Supplied by Gigabyte

As NFORCE2 motherboards chip away at the top ranks the KT400 chipset seems
in jeopardy. Gigabyte had a successful run with the popular 7VAXP motherboard.
The Ultra series is the next step up. The Gigabyte 7VAXP Ultra motherboard comes
with an absolutely impressive amount of features. Accessory after accessory
come out of the box before the motherboard finally appears. On the surface Gigabyte
appears to have put together one of the most user friendly purchases that has
been seen to date.

In the quest for features, options, overclockability, stability and price the
question is has Gigabyte bat a home run?

Specifications

At first glance the Gigabyte 7VAXP Ultra has quite the list and then some.
Here’s the “copy and paste” from the Gigabyte
website.

Silicon Image Serial-ATA interface: Integrated Silicon Image Serial-ATA interface for high speed storage devices transfer rate up to 150MB/s.

Promise RAID + ATA 133 IDE Controller: Supports RAID 0(Striping) or RAID 1(Mirroring) GA-7VAXP Ultra provides additional two IDE UDMA ATA-133/100 connectors that support not only HDD but also other ATAPI devices such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW and DVD-RAM.

IEEE 1394: Provides 3 IEEE 1394 Firewire ports. With 1394 devices are “home network ready”.

USB 2.0: Dual-port rear connectors and two headers for four front panel ports. With data transfer rate up to 480Mbps, 40 times faster than USB 1.1, providing a faster data transfer rate between platform and peripherals.

GIGABYTE Patent DualBIOS™ : Provides a double security for BIOS from virus attacks, enhancing the PC stability.

High quality 6-channel AC’97 audio with S/P-DIF function: Integrated Realtek ALC650 AC’97 audio CODEC chip, enabling users to experience the seamless high quality 6-channel audio while watching movies or gaming.

Detailed Specifications:

Out of the box.

Gigabyte has packed an incredible amount of accessories into the box and anyone
will be quite impressed at just how much is inside the box.

The printed material consists of the main manual which is well documented except
for one important page. It needs to have the “idiot page” detailing
which drivers should be installed from the supplied CD. It isn’t 100% clear
and there is some guesswork involved. There were a couple of times where I “just
guessed”, held my nose and clicked install. I didn’t know if that particular
driver absolutely needed to be installed.

The manual, in my personal opinion, is also out of order as it progresses through
the BIOS flash procedure including descriptions of Gigabyte’s DUAL BIOS. Next
is the EASY TUNE overclocking utility section and finally before the driver
section is the 6-channel audio setup section. It would be more logical to follow
a progression of installing the OS and drivers then cover the add-on features.

The box also comes with RAID And SATA RAID manuals. Unfortunately the main
manual is incorrect about the installation of the ATA133 / RAID driver as it
specifies that the install disk gives a choice between installing the driver
for the RAID headers to function as regular ATA133 headers or RAID. The default
is and only choice is the regular ATA133 function. Bringing the RAID function
online requires manually updating the drivers once the OS is up and running.

Another important note is that the OS will not install when the hard drive
is on either of the RAID headers. There are no floppy disks for the F6 function
of WINDOWS XP. Gigabyte has also stuck with the PROMISE LITE RAID controller
which is a mistake in my personal opinion. HIghpoint produces a much higher
quality and more versatile on-board raid chip.

For the novice DIY there is one fold out sheet that very much impressed me.
It is a complete overview of the basics to build your own computer from the
ground up. This is a very reassuring guide for the novice builder while it may
be considered “old hat” for the pros.

It takes the reader through virtually every step in assembling a PC.

Gigabyte has been extremely considerate of the new DIY with this guide and
it’s all on one sheet.

The sheer amount of printed material doesn’t stop compared to other motherboard
packages. A 5×7″ sticker for motherboard settings is included.

There’s also a sticker for a case badge that you can proudly affix to the PC
case.

And lastly is the install CD.

Gigabyte has doubled, if not tripled, the competition in the amount of included
printed material to get the new owner going.

There’s more?!

Gigabyte didn’t stop with the printed material. You have to keep digging to
get to the motherboard. The backplane plate is standard issue with all motherboards.

