Now I'm confused! Ai MagiK

[Guest]

Hello All,

First can I say that they info on these boards has been excellent, and has really helped me on deciding which way to go on upgrading my PC, without you I would have made some bad choices!

Onto my confusion: I am going to replace my Sockey 7 Cyrix motherboard/CPU in a months time, and I want to go the AMD route. My plan is to start with a Duron and keep my 128Mb PC100, before upgrading to an Ghz+ Athlon at some time in the future and either PC133 or DDR. Also I want an AGP Pro slot for future Graphics ability. I am not really an Overclocker, though if I can I might dabble in that area.

Originally after reading Tom's guides I'd decided on the Aopen AK73(A) Pro, but after reading the boards and hearing about the compatibility problems and stability with Via chipsets, I decided on the Ali Magik Asus A7A board, since it had both SDR and DDR, and I was led to believe had no compatibility problems and was solid as a rock, which is really my number one priority over speed (like many other stranger/newbie posters here!).

Now I have just read Tom's guide on the Ali MagiK boards and it suggests that this chipset is NOT stable! So how is the stability of the a7a board really? Is the AMD 760 chipset the only 100% compatable and 100% stable AMD platform out there? The reason I am shy of the AMD is that I would have to buy DDR memory and right now its not that cheap, but is plunging in price so I'd rather buy it later.

Sorry for rambling...If I post more often here you'll get used to me rambling on


Thanks all!

Christopher

 

[Guest]

Greetings TopherBear,

I've turned to Tom's a lot, though I've had zilcho money to upgrade my own system and, in fact, my system finally bought the dust as my old motherboard finally bit the dust ... it was pathetic, I can't even remember who manufactured it, but I was just using what was tossed in the garbage -- just about literally. Was running a Cyrix MII 300 MHz, which runs about as fast as a plain Pentium 100, heh.

Anyhoo, I actually did help a friend put together a system for herself. She bought about $800 worth of components online, all at my suggestion ... I gave her a triple-choice of the A7M, the A7A266, and the A7V266, and explained as best I could the advantages of each (the A7M being the cheapest, the A7V266 likely being the most powerful) ... I knew the Ali chipset was not rated high by Tom's, but I felt its upgradeability with both SDRAM and DDR support made it a lot more attractive ... I felt frustrated because Tom's hadn't rated the ASUS Ali board specificially

She opted for the A7A266 anyway, and we've had -zilcho- problems with it. Not one crash, and she is extremely impressed with its speed, but then, her previously system was a Celeron-266. She opted to go for DDR straight out, though (128 MB), as its actually not too shabbily priced now. She also went for a 7500-RPM hard drive, which I think is probably primarily responsible for the speed she's impressed with, mainly at bootup when Winblows loads.

I think the A7A266 is fine ... its only about $20 cheaper, though, than the A7V266 and $20 more expensive than the good ol' A7V. We haven't had any problems.

She only opted for a Duron-700 for a proc, though, so she's not really taking advantage of the 133 MHz bus. Still, that can be upgraded, she just didn't feel an extra $100 was worth it just yet (I got the Duron-700 for her for $50 vs. ~$150 for a 1 GHz Athlon-C which takes advantage of the 133 MHz bus).

From the review, the A7A266 performs good (not awesome, but good) not just as a DDR platform, but looks like its fairly competitive as a PC133 platform as well ... so if you want to stick with PC133 memory, -especially- if you plan to upgrade to DDR later, I'd highly recommend the A7A266.

As for the proc, well, that's up to you. An Athon-C's performance, I imagine, won't be as grand as it could if you use DDR and its a bit more expensive than a normal Athlon ... on the other hand, going with an Athlon-C now will save you from buying a new processor when you do go with DDR later.

I'd suggest you take a good look at DDR prices, though. Check out www.pricewatch.com ... if you've never been there, though, -be very wary- of any listings that do not specify a shipping price. I'll go with one that lists a shipping price rather than waste time with the ones that don't, most of which require you to enter credit card info just to find out they rape you on shipping ... and I look down the list, adding shipping to the price of the product, and often I'll find several have the same total, but some have a higher product price and lower shipping; I will always opt for those who price honestly and don't tried to hide their true price with an outrageous shipping charge (I've seen some charge $15 to ship a memory module ... -per- memory module!!!)

