Iwill KK266+

by Ramil Tranquilino

 

pic of box here

 

Manufactured by: Iwill

Supplied by: Pacific Interactive NZ

 

Iwill has recently made overclocking headlines with the release of their KT133A offering, the KK266.   That board performed extremely well and proved to be the most stable and most overclockable board in its league.  It has become the favorite of most overclockers because of its design and its stability at overclocked speed.  Having already won many awards, you would think that Iwill will stop and just reap the fruits of this excellent KT133A board they have produced.  Well, not Iwill.  Thinking that they could still improve some more on the KK266's already effective design, they decided to come up with a 'plus' version of it, the KK266+.

 

So how different is it from the original version?  What improvement have they done on this already 'standard setting' board?  What more could it offer?  This I can't wait to tell you though, I know it ruins the excitement but, this board really ROCKS!  Come with me and join the journey to find out why....

 

Layout & Specs

Here's a quick spec comparison between the KK266 and the KK266+ versions...

 

Model Chipset Expansion Slots Features
KK266 VIA Apollo KT133A  1 x AGP (4X), 6 x PCI, 1 x ISA  4.1 Channel, 3D Hardware Sound 
KK266 plus VIA Apollo KT133A  1 x AGP (4X), 6 x PCI, 1 x ISA  6 Channel, 3D Hardware Sound, SPDIF option via Super Audio 

pic of KK266 and KK266+ here

 

Looking at the 2 boards from Iwill, they certainly are similar except for a few minor changes.  The first thing you'll notice is that shiny, metallic heatsink where the KT133A northbridge is.  The original KK266 didn't have any heatsink attached to it, that's why even at non-overclocked speed it was a bit hot.  With the KK266plus, what you get is an expensive looking heatsink.  The only downside is that it doesn't come with a fan, just passive cooling.  I was told that Iwill initially has active cooling on its chipset but later decided to ship the retail version without it.  It is worth noting though that even at highly overclocked settings, the chipset heatsink is still quite cold.

 

pic of chipset heatsink here

 

Next change is on the integrated audio.  With the KK266plus, you get 6 channel (5.1) sound as compared to the original KK266's 4.1 channel audio.  It uses CMI's newest audio chipset, the CMI 8738 HRTF audio controller.  It provides 6 speaker channel support, 32 voice HRTF based 3D positional audio, support for Microsoft direct sound 3D and Aureal A3D support for EAX sound effects (environmental audio extensions) and SPDIF support via Iwill's optional Super Audio.  Now, that changes onboard sound dramatically.

 

pic of audio port and additional port here

 

Physically, there is only one noticeable change in the layout of the board itself.  This is the location of the ATX power connector.  On the KK266, it is located between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots.  Now Iwill relocated it behind the audio IO panel of the KK266plus. 

 

pic of ATX header of both KK266 and KK266+ here

 

The only reason I can think of for this change is Iwill's respect for the overclocker.  By doing this, there is more clearance for those thinking of putting massive heatsinks or waterblocks for cooling.  Yes, just keeping it out of the way.   Of course they still have that 4 holes around the socket for some of the newer heatsinks.  Now that's thinking ahead.

pic of 4 holes around socket

 

Now here's some KK266plus Major Attributes

 

Ultra-Fast 266MHz FSB is now needed more than ever as the latest development in operating systems and software applications continue to tax the system hardware. With processor speeds now exceeding the 1.4 GHz barrier, increasing the Front Side Bus is a good way of improving overall system performance. Iwill's KK266+  integrates VIA's award winning KT133A North bridge for compatibility with 266MHz FSB processors and 686B South bridge for Ultra ATA-100 support for native dual IDE channels.  To get more info on the chipset go to VIA for more info.

pic of chipset here

SuperAudioTM and Onboard 6-Channel Hardware Sound is one way Iwill rewards its customers. Built around the C-media's powerful CMI8378 6-Channel and SPDIF Hardware Sound controller, Iwill's SuperAudioTM option enables users to take full advantage of digital audio connections through RCA connectors or TOSLINK sockets (digital in/ digital out ports) and thereby appreciate their favorite CDs, DVDs, LPs, and Movies in digital quality sound. Iwill's sound solution supports 32 voice HRTF 3D extension positional audio, Environmental Audio eXtention (EAX), and is completely compatible with Microsoft's DirectSound 3D.  A big plus for those who don't bother too much with their sound but still want a decent onboard sound controller that can do, well, almost everything you want.

pic of sound chip here

Maximum Expansion grants the connectivity of up to 8 IDE devices (IDE RAID version) with native dual channel Ultra ATA-100 to ensure the reliability of data transferring. Iwill also enlarges the implementation of the Expansion slots to 6 x 32 bit PCI, 1 x ISA slot, and 1 AGP 4X / 2X slot. In system memory access capability, 3 DIMM slots can accommodate up to 1.5GB at 100MHz/133MHz, compatible to PC133, PC100 SDRAM.  This is a another big plus for this board.  6 PCI slots and an ISA.  I know some of you will say, "who uses an ISA nowadays?".  You'll be surprised though as to how many still use them.  Of course this is done without sacrificing a PCI slot.   Yep, that's still 6 PCI slots for you.  The most you can get on AMD board.

pic of PCI slots

Iwill's Exclusive Embedded ATA/100 IDE RAID provides excellent drive performance and data redundancy. IDE RAID technology provides increased drive performance by allowing multiple drives to perform the work of a single drive (RAID 0) that increases data throughput and significantly boost overall system performance.  Perfect for graphics workstations, CAD stations and other image- intensive applications. RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 are all supported.

pic of IDE port here


Microstepping Technology was developed by Iwill to offer ease in adjustment of Front Side Bus via continuous 1Mhz increments up to 200MHz. Developed for DIY users that love to experiment with overclocking, when overclocking goes beyond its limit, Microstepping's intelligent default function will take you back to its original setting.