Gigabyte was even thoughtful to include a floppy drive cable and three 80 pin
IDE cables. That is one more cable than typically included with new motherboards.

The PCI slot brackets are a-plenty. Keep digging in the box and out comes the
SURROUND KIT.

There’s SPDIF, RCA and surround left/right and sub-center. The front audio
left/right is on the backplane along with MIC and LINE IN. Not that some may
notice but the input label stamps on the plate will actually be upside down
when the bracket is in place.

There are three FIREWIRE ports on a PCI bracket that plug directly into the
motherboard.

Keep going as there is four more USB 2.0 ports that also plug directly into
the motherboard. That will make six in all.

The last device isn’t really explained at all.

It’s a PCI mounted external SATA connector. The two onboard SATA headers can
be connected to this device for those that may want to invest in an external
drive setup. Those that think there are now four SATA headers are in for a disappointment.
Remember that the two SATA headers will have to be hooked up to the rear ports
of this device. It’s like a SATA header “relocation”.

Power plugs in the back via a 4-pin molex.

Gigabyte does include THREE SATA cables which is two more than typically included.
More bonus items!

Also is a SATA power connector with a 4-pin MOLEX on one end which “Y’s”
off to two SATA power connectors.

It is odd that the one lead should be 3-4 times longer than the other. Perhaps
Gigabyte is thinking the second drive is at the other side of the PC case.

All in all Gigabyte has packed an extensive amount of material into one motherboard
box and scores high for “included goodies”.

Touring the board.

Take a first look at the motherboard. It doesn’t look as crowded as previous
KT266, KT333 and other KT400 motherboards. IT almost looks as “empty”
of capacitors and obstructions as NFORCE2 motherboards do. Gigabyte’s engineers
have done a fine job of plugging everything in with elbow room.

Let’s not break tradition and start at the CPU socket and continue on towards
the ram as I seem to have gotten into the habit of running ’round the board
clockwise for motherboard reviews.

The socket does have a lot of room and is free from capacitor crowding. Larger
heatsinks will be more easily accommodated. The flaw, for me, is the vertical
orientation of the heatsink ears. I’ve gotten to appreciate the horizontally
facing ears when it comes to removing a heatsink on a motherboard that is inside
a PC case. Gigabyte would gain a few points if they spun the socket 90 degrees
clockwise.

The fan headers for the heatsink and PSU/System fan are easily accessible and
just northeast of the socket between it and the ram DIMMS.

The board has 3 DIMMS that can support a maximum of three 1 GB ram modules.
Notice the white power connection module. This is one of the smartest placements
I’ve come across. The PSU cable will not cross over top or beside the heatsink.
I wish all motherboard manufacturers would locate the power connection there.

Also the floppy header has been placed beside it above the four IDE headers.
Is this good or bad?

It is good considering that if it were placed below the floppy cable (not cables)
would have to cross over the hard drive cables(s) to connect. Next to the ram
DIMMS are IDE 1 and 2 which are ATA133 and over to the right one jump are the
PROMISE RAID headers which can support ATAPI devices (CD, CDRW, DVD) as well
as be set to run drives in ATA133 non-RAID mode and RAID mode.

This dual purpose function gives a SATA drive user the ability to run four
devices on separate channels and two hard drives off the SATA headers in non-RAID
or RAID mode…but that’s not the end of Gigabyte’s SATA add-ons.

It appears that Gigabyte was toying with the idea for some expansion. Space
is planned right next to the floppy port.

Let’s jump back across the ram DIMMS while were there. The northbridge is covered
by a larger copper heatsink.

Larger northbridge heatsinks are becoming more common on motherboards today
to satisfy the needs of overclockers. It may be more for appearance but the
important point is that it LOOKS like it does an efficient job. The board also
supports 8x AGP video cards.

The northbridge fan is from Dynaeon
Industrial Company It is 40×40x20mm. spinning along at 4500 RPM putting
out a whopping (sarcasm) 4.8 CFM at 22.4 dB(A).

Below the IDE headers is the PROMISE 20276 “Lite” RAID controller
chip.

It only allows RAID 0 and 0+1 and no settings are available for stripe size.
It’s limited and an achilles heal to those who like to fine tune raid setups.

