Conclusions
Performance Conclusion
From these results it can be seen that the speed crown should be handed to the KD7-RAID – but only just. This wasn't exactly unexpected - the KD7-RAID is a newer board than the KX7-333, and is based on VIA's newer KT400 chipset. The difference between the two chipsets is not actually that great - only in 3dmark2001 does the KD7-RAID score a considerably advantage over the KX7-333 with its 900 marks difference, which whilst being something that benchmarkers would crave, is not something which is going to be noticed in the real world. When we get to the real world gaming benchmarks, we can see the difference between the two chipsets is even smaller - both boards produced perfectly playable FlyBy benchmarks results at over 80fps regardless of resolution, with the KX7 not dipping below 100fps.
In summary, the KD7-RAID is the faster board in all the tests bar the UT2k3 tests, where the KX7-333 managed to beat it in each case. The reason for this is unknown - both boards had identical drivers. The difference between them was again not that great - just a few fps in most instances, although its interesting to note the huge 20fps difference in the Flyby at 1280x960 – I'm putting this down to some form of driver problem, as I really don't see how the difference could be that great.
Conclusion
So, we know the KD7-RAID is the faster board - just. It also has more features. But which board was finally chosen to run in my system for the next 6 months or so? Well, despite the additional speed and features of the KT400 based KD7-RAID, the place in my case has gone to the ABIT KX7-333. It's not quite as fast as the KD7-RAID, but its certainly no slouch. What appealed to me was the no hassle setup of the board. In it went, and off it goes. I encountered no issues whatsoever with this board at all - it was just a 100% reliable, solid, and pretty fast board. The KD7-RAID had issues - even discounting the faulty board there is still the issue that was present on both boards whereby you can't POST with an XP2400+ without updating the BIOS, and you can't update the BIOS without POST'ing – a chicken and egg situation. That, coupled with the annoying system temperature issue and the worrying temperature of the capacitors close to the CPU, made me side with the KX7-333 when it came to selecting a board to run 24/7 in my system. The difficulty in installing the Alpha, despite the provision of the mounting holes also put me off somewhat.
Having said that, the KD7-RAID is by no means a bad board. It's a pretty stunning board that's very fast and packed with features which just happens to have a few issues. If the BIOS issue doesn't bother you, the capacitor temperatures do not overly concern you and you want outright speed and features, then this could well be the board for you. It's certainly a board for the hardcore enthusiast who enjoys tweaking their setup, and from ABIT's website it looks like they are relasing additional versions of the board soon. If these fix the issues I found, then I have no doubt that the KD7-RAID will be the KT400 board of choice.
Once I've got my system fully setup, I'll hope to be following up this review with an article on overclocking the KX7-333 for the average enthusiast, so you'll be able to see how well the board will take to overclocking without the aid of water cooling, Vapochills, 80mm Delta fans, or any other tools the hardcore overclockers enjoy using.
For now though, the winner of this shootout is the ABIT KX7-333 for its no hassle speed and stability - a simply outstanding board. It isn't packed with features I won't use, it just has everything you need, where you need it, fast. For the KX7-333, it seems that ABIT is indeed 'Your Reliable Partner'.
