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For the entry-level / budget conscious user, manufacturers have provided a solution to this market in the form of integrated motherboards. With onboard graphics, audio (usually in the form of an AC97 audio CODEC) and at times including RAID, SCSI, or an Ethernet solution, all-in-one motherboards have been accepted and implemented on a relatively wide scale.
70% Rating: 
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Iwill WS133 |
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Iwill WS133 i810E Motherboard
Review
For the entry-level / budget conscious user, manufacturers have provided a
solution to this market in the form of integrated motherboards. With onboard
graphics, audio (usually in the form of an AC97 audio CODEC) and at times
including RAID, SCSI, or an Ethernet solution, all-in-one motherboards have been
accepted and implemented on a relatively wide scale. These products often
deliver a little of everything at an extremely reasonable cost. Naturally, in
order to keep manufacturing expenditure low and hence keeping the product as
affordable as possible to the end-user, you normally will not find the "latest"
and "greatest" components as a feature on such a
motherboard.
Motherboards based upon the Intel
810 line of chipsets are a good example of this. With the video hardware etched
into the chipset itself, Intel aimed to grab a good amount of the entry level
market share. Furthering the concept of component integration, manufacturers
have been squeezing in as much "candy" (read features) as possible while keeping
costs to a minimum. Iwill is certainly no exception.
Their WS133 board reviewed here packs in plenty of
useful features and is probably one of the best 810-based boards on the market.
It is certainly the best 810-based board to come out of the PCStats labs. Of
course, I don't want to give too much away (have I already?) so keep reading on.
There are a couple of things that just might surprise you!
Iwill WS133
Specifications
- Intel 810E
chipset (82801E GMCH + 82801 ICH)
- Support for the Intel Coppermine
processor and VIA's upcoming Cyrix III CPU.
- 2 x 2MB Elite MT SDRAM chips
running at 133MHz (7ns capable of 143MHz)
- 66 / 70 / 75 / 100 / 107 / 112 /
119 / 124 / 129 / 133 / 138 / 140 / 145 / 150 / 153MHz FSBs supported
- 2.0x
- 8.0x clock multiplier in increments of .5x
- Voltage of Autodetect,
+5% and +10%
- 3 168pin DIMM slots
- 6 PCI / 0 ISA / 0 AGP / 1 AMR
slots
- ATA/66 support
- ATX form factor
- Hardware Monitoring
-
Supports BIOS Writing protection
- Award BIOS 6.00 PG
Iwill's bypass of an 810E
limitation
From the
beginning, it was Intel's intention to keep the 810 chipset as a satisfactory
entry level chipset and nothing more. Further enhancements and features would be
implemented in their 820 chipset. One such feature lacking in the 810 is the
ability to run your SDRAM at anything above 100MHz. Well, the brilliant
engineers at Iwill have taken note of this and have implemented a route to
increase SDRAM clock speed. Exactly what RAM speeds are attainable? We will find
out soon enough!
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