Introduction.

The move towards PC-2700 being the new PC memory standard is now well under way even though this memory standard is only barely a couple of months old. At the heat of this rapid change is the VIA KT333 chipset. As the KT333 is the new high-end Socket A solution from VIA, it made sense for the company to switch production over from the highly successful KT266A to the new KT333. Despite the name change this switch was in most respects similar to that made when the KT266A superseded the original KT266. As a result most motherboard manufacturers have had to release new boards based upon VIA’s latest chipset.

As we saw only very recently with the Epox EP-8K3A, the VIA KT333 builds upon the strengths of the KT266A and adds another (albeit small) boost to performance. This comes even when using older PC-2100 DDR SDRAM. Overall we have been impressed with our initial impressions of the KT333, and for this review had the opportunity to test the AK77-333 in parallel with the EP-8K3A.

Testing the AK77-333 alongside the EP-8K3A gave us the opportunity to compare how two leading motherboard manufacturers approached the issue of designing a board aimed at the high-end Socket A market. If anything this test makes the author think that despite recent opinion of motherboards becoming a “commodity” item, there is still plenty to separate the offerings from different manufacturers. This though does fall along the lines of features rather than performance which these days is broadly similar amongst boards using a particular chipset design.

Regular readers of Processor Emporium will be well aware that Aopen are a manufacturer who have featured heavily in motherboard reviews and have always consistently produced boards of the highest quality. Boards such as the AX4B and the AX3SP Pro have been some of the best boards which we have ever tested and we still hold up as examples of class leading performance and stability.

Interestingly we have not tested a Socket A board from Aopen since the AK73 Pro which was based on the original VIA KT133 chipset. Since then the KT266 and KT266A have come and gone so it is now time for us to look once again at an AOpen board aimed at Socket A users. We know how good AOpen’s Intel based products are, it is time that we saw how the AMD oriented offerings stand up. We know that in recent weeks the AK77-333 has had a very good press so here is the Processor Emporium view on this board.

VIA KT333.

Essentially the VIA KT266A is an enhancement of the KT333 chipset with an improved memory controller that supports PC-2700 DDR SDRAM. Like the KT266A, the KT333 features support for 133 MHz Front Side Bus operation (266 DDR), 3 GB of PC-2700 SDRAM and AGP 4X.

The South Bridge controller is the VIA VT233 chip which features support for U/DMA 133 Hard Drive support and also support for up to 4 USB devices to be attached. The 686B also provides support for an AC97 audio codec, a feature which is becoming increasingly popular with many new motherboard designs.

Specifications.