Asus A7A or MSI K7T266 Pro

[Guest]

Looking for opinions on a good mobo.
I am buying an AMD 1.33Ghz@266 and some PC 2100 DDr RAM. Therefore I have narrowed my search to these 2 boards. Anyone have good suggestions or comments before I take the final plunge into buying one of these boards. It would be appreciated.

The computer will be used for some basic home use and gaming, some internet development and stuff like that. I just want something reliable, stable and of course, overclockable (is that a word? whatever!)

Thanx!!!!

<font color="red">"Bandwidth is like a drug; Once you're hooked, you only want more."</font>

 

[SERVO]

Stay away from the K7T266 to many problems. I not sure about the A7A. You should look into the K7-Master you won't be sorry. This MB should fit all your needs especially STABLE!!!

K7-Master Ver. 1.1 2 dimm Bios Ver 1.1
T-Bird 1.2 266fsb retail box OC'ed to 1.4
{cpu host/pci clock: 140/35}
{cpu Vcore select: Default}
{cpu ratio: x10}
Tai-Sol CGK760092 H/S
Crucial 256mb PC2100 CL=2.5
Unbuffered non-parity 8-8-8-3-7-2-3
Asus V7700 32 DDR Geforce 2
{Memory Clock 400}
{Core Clock 210}
{8500 3D Mark 2000}
IBM 30GB 75GPX ATA/100 HD
SB Ensoniq in slot 3
56k Modem in slot 4
50x cd-rom
Enlight 7237 Mid Tower 350 PS w/ extra fan
Win 98se
Drivers Installed using newest downloads
{VIA Atapi}
{IRQ routing}
{VIA INF}
{AMD AGP mini port}
Drivers off the CD
{MSI nVidia Drivers}
{DirectX 8}

 

[Guest]

Yeah, don't get any KT266 board, let the platform stabalize. A7A is ok, but I can't recommened MAGiK, so yeah MSI K7Master is the best AMD 760 board, the only kink in it's armor is the whole VIA 686B south bridge issue but I think it's been fixed now.

P.S. Asus A7M266 is pretty good too, except they've stopped producing it.

 

[SERVO]

All VIA MB's have had this problem. It has been fixed! but combined with the AMD761 north and the VIA686b south chipset you have a very stable board. There's a few issues to be solved by the BIOS updates and the problems people are having with this MB are so simple to fix it's almost a joke!! I would recommend this MB to anyone who just wants a decent, problem free, stable, fast, easy to OC {not the best} and most of all NO! WEIRD! unfixable, drive you insane, complicated, need a PHD in computers to FIX!!. Unless you like it!! Check out www.msihardware.com and {I'm sick of saying this} yourself!!! I spent months before I picked the K7-MASTER on the pure fact that I DON'T WANT TO SPEND MY SPARE TIME FIXING MY INVESTMENT!!!!! I want to enjoy it!!! and This is what I'm doing. Most of the people on this forum are just reflecting there own experiences {I am too} with what they purchased. Remember these are a small selection of people!! VIA screwed up with there kt133 and now there kt166 chipset, there are to many problems beyond a simple BIOs fix. You will find people who swear there choice is solid {THERE LUCKY!!} Don't be fooled by a few!!!! There are very few MBs that are truely stable and trouble free!! I don't stand alone in my opinion. TRY! to find K7-Master unresolved issues on any forum!! . Unless you have this MB, You will never understand how easy it was to put together and how simple it was to fix IRQ, DRIVER, BIOs, and any other hardware problems!!! AMD put together a chipset that they Knew would work!!, the only downfall was the price!! So ask yourself!! is a few more $$ worth alot less headaches!!! On a final note! If people stopped!! rating a MB on the shear performance of how far you can OC!!! and focused more on the reliability and general performance of a MB there would be a short list to choose from!!

 

[Booky]

I have the K7T266 Pro and well if you want "out of the box" stability then I would probably recommend the K7 Master. However if you are willing to work with the board at first and flash a BIOS or two, then the K7T266 is for you. I myself have been haveing fun with my K7T266 untill I sent it away for a resistor mod that is no longer needed because of a BIOS update. Anyway if you don't mind flashing BIOS and playing with BIOS settings some untill you find what is stable for your setup then get the K7T266 for it is the best performer out right now. And if you want a easy, stable, and best performer out of the box then get the K7 Master. The only drawback to the Master is its only got 2 DDR slots vs the 3 on K7T266 Pro.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.