The SATA interface chips supports two onboard SATA RAID headers.

SATA drives are just coming onto the market and initial reviews are putting
SATA 150 drives on par with current ATA133 drives. There isn’t a lot to be gained
for performance with SATA at this moment and it is important to remember that
one header supports only one drive. That is the simplicity of SATA as there
is no daisy chaining (slave/master). The plus side to SATA are the cables.

SATA cables are much smaller than regular EIDE cables and Gigabyte includes
not one, not two but three SATA cables with the GA-7VAXP Ultra motherboard package.

Below the SATA chip are the two headers and finally at the bottom right corner
of the motherboard are the front on/off/reset/HDD LED/PC speaker post connections.

This is also another first with color codes. To me it shows attention to detail
with the design and quality but wait…where’s the POWER LED connection?

It’s just peeking over the top of of the USB #2 port on the right. (the three
lonely pins).

Just above the USB headers is Gigabyte’s DUAL BIOS.

DUAL BIOS is exactly what it is. There are two BIOS chips and the primary is
always used UNLESS something goes wrong and the secondary kicks in automatically
and then corrects the primary. The primary, once feeling better, takes over.
Think of the second BIOS chip as a backup to the first.

DUAL BIOS also means…no clear CMOS jumper on the board. There isn’t one which
leaves me a bit at odds. I like to be able to set the board back to basics especially
if overclocking. The DUAL BIOS function does give a certain reassurance of no
more bad flashes but at that expense. DUAL BIOS can also be accessed by keying
F8 at the main BIOS display screen.

In summary the DUAL BIOS is a major prevention against BIOS virus and bad flashes.
A user can manually override the primary BIOS boot in favor of the secondary
bios chip if they want to test a new BIOS flash. Also if a BIOS flash, via Gigabyte’s
windows based BIOS flashing program can be corrected and re-flashed if something
goes “amuck”.

I did flash the BIOS via the windows based program and it was a snap. The only
recommendation is to download the BIOS, extract it and manually browse to it
rather than relying on the utility to find it on the FTP and do it all automatically.
Other than that tip it was all rather simple and painless. Anyone can now confidentially
flash their own BIOS even if they’ve never done it before.

If there is a bad BIOS flash then the automatic recovery will take over and
you may not even know that it occurred.

Two USB headers connect to the four USB 2.0 PCI bracket and to the left of
the USB headers are the three firewire ports.

It seems it will always be standard for a motherboard to have five PCI slots
but with the amount of onboard ammenities…who really needs all five? Or even
one?

The WOL (Wake On LAN header — white connection at far right) and SPDIF OUT
(black) and SPDIF IN (red) sit at the bottom edge below the PCI slots.

Time to head north and bump into the AGP slot and there is no concern with
the ram lifters bumping into an installed video card.

Between the AGP slot and northbridge is a handy, very hard to read multiplier
chart.

Gigabyte was thoughtful enough to include a printout of it so there’s no need
for peering or squinting hopelessly at the board. Though in years to come it
will come in handy when the owner loses the manual.

A Gigabyte downfall is that this board isn’t completely jumperless. To the
right of the PCI slots is a small DIP switch.

I too thought …”ON?” Is this the main “go” switch for
the entire unit…a way to prevent pesky people for firing up the system while
you aren’t around? It’s just the CPU Clock 100 MHz or 133/166 MHz switch and
the motherboard comes default with it at 100 MHz (ON). 90% of you will want
to flip the switch to the “not ON” positron for 266 or 333 FSB processors.
And yes this board supports the 333 FSB processors quite nicely.

The FREQUENCY OVERRIDE chart and “ON” switch tie into the multiplier
DIP switches.

THose are tucked in behind the backplane and for those of you who hated throwing
DIP switches to overclock…they’re baaaa-aaack!

Ick.

Meanwhile to the left of the PCI slots right below that DIPPY area is where
the CD IN, AUX IN, and AC97 various surround audio connections hang out. Just
for orientation the top of the picture is the backplane edge of the motherboard.

The tour ends at the backplane featuring 2 USB ports, LAN, 2 COM ports, a SERIAL
port, GAME port, front L/R audio, LINE IN and MIC IN.

Gigabyte could have taken a page from other makers and put two more USB ports
on the backplane along with the audio sub channel and rear surround speakers
and there is an obvious reason why.

Putting it all together.

There are four PCI slot brackets with the Gigabyte 7VAXP Ultra and installing
each renders a PCI motherboard slot useless.

The FIREWIRE, USB 2.0 and SURROUND bracket have been installed leaving only
two PCI slots accessible. Installing the external SATA card would leave just
one. Remember how I said that it seems that we MUST have 5 PCI slots? It seems
that we consumers could live without at least one which would give motherboard
engineers a bit of working room…and would you really miss ONE PCI slot?

I didn’t think so.

The collection of wires could have been cut down by putting at least two more
USB ports on the backplane. I can see 3 or 4 USB ports in use and those of us
who may want 5 or 6 could utilize the motherboard headers for a drive bay media
port or a case with front USB ports. It would free up one more PCI slot and
maintain 6 available USB ports…if not 8.

FIREWIRE is an option that could be ported to a front media port if the user
invests in such a device. I home PC users maybe using one for a digital camera
or camcorder. That would free up another PCI slot. The inclusion of three FIREWIRE
ports is a nice touch though and it could be up to the PC builder to choose
one or two in the front and one in the rear…or any combination thereof. For
the record the GA-7VAXP Ultra does have one more FIREWIRE port than the AT7-MAX2.

Moving the surround audio to the backplane makes the SPDIF option just that…an
option. Most of us will use surround audio a lot but not all of us will use
SPDIF at present. Gigabyte’s current PCI configuration is all or none.

Gigabyte could have taken a page from ABIT’s AT7-MAX2 backplane which is one
of the better laid out backplanes of the two. Though the AT7-MAX2 does omit
having COM 1 and 2 and a SERIAL port. I find those rather antiquated because
if you are purchasing one of these high end boards…most likely nothing you
own is COM or SERIAL port based anymore. If so then it’s time for an upgrade
to that scanner.

It is easily seen how three PCI slots are taken up leaving only two between
the video card and bottom PCI based options.

That’s the board “cased out” and thank god there isn’t too much more
to it than that. It is option rich and add-on plenty and this review is getting
long enough as is.

The BIOS… novice friendly, enthusiast poor.

The GA-7VAXP BIOS isn’t as flexible as an overclocker would want but it isn’t
so complicated for the novice user. I doubt that a very large majority have
even seen the BIOS screens let alone know what they do.

The main interface is familiar with a few deletions and additions.

The ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES are somewhat trimmed down.

The INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS screen has a few changes. The top two ON CHIP IDE
CHANNEL 0 & 1 are to enable or disable the IDE RAID headers in favor of
a PCI slot controller. The IDE 1 and 2 CONDUCTOR CABLE settings are meant to
be set only if an ATAPI device is hooked up to them. They allow for three settings:
ATA33, ATA66/100/133 or AUTO. It would seem that AUTO would be enough but if
ever there is an ATAPI device that doesn’t want to inform the motherboard of
what it is…it can be manually set here.

The rest is self-explanatory.

POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP with a fancy new feature…BLINKING.

It’s pretty lonely in the PNP/PCI configuration.

The PC HEALTH STATUS does not have adjustable ranges for CPU SHUTDOWN TEMPERATURE.
The only setting is 110 degrees Celsius. Whoops! Athlon XP processor maximum
die temperature is 90 degrees Celsius up to the 2100+ and 85 degrees Celsius
for the 2200+ to 2700+. This “may” be a problem and I wouldn’t recommend
relying on the CPU SHUTDOWN TEMPERATURE. I would think if you are passing 80
degrees Celsius then you are well on your way to losing a chip.

The overclocking crowd gathers here at the FREQUENCY/VOLTAGE CONTROL and boy
will they be disappointed. Those are the maximum settings and there are no BIOS
multiplier settings and what you see is what you get for maximum voltage settings.
Those work by percentage and there are darn few settings though the CPU host
frequency goes by 1 MHz increments.

You also can’t set DDR400.

