SUMMARY: When nVidia first came out with the news that they would be entering the AMD chipset market, the world waited with baited breath. The idea of a solid player in the performance arena plus decent graphics built onto the mainboard itself was an eagerly anticipated event. But then the board came out and it was a near disaster. But that hasn't stopped nVidia from plowing on and coming up with something better. Join Asher "Acid" Moses as he takes a look at the Abit NV7-133R Motherboard. It uses the new nVidia nForce 415 chipset to come up with a new player in the motherboard market. Can they do a better job this time around? Let's see for ourselves.
The NV7-133R comes in the same red, black and white box that was first introduced with Abit's KR7A-RAID motherboard. It features a very creative design and is sure to stand out from the competition on store shelves. Inside the box was a detailed User's Manual, a driver CD, IDE and Floppy cables, a USB header that enables the extra two USB ports, and a sound backpanel that enables the rest of the ports for the onboard 6-channel sound.
As far as a software bundle is concerned, the NV7-133R does not come with the largest assortment of free software we have seen from a motherboard manufacturer in the past. The driver CD includes; Adobe Acrobat Reader, Norton AntiVirus 2002 and a copy of Hardware Monitor to measure your system temperatures, etc. Keep in mind that most people buying this board would most likely already own most of the software that could have been included with the board, and besides, I'm sure most of you would rather a cheaper board than extra software anwyay.
