The best AMD motherboard. . .

[Guest]

Well, the time has finally come for me to upgrade my motherboard.

Here is what my current system looks like so far:

700 mHz Athlon Classic
FIC SD11 motherboard
448 MB PC133 Crucial SDRAM
GeForce3

Obviously the SD11 and 700 mHz Athlon don't really belong with the rest of the system but right now I am focusing on a motherboard upgrade solely. I would like to keep using SDRAM and the GeForce3 (obviously) and also would like to tell you that I will use this computer for development and gaming purposes.

I have read all kinds of reviews and been to various sites but figured I would come to the authority before I made any final decision.

So far here are the recomendations I have gotten (in no particular order):

1. Iwill KK266
2. Abit KT7A
3. MSI K7T Turbo

Being that I have never tried to do a motherboard upgrade and was a person that just bought a new system when it was time to upgrade, I am pretty clueless when it comes to deciding which motherboard to go with.

So I ask you, whether choosing one of the three above or making you own call, what is THE best AMD motherboard that would fit with my "parts" and needs?

 

[dan_gao86]

i'm considering a MSI K7 Master board for my upgrade...
perhaps you'd like to try???

 

[Guest]

First are you upgrading your CPU as well? You have a slot A CPU, those boards are socket A, your CPU will not fit. If you want the best Athlon Classic board ever made it's the Abit KA7 (KX133 chipset) and I'm typing on one right now. (Old PC of course. There really is no reason to upgrade your mobo only unless you REALLY need more PCI (KA7 has 6) slots or something. (Like 4 RAM slots which the KA7 has.)

If you upgrade to a socket A Tbird I'd go with the IWill because then you can carry over your current RAM and upgrade to DDR a little later.

I AM Canadian.

 

[Guest]

Well, if I went with the Abit KA7 because of my classic 700 mHz, then I would not be able to upgrade my CPU unless I went with another Classic (which are getting rare).

I probably will upgrade my CPU as well as my mobo as soon as I figure out which mobo I will be getting (depending on the price I will decide what CPU I will get).

 

[noko]

The KK266 is a very friendly, stable, overclockers dream board. Look at AnAndTech recent roundup of KT133A boards. The top two of all of them was the Asus A7V and the IWILL KK266. Check it out. I have a KK266 and I couldn't ask for more in stability and performance.

Well to eat your <b>C kie</b> and have it too, gotta get <b>Rade n II</b>

 

[Guest]

How is the IWILL KK266 as far as being upgradeable?

Also, which chip would you reccomend purchasing?

 

[Guest]

I have an Iwill KK266 and you should get one too.
Go and upgrade to a 1ghz 266 FSB Athlon too, both of these won't cost you that much.

<font color=blue>Your Mouse moved. WINDOWS NT must restart for changes to take effect. Restart Now? [OK]</font color=blue>

 

[OzzieBloke]

If you are not desperate for an upgrade, you may want to wait to see the performance of the SiS 735-based motherboards.

Cow with legs spread wide either dead or playing 'cello.

 

[Guest]

I have an Iwill KK266 and you should get one too.
Go and upgrade to a 1ghz 266 FSB Athlon too, both of these won't cost you that much.

How much would this set me back?

 

[Guest]

Personally, I've seen a 1Ghz - mobo combo for around 300 dollars. The switch from 200Mhz to 266Mhz FSB isn't going to cost you that much either. For the CPU's around 1 Ghz, the difference may be no more than ten bucks. However, branch off toward 1.3-1.4 Athlons, and those will have you shell out an extra 50-60 for FSB.

 

[Guest]

At www.pricewatch.com (source for lowest prices and up):

AMD 1Ghz 266Mhz clocks-in at a low $98.

AMD 1.2Ghz 266Mhz clocks-in at a low $112.

AMD 1.33Ghz 266Mhz clocks-in at a low $144.

AMD 1.44Ghz 266Mhz clocks-in at a low $184.


Pick and choose my friend. My only recommendation would be to stick with the 266Mhz front side bus versions of the Athlons. If you go looking for the prices yourself at www.pricewatch.com use the following in the search field:

AMD 1Ghz 266Mhz.

Chance the clock speed (1, 1.2, 1.33, 1.4) for prices quoting on the various models. Good luck.




A nice day to all.

 

[Guest]

If you are willing to wait, then sit and wait for mobos based on nForce or SiS 735 chipsets. If you can't wait for a couple of months, but can wait for a week or so, then consider Abit KG7. It's gonna be the King of AMD760 chipset. The only such board that can support 4 unbuffered DDR sticks.

Leo

 

[Guest]

I am actually shying away from DDR because I already have 448 MB of RAM. Now, I am just trying to figure out whether to wait a little longer or go with a new mobo now.