If the goal is heavy overclocking and you hate DIP switches then avoid the
GA-7VAXP.

EasyTune…taking all the fun out of overclocking?

Yes overclocking is an art and those that do it well have an extreme amount
of knowledge about the nuances of a motherboard. They also have my respect for
the envelopes they push. Has Gigabyte gone and put novices into the driver’s
seat? Could the overclocking club of the elite be threatened by one click wonders?

Gigabyte’s EasyTune makes overclocking simple. It’s so simple that a user need
only crank up the system bus a few MHz at a time. When the board freezes all
that need be done is a hard reboot to get back to defaults. The “overclocker”
then cranks up the MHz to within one or two MHz of where the board froze and
there’s the OC.

Like this…at 183 it froze.

Easy Tune does have a catchy interface and has a slide out panel for system
readings and voltage readings.

It’s VERY important to mention that running Motherboard Monitor even when shut
down will cause false readings in fan speeds. It’s one or the other folks.

Lastly is the stock setting of the motherboard itself. It should be a 166 MHz
bus speed….it isn’t but close enough.

Benchmarking…a simple horse runs fast.

The GIGABYTE GA-7VAXP ULTRA test system.

• AMD 2600+ 333 FSB
  Processor
• GA-7VAXP ULTRA REV 1.2 motherboard
• ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
• Sony 52x CD
• 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
• 1 x Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
• AMK SX1000 modded
  PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1

The ASUS A7N8X test system.

• AMD 2600+ 333 FSB
  Processor
• ASUS A7N8X motherboard
• ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
• Sony 52x CD
• 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
• 2 x Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
• AMK SX1000 modded
  PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1

The ABIT AT7 Max2 test system.

• AMD 2100+ Thoroughbred
  Core Processor
• ABIT AT7 Max2 motherboard
• ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
  Catalyst 2.3 drivers
• 2 x 512 MB Micron PC2100 RAM
• Sony 52x CD
• 16 x DVD
• 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
• 2 x Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin WBK38 heatsink
• AMK SX1000 modded
  PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1

Programs used

• 
  Sisoft Sandra 2002
• MadOnion
  3DMark 2001 SE
• Quake
  III Arena
• Commanche
  4
• GL
  Excess
• Drone
  Z
• SpecviewPerf 7.0
• Adobe Photoshop 7.0
• PS Bench
• Adobe After Effects 5.5
• SoftimageXSI 2.0.1

All tests were run at default video card settings with VSYNC disabled. Bios
was optimized for system but not tweaked for any performance settings requiring
specialized knowledge of overclocking. In other words the BIOS settings were
standard as far as anyone can set the time and date, ensure the ram is 2 or
4 way interleave and at CAS 2.5 and AGP is chosen as the first boot video card.
The BIOS settings were kept as close to conservative or default value. The ASUS
A7N8X memory settings were set to OPTIMAL and AGGRESSIVE as disclosed. Memory
was kept at DDR333 settings for proper timing with the 2600+ 333FSB processor.
Individual performance will vary with any particular or specific timings or
tweaks enabled by you. These may result in lesser or greater scores. Void where
prohibited by law. Don’t run with scissors. Chew each bite 32 times and always
floss between meals.

Two tests were run with the GA-7VAXP with the BIOS set to TOP PERFORMANCE ENABLED.
(which is a slight overclock done by the BIOS itself.)

And disabled. (Default)

3D Mark 2001 SE

3D Mark 2001 SE scores surprised me. I thought the NFORCE2 board
would be the leader but the slight overclock supplied by the TOP PERFORMANCE
setting in the GA-7VAXP Ultra’s BIOS proved to be just enough to edge out the
ASUS NFORCE2 by approximately 500 points in the range of tests. The default
settings placed the Gigabyte board the equivalent 500 points behind the default
NFORCE2 settings. The gap starts to close as resolution increases.

Codecreatures

It’s a dead heat here across the board. Even the AT7-MAX2 makes
a good showing even though it’s handicapped by a 2100+ 266 FSB processor and
PC2100 RAM.

Commanche 4

The TOP PERFORMANCE overclock allows the Gigabyte board to keep
up with the ASUS NFORCE2 but at default settings the board falls approximately
3 points back across the range of screen resolutions.

