Recommendations? Athlon T-Bird C

[Guest]

Hey all, new to these boards nice to meet y'all

This is a long post so hang in there(so do a quick save in Deus Ex, alt-tab, read this post, and the wait won't seem as long when you go back )

Okay, I got a bit of confusion over which motherboard I should buy. Firstly i'm not really in tune with technology that much so just a few questions that need answering:

<b>1.</b>
I hear that the 'C' at the end of Thunderbird denotes a 266FSB as opposed to the 200FSB on the 'B'. I assume that 266FSB is better (not knowing what it is really) but can every Socket A motherboard: 'make use of' or 'support' this or is this just a stand alone feature of the processor itself independent of the mobo?
<i>Oh wait: just read some article on here that says something about the T-Bird being double pumped so i'm guessing this 266MHz FSB refers to the 133MHz "Max. System bus". So i guess any 133MHz Mobo will be able to make full functionality of the features of the Thunderbird-C, correct me if i'm wrong.</i>

<b>2.</b>
First go here then read the question below:
<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=faq&notfound=1&code=1" target="_new">http://forumz.tomshardware.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=faq&notfound=1&code=1</A>
If that link didn't work here's what i'm getting at: When using the Tom's Hardware "Product Database|Motherboards|Compare" feature, and compare 3 motherboards which i'm taking into consideration (Asus A7M266, MSI K7 Master, and MSI K7 Master-S), I scroll down to the part where it mentions the "Maximum CPU clock supported" cell and read 1.2GHz. Does this mean that the highest speed processor I can buy in terms of AMD's are 1.2GHz T-Bird-C 266FSB?

<b>3.</b>
Why is there such a significant price difference between the 2 MSI motherboards (link is above), when all I can see is a slight change in the SCSI connector. Plus the links to each of the articles are exactly the same.

<b>4.</b>
Should I even consider getting one of the MSI mobo's if it's likely that i'm not going to be buying any SCSI hardware?

<b>5.</b>
What are AMR slots and CNR slots mentioned in the comparison (link above).

Realistically i'm probably not going to even consider going for the Master-S due to the fact that I won't be buying any SCSI devices and the price is a bit off my budget so for me it's a toss-up against the A7M266 and the MSI K7 Master. Is there a reason for the MSI board being cheaper than the Asus one or is this really a matter of 'brand names'. Only thing that springs to mind is the 4 USB ports as opposed to the 2 USB ports that the MSI one's have. I guess i'm a bit of an Asus fan as they have served me well so far but if someone can convince me to buy the MSI - which seems to have a few more features (more RAM support, SCSI support), probably ones I won't use but still... anyways, start convincing me or tell me any problems you may have encountered with on of the boards.

Thanks for your time.

Yours fragfully,
<b>-<font color=blue>epsilon</font color=blue><font color=green>42</font color=green></b>

 

[hmg57]

What determines if your mobo supports 266Mhz FSB is its chipset. As for the comparison, 1.2GHz was probably the fastest Athlon available at that time. These boards can handle faster CPU. I have no experience with any of these boards but I've heard lots of good comments on both. You shouldn't have any problems with these mobos.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair...

 

[girish]

Hi,

1. I hear that the 'C' at the end of Thunderbird denotes a 266FSB as opposed to the 200FSB on the 'B'. I assume that 266FSB is better (not knowing what it is really) but can every Socket A motherboard: 'make use of' or 'support' this or is this just a stand alone feature of the processor itself independent of the mobo?
Oh wait: just read some article on here that says something about the T-Bird being double pumped so i'm guessing this 266MHz FSB refers to the 133MHz "Max. System bus". So i guess any 133MHz Mobo will be able to make full functionality of the features of the Thunderbird-C, correct me if i'm wrong.

your are right. a fsb of 266 MHz on a Athlon does mean double pumped 133 MHz real frequency. Basically, its a clever technique of using both clock edges of a clock signal to read/write data. you might know what a periodical digital signal is. its a square wave so to say, which attains either of the two levels alternately. traditionally, its only either its rising or falling edge were used to do data transactions, which was logical since every operation is supposed to be synchronised with the clock, see the diagram: (dunno if it shows up right)
rising edge
| falling edge
V_ _V _ _ _ _
_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_ clock signal
v v v v v v --> traditional instances for data
V V V V V V V V V V V V --> use both edges of the clock

the result? practically double amount of data read every clock cycle. thats DDR - Double Data Rate!