 

[allgoodpeople]

Personally, unless you really need a high speed system, I'd go with the ABIT KT7A-RAID. You can still use all the PC133 you've got, and you can buy a processor that will work in the new DDR boards if you choose to go that route in the future. The board is good, and the instability issues are minimal, mostly because it's been out long enough that the patches and corrections are there to fix the problems before you come to them. You have a huge resource to draw on if you do experience problems.

The RAID feature is nice too. The mobo will overclock in a number of ways if that's how you want to go as well. it's a good mobo, and getting more and more affordable.


allgoodpeople

"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing milkbone underwear."

 

[noko]

The KK266 has 3phase power going to the cpu vice the 2 phase power of the A7V133. The multiple for the cpu goes up to 14. So 14 x 133 = 1862mhz. Voltage can be varied 1.125 to 1.85v in .25v increments. In short very upgradable. 3phase power comes into affect more with lower voltage cpu's with higher clock speeds requiring more amps with a steady output. Plus the 3phase power to the cpu runs cooler then a 2 phase power source. No idea if there will be any problems with the Athlons 4's. I don't expect any. The Iwill KK266 is a overclocker dream board, it remains stable better then other boards when overclocked. Plus you can adjust the I/O voltage to help in stability if you overclock the FSB, also it has four fan headers. A Raid version is also available.

Well to eat your <b>C kie</b> and have it too, gotta get <b>Rade n II</b>

 

[Guest]

just checked out pricewatch:

AMD 1.0ghz 266 FSB OEM--$97
Iwill KK266--$107

total: $204 (without shipping--plus you'll need to spend a little more on a good HSF)

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[Ncogneto]

Athlon Classic board ever made it's the Abit KA7 (KX133 chipset)

naw second best the best was the asus k7v

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

 

[noko]

Well I have a KA7 working with my MX400. It is a very good mobo since you can set the cpu cache divider in the bios which means you can overclock a classic Athlon to much higher speeds and not worry about the external cache stopping you. That feature alone makes it the best. It is also very stable as long as you stay in AGP 2x. 6pci slots, 1 isa, 4 memory slots, Texas Instrument memory buffers to allow 4 dims up to 2gigs of memory to work. Short lived due to the T-Bird coming out only 3 months after its release.

Well to eat your <b>C kie</b> and have it too, gotta get <b>Rade n II</b>

 

[Ncogneto]

Bah, I built platforms on both still think the k7v is better. One of the few boards that does not have issues with AGP 4x ( mine has a gainword geforce2 pro golden sample), which in my opinion makes it the best Tom's bench's agreed with me as well, but I digress it is a matter of personal taste as both were good boards ( the chaintech as well). As far as overclockability, series slot a overclockers use a GFD ( you can use it on a slot a bird too) and cache dividers can be adressed using a program called Mathlon. the AGP issue cannot be addressed by any other means rather then getting a new board.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

 

[noko]

Supposenly Abit would altered the KA7 in order to correct the AGP problem, I never pursued it. Plus the boards manufacured after June of last year suppose to have a working 4x AGP. How did the cache program you mentioned worked and when during the boot cycle? The KA7 would change the cache setting and then change the FSB during bootup. The GF device changes the multiplier and voltage if selected so changing the cache early is really important in order to overclock. Still it is a matter of preference, for the most part 2x and 4x AGP for games is insignificant. while in professional applications 4x AGP comes important. ASUS must had really worked hard on the K7V because its maybe the only KX-133 board that would do AGP4x, plus it has a agp pro slot.

Well to eat your <b>C kie</b> and have it too, gotta get <b>Rade n II</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by noko on 06/17/01 00:58 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Ncogneto]

Yes mathlon does work during the boot process before windows loads. The better GF devices also gave you choices in the cache divers ( not neccesary however when using mathlon). I liked the Abit board but found the asus to be better in my opinion.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

 

[Guest]

Personally, unless you really need a high speed system, I'd go with the ABIT KT7A-RAID. You can still use all the PC133 you've got, and you can buy a processor that will work in the new DDR boards if you choose to go that route in the future. The board is good, and the instability issues are minimal, mostly because it's been out long enough that the patches and corrections are there to fix the problems before you come to them. You have a huge resource to draw on if you do experience problems.

The RAID feature is nice too. The mobo will overclock in a number of ways if that's how you want to go as well. it's a good mobo, and getting more and more affordable.


allgoodpeople

"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing milkbone underwear."

What kind of chip would I have to buy that would be able to work with DDR boards in the future?

Thanks again.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

im using a a7v133. it can handle the classic @ 100,
nice and stable. great for overclocking.


My Hamster has 512MB of SDRAM @ 150Mhz CAS 2!

 

[Guest]

the sis 735 chipset will support ddr-ram and sdram-133, and tom just reviewed at being the best performer. If you can wait for it to hit the market it would seem like the perfect choice considering you ram situation. You can change to ddr when it starts to show giant performance leaps.

I hope I am not repeating something you already know.

 

[Guest]

When will the SiS 735 come out?