DroneZ

DroneZ starts to weed out the pack giving a 20-25 point spread
with the ASUS out in front.

GL Excess

GLEXCESS took a shine to the GA-7VAXP Ultra placing nearly dead
even for default settings even against the aggressive settings of the ASUS NFORCE2.
The slight overclock pulls it out in front.

QuakeIII normal quality

Good ol’ Quake still has some life in it to show who’s who in
the gaming leagues.

Quake III high quality

Serious Sam

Sisoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic

It’s a close pack across the board (except for the less processor/ram
equipped AT7-MAX2.) Scores are 6565, 7870, 7840, 7885 and 8040 for the ALU MIPS
test. That tight range is kept pretty much the same for FPU MIPS and the Sandra
CPU Multimedia tests.

Sisoft Sandra CPU Multimedia

Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark

The margin between default ASUS to default Gigabyte is within
20 points and ASUS Aggressive setting to GIGABYTE Top Performance is within
60.

Specviewperf 7.0

SpecviewPerf still grounds itself in the manipulation of 3D graphics
more on a business application level rather than a gaming performance level.
Again the results are as expected. The GA-7VAXP Ultra is one point behind in
3DSMAX, 10 points trailing in DRV-08 (6 points Top Performance), approximately
12 points in DX-07, 1 point back in both LIGHT-05 and PROE-01 and a dead heat
for arguments sake in UGS-01. The HyperTransport equipped NFORCE2 board most
likely is given the edge due to a greater bandwidth between the memory and processor.

The following two tests are targeted mainly towards CPU performance and will
show if any “flaws” are in board design affecting the ability of the
CPU to crunch through the data. While in render mode the two test programs virtually
bypass ram and GPU.

Adobe After Effects 5.5

Adobe After Effects is a tool to produce motion
graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the web. It is primarily
a 2D application using imported graphics or digital footage or self generated
effects. A project was created that was a combination of many video footage
files, resizing and rasterizing effects, text animations and multiple layer
effects. This “average” combination was felt to best demonstrate advantages
and/or disadvantages that a real world user may experience rather than isolating
and benchmarking a particular effect.

There is no official benchmark for After Effects
but tasks can be timed to show specific results. Rendering, or the task of building
and compiling frames, is mainly CPU intensive and After Effects generally bypasses
the video card and relies solely on the processor for speed. The time taken
to render 900 frames basically shows how fast the processor is working on the
given task. The AT7 MAX2 were equipped with a 2100+ XP 266 FSB processor and
the ASUS A7N8X and GIGABYTE GA-7VAXP sported the 2600+ 333 FSB AMD processor
and 2 x 256 MB of Corsair Micro DDR 400 Ram.

It is also important to pay attention to the
fact that the AMD 2600+ 333 FSB processor takes nearly a minute lead over the
2100+ 266 FSB processors. Is this important? Yes it is when you are a graphic
designer waiting for a project to finish rendering…time is money.

Softimage XSI can simply bring
any computer to its knees. It’s an incredibly powerful 3D animation program
that has the ability to become so complex that single processor systems have
been known to “think” for days when rendering an animation. Softimage works
on somewhat similar principle to After Effects. A faster and more powerful video
card will translate to a smoother interface where complex scenes can be manipulated
in real time. Note that Softimage does not have an interface to real-time preview
a finished frame as unlike After Effects. Users can manipulate objects in a
choice of views from wire frame mode to simulated real-time shading mode. In
order to look at a finished frame a user must render the frame to disk which
bypasses the GPU. A faster processor will result in the faster render. The amount
of RAM is not as great an issue as the user is working frame by frame and the
graphics card is doing the bulk of the work while working within the GUI.

This is a most basic overview and there are specialty
hardware components that can enhance the speed and interactivity of complex
3D scenes and programs. The designers working on the test system use Softimage
on a less complex level to provide enhancements and elements to commercials,
promos and station ID elements. Though their work is quite complex to some it
a far cry from that of special effects in major film productions.

