Athlon64 Motherboards: First Look at Chaintech, FIC, and MSI

FIC K8-800T: Basic Features

Motherboard Specifications
CPU Interface	Socket-754
Chipset	VIA K8T800 Northbridge VIA 8237 Southbridge
Bus Speeds	200 MHz to 232 MHz (in 1MHz increments)
AGP/PCI Speeds	Disabled, 66.0, 75.4**
Core Voltages Supported	**
AGP Voltages Supported	Default, 1.5V to 1.8V (0.1V increments)
DRAM Voltages Supported	Default, 2.5V to 2.8V (in 0.1V increments)
Chipset Voltage	None
Memory Slots	3 x 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Support to 2GB DDR 400/333/266
Expansion Slots	1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots
Onboard RAID	VIA 8237 supports 2 SATA drives in Raid 0/1 configurations
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	8 USB 2.0 supported through VIA8237 VIA VT6307L Firewire for 2 ports
Onboard LAN	Realtek 8100C 10/100
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC655 AC’97 6-Channel
Onboard Serial ATA	Four IDE drives provided by 2 IDE connectors by VIA 8237 Two SATA connectors by VIA 8237
BIOS Revision	Pre-Release
** The tested board had no provisions for Fixed or Locked AGP/PCI or Core Voltage. However, FIC indicates shipping BIOS will supply both. Values for “Async AGP Clock Control” are from K8-800T Manual.

There is plenty of room around the Socket 754 “cage” for attaching the Heatsink/Fan. The capacitors to the rear of the socket are tall, and could possibly interfere with mounting massive heatsink/fans on the K8-800T.

FIC has located the 24-pin ATX and 4-pin 12V connectors in almost ideal locations. The ATX is preferred right above midline location, which makes routing the bulky 24-pin cable much easier in most cases. The 12V connector is preferred to the right of the CPU, but FIC chose the left of CPU location. This location still works fine if, as FIC did with the K8-800T, the location is high on the board. The top left position used by FIC worked well.

10/100 LAN is provided by the Realtek 10/100 chip. As stated in the manual, FIC can easily provide Gigabit LAN on future boards.

The VIA 8237 Southbridge provides support for 8 USB and 2 SATA ports in addition to standard I/O offerings.

The two SATA connectors are driven by the VIA 8237 and offer standard SATA operation as well as RAID 0/1.