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While the base configuration of this motherboard allows for highly optimized system
performance, a rather novel BIOS tweak has recently surfaced within the Internet's underground scene. Armed with
a couple of small downloads and a DOS boot disk, nearly anyone possessing an average degree of MS-DOS knowledge
could benefit with the newly released Asus A7V133 BIOS update.
The A7V133 is an update to the already superb design of the original A7V motherboard.
This new board features VIA's recently released KT-133A chipset for support of newer 266MHz bus Athlon processors.
Along with the new chipset, Asus has also released a new series of KT-133A optimized BIOS updates. The unique characteristic
of this situation is that VIA's technical documentation indicates both the KT-133 and KT-133A chipsets feature
the basically the same internal registry offsets. With this concept in mind, one could conclude that the new A7V133
BIOS could be effectively utilized with the original A7V motherboard. After a lengthy period of research, I found
myself tempted to flash my A7V with the newer board's BIOS. At least feeling informed but stil hesitant, I decided
to actually try out this rather ridiculous sounding idea. Upon flashing the BIOS and rebooting, I expected to witness
a blank screen or even worse, possibly a dead system. However, much to my enjoyment, the video card actually posted
and the system booted with absolutely no issues to note.
| System as Tested |
| Processor |
AMD Duron 750 MHz |
| Memory |
128 MB Kingston PC-133 CAS-3 |
| Motherboard |
Asus A7V KT-133 |
| Multimedia |
3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP
Yamaha 128-bit 3D PCI Audio |
| Storage |
Maxtor 10GB ATA/100 7200rpm
32x Toshiba CD-ROM |
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