Softimage performs its best on a dual processor
system and by far the recommendation for heavy 3D rendering is a dual processor
AMD system. The 2600+ 333 FSB may provide a better 2D rendering speed in After
Effects but it only provides a small performance gain in 3D application rendering
for Softimage.

Summary

EGAD! Most will have summarily clicked their way to this page in hopes of a
short answer. Is the Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra worth your time and money?

First a few answers to some possible questions. Why are these reviews so in-depth?
The answer is quite simple. If you are looking to purchase a product you may
not have the chance to hold it in your hands and it is our job to peer into
every corner for you and show every aspect to help you make a better, more informed
decision. We try our best to let you “virtually” hold the product.

Second: why throw the AT7-MAX2 with a lesser processor and lower speed ram
into the benchmark mix? It is true when benchmarking that when motherboard is
pitted against motherboard that the only component that should change is the
motherboard. It cuts down on the variables of performance differences. We did
that but we also thought it would present another perspective. Some may purchase
the GA-7VAXP Ultra and place a lesser processor in the socket or PC2100 ram
or PC2700. There are many variables to show but this is a quick look at what
differences in components can make. It isn’t meant to be definitive…just a
perspective.

Pros:

• Very good novice documentation.
• PACKED with features…as many if not more than all other motherboards of
  this category.
• RAID for both IDE and SATA (0 and 1).
• Very respectable performance.
• Dual BIOS.
• Stable (not one crash during our tests).
• Supports 333 FSB AMD processors.
• Supports 3 x DDR 400 ram.
• Good layout and design for the non-overclocker.
• EASY TUNE overclocking for the novice to easily get a performance boost
  relatively safely.
• EASY BIOS makes updating BIOS something even your father could do.
• BEST layout of power supply and IDE/FLOPPY connectors.
• Snazzy color to the PCB.
• 8x AGP.
• THREE SATA cables included.
• Good attention to detail for motherboard design and placement of headers
  and connectors.
• RAID headers can be used for ATAPI devices.
• The best amount of “goodies” included with a package that I’ve
  seen to date. No software games though.

Cons:

• Dip switches for the multiplier…need I say more?
• Awkward placement of the DIP switches.
• ADD-ON features are mostly PCI based leaving 1 or 2 available PCI slots
  if all add-ons are used.
• Documentation could be more descriptive for driver installation.
• Documentation is out of order for some sections.
• Documentation is not 100% up to date. (But technology and revision changes
  can make this cost prohibitive.)
• Socket could be rotated 90 degrees clockwise for easier heatsink installation.
• BIOS settings are limited especially for overclockers. A more flexible and
  extensive BIOS would be a winner especially with the advantages of DUAL BIOS.
• No CLEAR CMOS jumper.
• PROMISE 20276 “Lite” IDE RAID controller. (I’m not a fan.)
• IDE RAID and SATA RAID cannot be used simultaneously. (Awaiting Gigabyte
  confirmation.)

Final words

I’m caught on the fence with the GA-7VAXP Ultra. The entire package is absolutely
loaded and will fulfill almost every need in a motherboard. BUT. But I do prefer
the backplane design of the AT7-MAX2 and if Gigabyte would move a the entire
audio package, 2 FIREWIRE and 2 USB ports there it would greatly enhance my
overall opinion.

This board is a winner but not THE winner.

The fact that so many PCI slots are blocked by the add-on features is a drawback
to those that may wish to add more. Overall the Gigabyte 7VAXP Ultra is a very
good feature rich, performance competitive motherboard for the novice. As a
first purchase this product will stun the beginner DIY. It is easy to setup
and easy to update including a small thrill of overclocking without having to
know how.

The savvy enthusiast will get a nod of respect but given the flexibility of
BIOS features with such boards as the ABIT AT7-MAX2 or the sheer potential power
of the ASUS A7N8X NFORCE2 it may be choice #2. My overall opinion is “wishy-washy”
and it all depends on your perspective. To berate a point: buy this board if
you are just getting into the new millennium during an upgrade from you old
P3 and you are knowledgeable enough to attempt to or have built your own PC.
The enthusiasts, the perfectionists, the picky people may want to give this
board a look but may end up following their own paths elsewhere.

Our thanks to GIGABYTE
for the GA-7VAXP Ultra experience.

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