Gigabyte GA-7ZM Socket-A KT133 microATX

The Good

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The GA-7ZM is Gigabyte's first Socket-A motherboard and, like Gigabyte's first KX133 board, arrives in microATX formfactor. Just like that GA-7VM KX133 board, the GA-7ZM will be followed by a nearly identical ATX version with more expansion slots and optional hardware sound.

With 3 PCI, 1 AGP, and 1 AMR slots, the GA-7ZM maximizes the use of the PCB space allotted by the microATX standard. A trend we're starting to see from more and more motherboard manufacturers is the shared AMR/PCI slot, like we have on the GA-7ZM. The AGP slot is a "universal AGP slot," which means it isn't keyed specifically for AGP 2X or AGP 4X cards, allowing the user to install virtually any currently available AGP card in the slot, whether it is an AGP 1X/2X or 4X card. Gigabyte adds a nice little feature to the AGP slot - an AGP retention mechanism. Apparently some OEM's were having trouble with AGP cards coming loose during shipping, so the retention mechanism serves to make sure this doesn't happen. An AGP retention mechanism is included by Gigabyte on the AGP slot.

Located between the Socket-A connector and the AGP slot is the KT133's North Bridge, which is covered by Gigabyte's classic orange heatsink. The 8373 North Bridge is nearly identical to the 8371 of the KX133 with a few timing changes to support AMD's Socket-A CPU's. That North Bridge provides all the features of the KT133, most importantly 133MHz memory bus and AGP 4X support. The beauty of the 8373's memory controller is that it can run your memory at either 133MHz or 100MHz using a multiplier of the FSB frequency. So those users with PC133 SDRAM can take advantage of the increased bandwidth (1.06GB/s vs. 800MB/s) over PC100 SDRAM, while allowing backwards compatibility with older PC100 SDRAM. Support for VC100/VC133 memory is still included, but availability is still weak and prices high.

The GA-7ZM, as is the case with most Athlon motherboards, features 3 DIMM slots capable of accepting PC100/PC133 or VC100/VC133 SDRAM running at either a 3:3 (1:1) ratio with the FSB (by default, 100MHz) or a 4:3 ratio with the FSB (133MHz by default). This is the recommended maximum for PC133 support according to VIA.