Chaintech 7VJL KT333 Motherboard
"APOGEE"
World Exclusive
July 8, 2002
Manufactured by: Chaintech
Supplied by: PCGear
Introduction
Chaintech has finally decided to join the motherboard contest in the enthusiast market race. So far they have been quite successful in their budget line of motherboards. We have been witness to a few of their boards using high performance chipset that targets the average user. Their boards has proven to be very stable and capable of delivering high performance at a very reasonable price. An example of this is their KT266A offering, 7VJDA, which offered the budget crowd an option into upgrading to the newest chipset then at an affordable cost.
Chaintech has proven that they can compete both in the budget and enthusiast market. They did it with their line of graphics cards which offered one of the best performance when compared to a similar spec brand. Whilst offering performance, they did not sacrifice image and price. This was evident with their GF3 Ti200, GF4 MX 440, GF4 Ti4200 and GF4 Ti4600. Always offering one of the lowest priced hardware, they have indeed showed the world that they could offer more. The next step was a piece of the enthusiast action in the motherboard arena.
Developing a board that would suit the high performance crowd is a big challenge they are about to face. With the release of their latest motherboard 7VJL, which uses the newest AMD DDR chipset from VIA, the KT333 and VT8235, Chaintech is aiming to gain entry to an elite number of companies that has been respected in this field. And its gonna match that with few "world's first" as well. Introducing Chaintech's official entry to the enthusiast race, the APOGEE!
The Apogee
['aepedgi'] The position in the orbit of the moon, a planet or another object in space wehn it is farthest from the earth.
Chaintech is quite late in the KT333 department. A lot of companies have already come out with their own KT333 offering. We all have seen the minor improvement in terms of performance of the KT333 against the KT266A. That is why those who have been using the KT266A for their AMD chips have been quite reluctant to replace their boards with the new KT333 one. However, the Apogee board is unique that it would be the first board to use VIA's new southbridge, the VIA VT8235 chipset to complement the KT333 northbridge chipset. The VT8235 is the new chipset that has got the USB 2.0 feature built in and not as a seperate chip. The Chaintech 7VJL, APOGEE, is also the first board that bundled round cables to go with their motherboards providing better airflow inside the case and less clutter. It also comes complete with Chaintech's exclusive front panel, the CBOX. It can be fitted in a free 3 1/2 drive bay (floppy) to bring all your frequently used ports like the USB, headphone and mic ports to the front of the case. They have also bundled their APOGEE with an exclusive headphone, the BODY THEATRE, to complement their onboard CMedia 6 channel sound. Chaintech has also teamed up with THIZ Group team to offer you the latest THIZ LINUX bundle with fully built-in applications.
Wow, that surely was a bundle I have never seen before. It all comes free with the APOGEE board neatly stacked in a carry box. From the looks of it, Chaintech has really spent a lot of time thinking and designing their big step. Is it enough to take the KT333 plunge via Chaintech's APOGEE? Let us a take a closer look at the APOGEE and see the whole package to know what it is really made of....