When we hear the name ABIT, we naturally think of high quality, extremely overclockable computer solutions, and with the AMD K7 line of processors and the ABIT magic together we are bound to see some breaking technology and features.
ABit’s first dabble into the AMD K7 line was a Slot A motherboard using the VIA KX133 chipset. ABIT decided to skip the entire AMD 750 range after all the problems that surfaced with the chipset and ABIT decided to start producing K7 motherboards. Rather than build a board on a chipset that was more than unreliable, ABIT held off until VIA had finally released their first K7 chipset. Even when the chipset was released it took ABIT some time to get their Slot A solution to the market. ASUS, EPOX and many others had already had their Slot A solution in and were selling like hotcakes. The ABIT Slot A board named the KA7 and KA7-100 were among the top motherboards to hit the Slot A solutions market. The KA7-100 was the first AMD motherboard to incorporate ATA-100 IDE. ABIT used the HPT370 ATA-100 IDE controller chipset to provide support for ATA-100 IDE devices. It was later discovered that a ATA-100 BIOS update for the HPT370 chipset allowed RAID functions, this made the KA7-100 the most wanted AMD Slot A motherboard.
When AMD swapped over to the Socket A format and VIA had released the KT133 chipset, ABIT wasted no time in getting their Socket A solution out, named the KT7 and KT7 RAID (which we reviewed earlier) was one of the most awarded and celebrated motherboards for AMD Socket A. the ABIT KT7 RAID supported CPU multiplier, FSB, VIO and Vcore adjustments in BIOS through ABit’s Softmenu III overclocking. Along with this great features, the KT7 RAID supported the same HPT370 IDE controller with the BIOS update to allow native RAID functions as well as ATA-100 IDE support. The KT7 RAID was defiantly one of the best boards of the KT133 line of boards released. Now with the introduction of the KT133A chipset and 686B Southbridge, ABIT have once again jumped straight in and released their new babies, the KT7A and KT7A RAID.
