Tyan Trinity K7 S2380 KX133 Slot-A ATX

The Bad

Stability is a major issue with motherboards, and from our tests, we have yet to see a KX133 based motherboard that measures up to the stability we experienced on the ASUS K7V-RM. While the S2380, like the EPoX and AOpen boards, was generally a stable solution, it provided for a noticeable difference in stability between itself and the ASUS board. The S2380 should be fine for most users, as the board is far from being horrendously unstable, but for the users that leave their systems on 24/7 and aren't used to rebooting every now and then, the ASUS board may be a better alternative. For the average gamer, SOHO user, etc..., the S2380 should do just fine.

The lack of a heatsink on the 371 North Bridge won't be a problem for most, but if you have a cooler that somehow channels the air above the CPU's heatsink without first having it flow across the surface of the North Bridge chip, you may encounter some erratic performance from a stability standpoint. Luckily, placing a heatsink/fan unit on that chip isn't a major problem if this is the case.

As we mentioned earlier, it would have been nice for Tyan to include an external USB header to take full advantage of the four USB ports supported by the 686A South Bridge. Unfortunately, finding these external ports is apparently not as easy as stumbling across something more common like Ultra ATA 66 cables, so this may be a bit of a disappointment if you were planning on setting up front USB ports on your system.

The lack of any overclocking options, such as 105/110MHz FSB settings, makes the S2380 a bit undesirable to those that want to get the most out of their systems, but with the popularity of overclocking cards, this may not be such a big disappointment. However, do keep in mind that a decent overclocking card will set you back at least $40 - $50.

Although it is normal among today's motherboards, it should be noted that PCI slots 3 & 6 share an IRQ, as do 4 & 5. Since most PCI devices work just fine while sharing an IRQ, this shouldn't cause any trouble.

USB Compatibility

• Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2

• USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes

• USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes

Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC133 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Corsair
Purchase Website: http://www.corsairmicro.com

Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Website: http://www.mushkin.com