Conclusion
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
MSI has once again given consumers a solid new motherboard solution for AMD users. Based on the KT266A chipset, the K7T266 Pro2-RU motherboard offers very good performance. Though in most tests it is slightly lagging behind the KT266A competition and the nForce reference board, the difference is not enough to push it out of your choices completely.What MSI has really gotten right on the K7T266 Pro2-RU is their feature set. Besides the nForce reference board, MSI has included the most options on a medium cost AMD motherboard. The on-board IDE RAID provided by the Promise chip and the new enhancements of the NEC-powered USB 2.0 provide the MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU user with a lot of options for upgrading.
What about upcoming motherboard solutions for the Athlon XP processors? There are two of them that you may be interested in. First, there will be some motherboard coming out soon that will officially support DDR333. Iwill and SiS are both working on solutions for this new speed grade of memory. And don’t forget that we should soon be seeing retail nForce motherboards available – perhaps the first being from MSI!
In the end, MSI has combined the power of the of the VIA KT266A chipset with a great feature set and brought us the K7T266 Pro2-RU motherboard. I can see the MSI Forum becoming even more popular as this board begins to catch on in the market. The slight performance decrease that the MSI seems to be suffering when compared to the AK31 Rev3 and the nForce reference board is easily countered by the amount of features they are offering. Being the first board to offer USB 2.0 support should get the MSI board additional market support. I am presenting the MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU motherboard with an Editor’s Choice award. In my opinion, the features of the board more than make up for the performance decrease that I witnessed during the tests.
Be sure to visit the AMD Forums for all the latest information and discussion on this and other AMD motherboards!!