Anyhoo, best of luck.

-- KlondikeWolf

 

[Guest]

I ordered my KA266 the day before Tom's ALI Roundup.
I am a bit nervous now that I've read it.
I notice that Tom's KA266 board was Ver 1.1.
According to IWILLs website it looks like there are at least 2 revisions after this one. They talk about a "1.3 or latter". It also looks like they have added voltage adjustment, and fixed some stability issues.

I hope I get one of these newer boards. My fingers are crossed.

 

[tlaughrey]

You can order 256 MB sticks of DDR memory from crucial.com for $98.99 and free shipping. That's not too bad.

 

[Guest]

For the record:

I am using the A7A board with:
1.333 Ghz t bird (oem.. bah!)
GeForce2 MX (dual monitor)
768MB pc 133 ram
2x 40 GB 7200 rpm WD HD
Win2000
Using the onboard audio
Really old SMC ethernet card 10T

I mainly run visual C++ and 3D Studio max 3 on this system, as well as the usual web stuff, folding@home, streaming music, the occasional DvD, and games.

I've had the system for about 2 weeks.

Not one single problem so far.

Your mileage may vary.. hehehe.

z

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zila on 05/10/01 12:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

My research from pricelist.com - I only consider name brand, BTW (you waste your time and money otherwise, I've found out the hard way ... generic memory fails, usually at 6 months - 1 years, never at a convenient time)

PC2100 DDR:
Micron 128 MB - $52 (incl. shipping)
Micron 256 MB - $99 (incl. shipping)

I checked out the crucial.com website ... its actually $89.99 ... but I don't see a manufacturer listed, which kinda worries me that its generic memory with no warranty.

I erred in my post ... I meant "would" instead of "should" regarding the Athlon-C and DDR instead of PC133.

If you go for an Athlon-C and DDR anyway, though, I think it'd be worth the extra $20 to get the A7V266 straight out, since that would blow the A7A266 out of the water speedwise.

 

[Guest]

Wow! Your right. I was under the impression that DDR RAM was about twice the price ordinary RAM, but I just checked Dabs (I'm in the UK and these are the poeple I use) and lo and behold they have both sorts at the same price!

However getting back to motherboards, I'm now convinced that I need a board with DDR support, but since I currently have 128Mb of PC100 memory, I would prefer to use that for now, since I don't really want to fork out another £50 for more memory, especially since I have only just got my second stick working (changed the board into a new case and voila!)

I see that I have two choices:

1: Go for the Asus A7A266 now and use my current PC100 memory
2: Wait till the end of the year and see what other DDR solutions are out there and buy M/B + Processor + fan + memory in one go.

Option 1 is enticing since I have a weekend at the beginning of July when my wife is away and I can spend all the time I need with the change over plus I get to really beef my system up NOW. Also Stability and Compatability is more important than speed, I want to make sure I have the best...but also the easiest to upgrade! Thus ALi right now is the only choice for me.

Option 2 is enticing only because the stability/compatability best chipset arguments should be well on their way to be sorted?

Waiting is good, but I also know that in the world of PC's if you wait for the latest tech to sort itself out, you'll be waiting for ever!!

I'm curious about this new SiS735 chipset, I thought SiS had a bad name with AMD?

I'll keep scanning the boards



Thanks all!

Christopher

 

[Guest]

KW: Crucial *IS* the name brand

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by marcoco on 05/15/01 12:05 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jlanka]

>I checked out the crucial.com website ... its actually $89.99 ... but I don't see a manufacturer listed, which kinda worries me that its generic memory with no warranty.

Hooboy, just to reiterate what the last poster said:

crucial memory is probably one of the top 2 or 3 brands you can buy (arguably). Plus they've got a very generous warranty to boot. Check out the web site more closely. Only brand I buy.




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