Layout
Like with all their packaging, Iwill packs their boards with care. This is evident with their excellent packaging of the XP333. Not like your usual mobo which comes in the antistatic wrap in the box. It comes in a plastic enclosure together with all the goodies. I know its not a big thing but it is worth mentioning that Iwill takes extra measure in making sure that the board arrives safely. Given a choice would you rather not have the same packaging for all your boards?
The CPU socket has a protective layer of some sort on both its lug side. This is to portect the pcb traces from accidentally damage caused by heatsink installation using screwdrivers to push the retaining mechanisms. Not really needed but nice to know someone takes the extra precaution in case it happens to someone.
The XP333's layout looks very much like the KA266+. One of the few differences that you immedietely notice is the colorful capacitors scattered all over the board. Purple in color, they vary in size, some small and some very tall. Some will probably like it and some would hate it. Personally, traditional is boring.
Another difference is the relocation of the ATX power header. I said relocation because in the KA266, they placed it near the center on top of the ALi northbridge chipset. In the KA266+, they positioned it to the rightmost side between the memory slots and the cpu socket, which I think was more ideal. Now it is located near the back of the sound and game controller ports.
Jumpers... you would still get a few of them with the XP333. Iwill hasn't really made their boards totally jumperless yet. They should have targetted for that with this board but sadly we still have to use some of them damn jumpers. Some of the jumper settings are for fsb100/133 options, some are for VIO adjustments and others are for enabling and disabling various onboard components. They did improve on something though, since they knew they will be using jumpers, making use of tall, easy to remove jumpers was another sign that Iwill is always thinking of ways to make things easier for the end user.
The Chipsets
Iwill decided to stay with the ALi Magik 1 chipsets for their XP333 board (revision C). By using this chipset, Iwill was able to score themselves some of the few 'firsts' technologies in the computing world.
The southbridge uses the M1535D+ which supports Maxtor’s Fast Drive ATA/133 hard drive interface technology. Overpowering potential IDE bottlenecks while providing superior system performance, ALi’s new southbridge M1535D+ expeditiously transfers data between the hard drive and the main system up to one-third times faster than current technology. More details here.
The memory controller is the M1647 northbridge which supports PC1600/PC2100 DDR and now PC2700 (DDR333). Utilizing PC-2700 DDR, the M1647 enables 2.7 GB/second peak bandwidth between the system memory and the Northbridge to boost system performance to the next level. Total system memory supported is 3GB to meet the demands of higher-end workstations.
The northbridge has an active cooling system consisting of Iwill's green chipset heatsink and fan. The fan itself looks very nice and does a very good job at keeping the chipset cool.