Athlon 266 Bus Motherboards

[Synpax]

I noticed that the Athlon ThunderBirds with the 266 FSB are available now.

I plan to buy a 1.2 266 and a Motherboard to go with it. The guides here on Motherboard don't seem to suggest that you need a different Motherboards for the 266 from the 200.

So what motherboard should I get?

Sorry for sounding like a total n3wb, but I bet I can kick your ass in Q3. Hahah.

 

[Guest]

It depends on if you want to use DDR or Regular SDRAM.
If you just want to use PC133, then get a motherboard
with a VIA KT133A chipset. That chipset supports
266mhz front side bus. If you want to use DDR ram,
get a motherboard that has the AMD760 chipset. That supports
PC2100 DDR ram at 266mhz frontside bus. Use that, at least until the VIA KT266 DDR chipset comes out the end of this month.

 

[Guest]

Your going to want to get a K7 Master or K7 Master SCSI....try finding one though, and getting it before the end of March

Some people may say get a ASUS A7M260...but K7 Master seems to be more Stable...

=Quantum
AO Admin
The Dr.Twister Network
http://ao.drtwister.com

 

[IntelConvert]

While "the latest and greatest" in the world of PCs doesn't remain that way for very long before something better comes along, it's DDR right now! While KT133A boards are a logical and less expensive UPGRADE for those with KT133 rigs, IMHO it's not the smart way to go if you are building or buying a new system at this time. I recommend that you seriously start looking at DDR boards (with PC2100 DDR SDRAM) to complement that hot new 266MHz FSB T-bird.

 

[Guest]

If you're looking for a KT133A board, I'd recommend the
IWill KK266. I just got it the other day, and it just runs
so nice. Also, the day after it was delivered, Iwill
released a new bios that enables voltages down to 1.1, and
lets you set the fsb up to 200.
Yes, that would make for a double pumped equiv of a 400 mhz
fsb, when the athlons get released that can go that high.

Hope this helps.
BC

 

[Guest]

dude, if you want performance AND stability, i wouldn't argue against a7m266 ddr

IT'S SWEET !

 

[IntelConvert]

I can't give you specifics, but Steve Benoit <b>"Stable"</b> (a frequent contributor here), has tested the A7M266 and says that it has problems, not the least of which is instability!

 

[Guest]

We seem to be seeing a mixed bag as far as reviews for the A7M266. The following are positive reviews that I've seen:

http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7m266/

http://active-hardware.com/english/reviews/mainboard/a7m266.htm

http://www.gamepc.com/reviews/hardware_review.asp?review=a7m266&page=1&mscssid=&tp=

http://www.slota.com/reviews/asus/a7m266/

At the same time the guys over at HardOCP say they have had problems with their boards and the guy from Stable seems to mention similar things. I find it interesting that Dr. Tom, Sharkyextreme, and Anand haven't done their own reviews on this board. Normally Tomshardware tends to do reviews on Asus boards. At the same time, there aren't many DDR boards to compare against so maybe these sites are waiting for some other DDR competition?

At this point I would have to say that I simply don't know. Some folks seem to run the board without any problems , good stability, and get some good benchmarks. Then we hear problems (mostly on message boards) that people are having regarding stablility. Wish I knew for sure.