2. First go here then read the question below:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=faq&notfound=1&code=1
If that link didn't work here's what i'm getting at: When using the Tom's Hardware "Product Database|Motherboards|Compare" feature, and compare 3 motherboards which i'm taking into consideration (Asus A7M266, MSI K7 Master, and MSI K7 Master-S), I scroll down to the part where it mentions the "Maximum CPU clock supported" cell and read 1.2GHz. Does this mean that the highest speed processor I can buy in terms of AMD's are 1.2GHz T-Bird-C 266FSB?

basically, there is no restriction on the frequency (in terms of FSB as well as multiplier) a board should support, its implemented in the CPU, and a 200 MHz FSB could be easily overclocked to 133 or even more.
that was its officially support frequency at the time of writing, since it was the fastest processor then. later processors are also supported by the board, but would need a BIOS update to identify them. if the multiplier setting is left to the user by way of DIP switchs or jumpers, then its user's freehand what he chooses, he could even put a Ahtlon 1.4GHz and run it at 1700 (even just changing the FSB of 200 to 266 (thats 100 to 133) on a CPU could make it work at 33* more speed! thats how a future CPu would be supported.

3.Why is there such a significant price difference between the 2 MSI motherboards (link is above), when all I can see is a slight change in the SCSI connector. Plus the links to each of the articles are exactly the same.

it may be due to the use of the SCSI chips and implementation of RAID. SCSI chips are too expensive, and RAID chips adds to its cost. then, its the pricing policy of the manufacturers, who will ask them? they might have theor own reasons!

4. Should I even consider getting one of the MSI mobo's if it's likely that i'm not going to be buying any SCSI hardware?

not all MSI mobos come with SCSI, there are non-SCSI versions of almost all popular boards.
if you really arent intrerested in SCSI right now, then DONT. it will be unnecessarily expensive. and you can always buy a SCSI card if at all you need SCSI in future.

5.What are AMR slots and CNR slots mentioned in the comparison (link above).

they are "Audio Modem Riser" and "Communication and Networking Riser" slots, which frankly have no takers today.
there are very few cards that go into them. these are specialised slots for specialised devices, as the names suggest. i guess modem is the common device between them.

Realistically i'm probably not going to even consider going for the Master-S due to the fact that I won't be buying any SCSI devices and the price is a bit off my budget so for me it's a toss-up against the A7M266 and the MSI K7 Master. Is there a reason for the MSI board being cheaper than the Asus one or is this really a matter of 'brand names'. Only thing that springs to mind is the 4 USB ports as opposed to the 2 USB ports that the MSI one's have. I guess i'm a bit of an Asus fan as they have served me well so far but if someone can convince me to buy the MSI - which seems to have a few more features (more RAM support, SCSI support), probably ones I won't use but still... anyways, start convincing me or tell me any problems you may have encountered with on of the boards.

i would suggest the A7A266 based on ALi Magik chipset, which offers the flexibility of SDR as well as DDR, and offer 133 MHz FSB as well as is rock stable. one more interesting thing about that, which many of us miss: it has a real hardware sound chip - the CMedia4378 6 channel audio against some AC97 codec (a sort of soft audio in which CPU does most of the work, using up cycles and giving just enough performance as well as quality) on most boards.

best of luck, get the right thing!

girish


<font color=blue>die-hard fans don't have heat-sinks!</font color=blue>