MSI K7T266-Pro2 RU Motherboard Review
MSI have made a name for
themselves by producing inexpensive and highly reliable motherboards that
continually manage to perform well. Their latest entry is the new
K7TPro266-RU, with on board IDE RAID and USB 2.0. The K7T266Pro2 is based on
the new VIA KT266A chipset which meant that I was actually quite excited to
see what this bright red motherboard could do!
Would it totally sweep me off my feet and
carry me into a glorious world of high overclockability where DDR is the only
way to go?
| MSI K7T266 Pro2 Motherboard |
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Ships with the following:
- IDE ATA66 CABLE
- IDE ATA100 Cable
- FDD CABLE
- USB2 bracket
- USB PC to PC bracket/cable
- Driver CD-ROM
- Instructions, Raid O booklet
- D-Led instructions
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When VIA first
announced their DDR chipset the KT266, the whole hardware community was gearing
up for quite an intense battle among the chipset makers. However after months of
delay, VIA essentially allowed its competition to gain a foothold in the
marketplace first.
When the KT266
chipset was eventually released, it was met with quite a bit of disappointment.
It was among the slowest chipsets around and it had one glaring problem -
when the bus speed exceeded 138 MHz, USB devices stopped working. With the
announcement of nVidia's nForce chipset, the mighty VIA looked like it was in
quite a bit of trouble…
Fast forwarding
about 9 months; nForce motherboards are nowhere to be seen and we now have the
KT266A chipset, a new and improved version of the older KT266.
It's essentially the same chip design as the KT266, but with a much
improved memory controller. As you are about to see, this seems to do wonders
for performance!
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The NEC chip is what gives this
particular version of the K7T266Pro2 its USB 2.0 functionality. This
is an optional feature and one we were very glad to see MSI had
included on the board. The IDE RAID connectors are placed low on the board. |
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 Okay, back to the
board... there is plenty of space around the CPU socket to install larger
heatsinks like the Swiftech MC462A and the Alpha PAL8045. MSI also had the
foresight to stick down two clear pieces of plastic beneath each of the 2
center socket clips (where you attach heatsinks). The plastic is there to
protect the motherboards trace lines from being damaged when a heatsink is
installed.
 Of course, one of
the greatest features of the K7T266Pro2 is the support for USB 2.0. Sure
there aren't many USB 2.0 devices out yet, but it's nice to know that it's there
for future use. There are a total of 6 USB 1.1 ports in case you were
wondering.
Like almost every
MSI motherboards that are coming out these days, the K7T266Pro2 comes standard
with D-Led, the on board diagnostic LED system. The indicators are located right
next to the audio and multimedia ports and as well, on the PC-to-PC USB bracket
so they can be viewed from the outside of the case.
Of course, this board isn't perfect, there are
a few things I would have liked to have seen done like removing the AMR
and dropping in an extra PCI slot. On board IDE RAID is fast becoming a de facto
standard on boards worth getting, and the K7T266Pro2 follows
suite.
However, while setting up
this board for testing I found the placement of the IDE connectors a bit
lower on the PCB than I would have liked. In situations where a tall case is used,
it might prove difficult to reach the connectors with the
cables.
Oddly, the northbridge has its passive heatsink attached
with just thermal tape/glue. This is never really the ideal situation and definitely not the
best for a chipset which does quite warm during
testing.
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