BIOS

This board wasn't "made for overclockers" for nothing.  The very heart of Iwill's superiority in the KT133A scene is in it's design and BIOS.  Everything can be changed and set thru the BIOS.  Well almost everything except for the one setting which is set thru a jumper, the 100/133 mhz option.  Like the KK266, the 'plus' version's BIOS CPU frequency setting utilizes Iwill's Microstepping technology.

Microstepping Technology was developed by Iwill to offer ease in adjustment of FSB via continous 1 mhz increments starting at 95mhz up to 200mhz.  Talk about limits, ABIT's SoftMenu is quite the same.  Now this is where the similarity ends.  Developed for DIY users/overclockers that love to experiment with overclocking, when overclocking goes beyond its limit, Microstepping's intelligent default function will take you back to its original setting.  No more clearing of the BIOS which I do a lot with my ABIT KT7A, which has been my favorite KT133A board up to now (3 of my systems are running it).  With CPU voltage adjustable in the BIOS from 1.35v-1.85v and multiplier options adjustable from 5.5-12.5, this board really comes out on top.

pics of soft menu settings

A view of the Advance Chipset Control shows the adjustable memory timings for each DIMM bank, yes, one for each DIMM.  You can now mix modules and run each of them to their maximum performance.  In my case, both the modules that were used, the 128mb Mushkin REV3 and the 256mb Corsair PC150, works fine at the maximum setting.

pic of each memory setting

Testbed

Hardware

Software

Benchmarks

This is where the KK266+ will show its might and power.  Using all the maximum settings in the BIOS, we ran different types of benchmarks to see what numbers this board will give us.  What we will show you are actual snapshots of the results and not just the graphs and numbers.  Being advertised as "made for overclockers", we will start off our benchmarks immedietely at 150mhz FSB!

pic of wcpuid

150fsb!

 

pic of sandra cpu BM

The Athlon 1.4Ghz showed its dominace in this benchmark easily defeating the P4 1.8

 

pic of sandra memory BM

Solid performance at 150mhz FSB using the Corsair PC150 CL2 module at turbo mode

 

pic of quake 3 BM

Clearly showing the advantage of having a very high bus speed

 

pic of 3dMark2001

A high bus speed + a Geforce3 will surely boost your scores a lot

pic of mbm

temps using MBM 5.06

Overclocking

Now lets talk limits.  How high can this board go? After owning 3 KT133A board, all ABIT KT7As, the highest cpu bus speed I could reach is 145mhz FSB.  Using Abit's +33mhz for the memory bus speed, the highest I attained on 1 of the 3 KT7A board was 160mhz.  Boy was I happy!  But the cpu bus speed just wouldn't go any higher than 150mhz or more.   Iwill's KK266+ has clearly showed from the benchmarks above that it could easily do it out of the box.  Now, knowing how high is what we are about to find out....

After a lot of overclocking and benchmarking, we have determined that the highest rock stable cpu and memory bus speed this board could attain is 165mhz!!!  When I said stable it means ROCK SOLID!  With the memory running at full speed (turbo, 4-way interleave,etc) at CAS2, here are the snapshots of the results.

benchmark pics here

Conclusion

Do I still need to prove that it is really "made for overclockers?"  This is the first board that I have seen and experienced to ran rock solid at a cpu and memory bus speed of 165mhz FSB.  During the whole process of overclocking there was no instance that the board crashed up to 165mhz which was its limit.  Never have I seen anything like this board when it comes to stability at highly overclocked speed. 

Iwill has clearly perfected the KT133A board with their KK266plus.  Overclocks above 160mhz is not rare with this board as seen on this retail box when matched with superior SDRAM like Corsair PC150 or Mushkin REV3.  With all the pluses that goes with the motherboard like the onboard 6 channel sound and Iwill Microstepping, the KK266+ is the best KT133A Socket A board available for your AMD chip.   I know DDR is just around the corner but the KK266's benchmark scores speaks for itself. 

For the beginner and overclocker alike, the Iwill KK266+ is the KT133A board of choice.  Iwill has again showed that they can make great motherboards and that they really support us, the overclockers.  That I think is the most important thing.  When they said it was "made for overclockers", they really meant it!

pic of octools banner

We give the Iwill KK266plus the "KT133A King Award" and the "Octools Overclocker's Choice Award"

Iwill KK266+
Our Iwill KK266+ was kindly loaned to us by Pacific Interactive NZ, if you are from New Zealand, you can buy this motherboard thru them.