 1 AGP Slot 5 PCI Slots (2 Full Length / 1 Shared) 0 ISA Slots
Onboard Audio	Winbond W83971D AC'97 CODEC
BIOS	AWARD BIOS 6.00PG

Microstar's 694D Pro is by far the most unique board in this roundup. Not only is it the only dual processor VIA 133A board in this roundup, but it's also the only one with integrated Ultra ATA/100 support, integrated Firewire (IEEE-1394), and a CNR slot. It's also one of just a few with 4 DIMM slots or LED diagnostics.

The 5/1/1/0 (PCI/CNR/AGP/ISA) expansion slot configuration is pretty good, but not great. That is, until you consider that there are already the 6th and 7th PCI devices on the motherboard - the optional Texas Instruments Firewire and Promise Ultra ATA/100 controllers. The Ultra ATA/100 controller was originally thought to be a RAID controller, but apparently the shipping versions are not.

To ensure that all busmastering PCI devices will function with this setup, MSI has implemented a PCI arbiter chip, which they've actually been using since their BX Master. Four DIMM slots allow up to 2GB of PC100/PC133/VC100/VC133 memory to be installed.

The choice of a CNR slot with the VIA 133A chipset is an interesting one by Microstar and one that we'll be seeing on all their upcoming boards, regardless of chipset. While the VIA 686A Super South Bridge does support AC'97 Audio and MC'97 Modem CODEC's, there is no support for an integrated ethernet interface, which is of course the main reason to include a CNR slot. We're not sure exactly what MSI has planned here, but we're looking into it.

Overclockers will be happy to know that AGP ratios can be overridden using jumpers, while the BIOS allows CPU core voltage adjustments. The trend towards boards with ridiculous FSB settings continues with the 694D Pro, which ranges all the way up to 200 MHz. Fortunately, there are plenty of settings between 133 and 157 MHz, which is pretty much the useable range for the VIA 133A chipset.

Clearly, the 694D Pro is in a different league than the other boards we've looked at in this roundup. Of course, it's also targeted at a very different audience, the entry level workstation market. With that in mind, it's no surprise that the 694D Pro was rock solid in our testing.