Asus A7M question

[Guest]

My local computer store is telling me that the reason that they don't carry Asus A7M board is becuase they think that it has been recalled by Asus. I find that hard to believe.

Does the fact that the A7A board having SDRAM compatibility limit the performance of DDR RAM on this board?

I have no plan to use SDRAM at all so what is the benefit of either of these boards?

 

[Guest]

The board hasn't been recalled. If their is a legit reason why these guys can't get them it's probably because the AMD chipsets are somewhat limited in supply. Waaaay back in March there were all kinds of rumors that Asus was discontinuing the A7M266, only a few weeks after it was generally available to the public. Months later I think that rumor has proven to be false. Though they are currently on "order on request" status at TC computers(www.tccomputers.com), just two days ago they had 16 of them over there and they are getting more all of the time.

"Does the fact that the A7A board having SDRAM compatibility limit the performance of DDR RAM on this board?"

In a word, yes. System builders may like the Ali because it allows them more flexibility in making systems (more memory choices), but the ability to handle more types of memory adds to system overhead. For computers "simple" is usually faster. One of the reasons Intel has usually trounced Via on memory performance tests is that Intel runs everything synchronously. If the processor is running at 133 Mhz, the bus is running at 133 Mhz, and the memory is running at 133 MHZ. Everything is dancing to the same tune. That is what is going on with the AMD DDR boards. Everything is running synchronously and, so far, they are the overall performance leaders. The Via and Ali solutions both can run asynchronously or synchronously and that added flexibility tends to hurt performance. Maybe someone will come out with a better DDR solution in the future that somehow bypasses the AMD solution (Nvidia's nForce? SIS 735?) but for now it is the performance king.





Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. - Mark Twain

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your expertise on my question.

Based on what you told me...would I be better off with an MSI board using a VIA 761 chipset over the Asus A7A?

Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

Though I have the A7M266 and like Asus products in general, if it was a choice between the Ali based A7A266 and the MSI 760 board, I would go with the MSI. Many people on the forums I've visited have been very happy with the MSI K7 master for their systems. Besides, it costs quite a bit less than the A7M2266. That MSI board, by everything I've heard, is one of the most stable AMD 760 based boards out there.

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. - Mark Twain

 

[Crashman]

I advise my clients and friends to get the A7A266. 2-3% less performance than the A7M266, but with absolutely NO reported compatablility problems with the PCI bus. Most report 100% stability with the 1.004 BIOS. A guy in here said his DDR did not work right, so I suggest Crucial memory as it has proven completely compatable. Oh, another guy in here said he needed to update his AGP driver.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine