Mainboards w/DDR Ram?

[SmileyBri]

Any news about Mainboards that support DDR Ram? I am waiting, but am thinking of buying a Micron PC instead of waiting. They seem to have some great systems with the new memory type.

Comments?

Brian

 

[Grizely1]

Sure, there's about 4 out already. But none of them I would buy, because they're from companies I don't trust yet. I think it's Gigabyte, IWill, Biostar, and another one. Soyo maybe? I don't know.

I'm waiting for the ABit and ASUS. They always seem to be the leaders.

 

[JOJO]

yep ... same here.....
hurry up abit and asus... but .... take your time and get it right too....

 

[Guest]

I was wondering what is everyones problem with giga-byte boards. I have a ga-7zxr and a t-bird 1ghz that I love...I have been using there boards for a while now in 5 systems and have had no problems with any of them.

Just wondering
pill128

Take your Pill, and get some sleep.

 

[JOJO]

it's not that I have a problem with the gb boards,i'm sure they make great boards...., but i've read a bunch of comparisons and benchmarks and it always seems that it's the a7v and the abit that are in the lead, although the new msi board seems to be doing well too...

also i had a bad encounter with a sales rep who tried to shove a giga board down my throat, i almost had to beg him to get me an a7v.....but it was sooo cheap

 

[Grizely1]

Well for one, you can't overclock with them. The only good thing is their cool blue color.

 

[yoda271828]

Sadly, Asus may be the board worth waiting for. The Abit KG-20 doesn't look promising: <A HREF="http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=501&page=6" target="_new">http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=501&page=6</A>
If they don't release a full size board with Softmenu III I won't even consider it. Only three PCI slots and CPU adjustments via DIP switches is not what I expect from Abit.

 

[Grizely1]

There's two other ones. The KG7 I think. KG7 and KG7-RAID. Just like KT7, but with DDR and 133FSB support.

 

[yoda271828]

That's more like it! Do you have any links?

 

[Grizely1]

Oh man.... I forget where I saw it! I will look around (it was at a hardware site)

 

[pvsurfer]

I also have the "hots" for DDR. Here are the DDR mobos that will likely be released within the next 30-60 days:

Asus A7M266 (saw it on motherboards.org)
Gigabyte GA-7DX (used in Micron's DDR PC's!)
Iwill KA266-R (saw it on sharkyextreme.com)
MSI MS-6341 (motherboards.org and Tom's as "K7 Master")
Soyo SY-K7ALA-R (motherboards.org)
Tyan Trinity A762 (sharkeyextreme.com)

IMO, of these, the two best are from Asus and MSI.

But note that we not only have to wait out the release of these DDR boards, we also have to wait for AMD to release their 266MHz FSB Thunderbird! I have seen DDR memory out there now, but only in sticks up to 128MB (since I use lots of RAM in scanning/editing photo-images, I sure hope 256MB DDR sticks show up pretty soon).

If anyone can provide additional info (no rumors please), that would be great...

Happy New Year,
pvsurfer

 

[Crashman]

More news? Try this!http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010104/index.html

 

[Crashman]

And if you don't think you can afford DDR, take this! http://www.tomshardware.com/technews/index.html#0107

 

[pvsurfer]

Being a frequent flyer at Tom's, I read both of the above, but thanks anyway.

Re: the DDR SDRAM "deal" that you pointed out, note that it's for the 100/200 MHz PC1600 sticks, NOT the 133/266 MHz PC2100's!

pvsurfer

 

[Crashman]

Ooops sorry, did not even check to see the speed they were doing that with, guesse I just assumed it was PC2100 since 133MHZ seems to be the standard for newer processors.

 

[pvsurfer]

No problemo!

Perhaps this is a little off topic, but still relevant...

The good news: 256MB DDR PC2100 sticks are now available.

The bad news: Best price out there for them is $379US ($176US for the 128MB PC2100 sticks)!
Source: accessmicro.com

Cheers!
pvsurfer

 

[yoda271828]

The Gigabyte board is out and you can find it all over <A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com" target="_new">http://www.pricewatch.com</A>

<A HREF="http://www.mushkin.com" target="_new">http://www.mushkin.com</A> has 256MB sticks of PC2100 DDR-SDRAM. It's $395 though.

Any 200Mhz-DDR Athlon can be used in a mobo supporting a 266Mhz-DDR FSB. All you have to do is unlock the processor and lower the multiplier. That's the only difference between the 200Mhz and 266Mhz Athlons! Tom even states it in his article: <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010104/amd-133fsb-03.html" target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010104/amd-133fsb-03.html</A>

<i>The BIOS-setup allows the alteration of the processor bus clock in small steps and it also lets you overclock the SocketA processors once you closed the L1-bridges on the CPU. Unfortunately MSI forgot to include an option to lower the CPU-multiplier, which would be very useful for owners of 100 MHz FSB Athlon or Duron processors that want to run their CPUs at 133 MHz FSB.</i>

 

[IntelConvert]

"Any 200Mhz-DDR Athlon can be used in a mobo supporting a 266Mhz-DDR FSB. All you have to do is unlock the processor and lower the multiplier. That's the only difference between the 200Mhz and 266Mhz Athlons!"

Yoda - Pardon my ignorance here, but if what you've said (above) is accurate, why would/should anyone pay more for a 266MHz FSB T-bird?

 

[Grizely1]

Who said the 266MHz FSB T-Birds are going to be more money?

 

[IntelConvert]

Come on now Griz, have you been living in a cave? - or were you just joking?

Although the "C" version part is not yet available to us mere mortals, judge for yourself from what the oem's, who are using it in their systems, are charging...

 

[Grizely1]

Do you really think AMD would be stupid enough, like Intel, to charge more money for FSB/Multiplier alterications?

The companies are charging more 'cause of the DDR motherboards and the DDR memory. People think its brand new technology so "Hey it must be more money", just like Intel and their P4 scam.

 

[IntelConvert]

Griz - it's not stupidity, it's called "marketing". Anyhow, I hope you are right, but only time will tell.

 

[Grizely1]

Yes I know - And Intel <i>really</i> sucks at it.

 

[Guest]

Just a quick Question. THe OEMS do have then T-Birds running with 266mHZ? Example getting a gigabyte 7DX with DDR 266 MhZ with 1.2 T-Bird should I assume that it will be comiing with a TBird with 266MhZ bus speed processor.