QUICK! best overclocking mobo for athlonC + SDRAM.

[lhgpoobaa]

my asus a7v133 is dying in its ass, with it steadfastly crashing at 133mhz system bus.

after a very lengthly troubleshooting ive ruled out everything else i think.

not cables or HDD as i can run at a FSB of 100 fine (also means PCi speeds are fine at 33)

not processor as i can run at 1. 12x100=1200 ok
2. 9x133=1200 dies
3. 7x133=933 dies
4. 9.5x100=950 ok
5. 12x100fsb and ram at 133 it too is ok, so its not the ram.

so its going back. if possible i will demand a different mobo as i want to overclock and i DONT want another a7v133 going bad, nor do i want some of the problems ive encountered due to that mobo.

so what i need to know is the best mobo given the following guidlines.
1. for athlonC
2. for SDRAM only.
3. great AND reliable long term FSB overclocking (flexible pci/agp speeds handy)
4. onboard raid OPTIONAL, not essential.

so what should it be? are the epox or abit any better than each other? any others which shine?

advice needed ASAP.

Need MUCH more chlorine in the gene pool i believe.

 

[Abitols]

I recommend you the Iwill KK266 (VIA KT133A):
very fast, stable, highly overclockable, raid...

The ABIT KT7A is an excellent option too.

 

[FatBurger]

I have a KT7a-RAID. Great board, I get really, really good memory scores in Sandra. I haven't had much luck overclocking, (at 140x10 with a 133x9 chip right now), but it's totally stable otherwise.

<font color=green>In memory of those who died, simply because they lived in America.
Rest in peace.</font color=green>

 

[Abitols]

FatBurger:
I agree with you. I have a KT7A-R too, very stable and fast, big support around the web.
I just can't make it run beyond 140MHz with stability, that's a pity.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

If you want the <b>BEST FSB OVERCLOCKING SD-RAM AMD MOTHERBOARD</b>, it is the IWILL KK266 (you can go with either the PLUS or RAID version, whatever rocks your boat). There is absolutely NO comparisons in terms of HIGH FSB overclocking. I have mine at 150fsb, if I go any higher, my TV-TUner card in my PCI bus starts to puke. But many reviewers are able to get the FSB to 156mhz and HIGHER (some even to 165mhz) and are totally stable after hours, and sometimes days, of burn-ins and benchmarkings!!! How's THAT for high fsb overclocking and stability?!
Just make sure you pair them up with some good ram (idealy, 150mhz corsair.)

See a real naked pic of Britney Spears <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/stick_e_mouse" target="_new">here</A>!!!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hmmm
2 votes for the abit k7t and one for the iwill.

also had the change to look at toms benchies of the two and the abit usually comes out better.

as for overclocking, ideally i would want it to match my now dying a7v133
it could do up to 154, and my longest run was 150Mhz for 4 days straight. and that ended cauz i had to reboot due to a driver install, not cauz it showed any signs of instability.
unlike now

no need to worry on the ram department here. allready got 2 well proven sticks of 256Mb Kingmax PC150 sdram.
and yes, ive checked each one individually to ensure that they arnt cauzing my crashes.
definately mobo.
(133fsb, 133 ram fails, while 100fsb, 133ram does not)



Need MUCH more chlorine in the gene pool i believe.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

Actually, its tied--TWO for Iwill kk266 and TWO for the Abit K7T.

True, some of the benchmarks <i>slightly</i> edges out the Iwill at DEFAULT speeds. I thought your looking for overclockability! Didn't you read FatBurger's and Abitols' amazing 140mhz overclocked FSB =)
I don't know of any other AMD SD-RAM mobo that can compete with the Iwill KK266 in FSB overclocking , just read some other reviews and benchmarks, not just Tom's =)
With your same Ram brand and type, I think I read it at ocworkbench (not sure), they got the IWILL KK266-R to run very stable at 157mhz FSB.

See a real naked pic of Britney Spears <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/stick_e_mouse" target="_new">here</A>!!!

 

[Guest]

KT7-Raid No doubt about it. I've got one and i love it.
If your mobo is dying though, take the opportunity to upgrade your RAM it's dirt cheap right now. KG7 anyone?

<font color=blue>I for one run Quake 3 on a P133(No MMX)</font color=blue>I have no affiliatioin w/ Intel

 

[khha4113]

I still prefer Asus A7V133. The best overclocking mobo to me (TB 1G@ 1.4GHz).

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[FatBurger]

2 votes for the abit k7t

Actually, the KT7<font color=red>a</font color=red>. Huge difference in overclocking.

And the reason I'm not above 140MHz is because I have a bad CPU stepping (AVIA) and cheap ram (although running at 140 2-2-2-5/7). That's why I can't go any higher, not because of the board.

<font color=green>In memory of those who died, simply because they lived in America.
Rest in peace.</font color=green>

 

[njeske]

I have the KT7A-Raid with a 1.13GHz processor and it works great. Due to PSU limitations, I wasn't able to overclock before. However, after a slight PSU upgrade, I got to 1.3GHz fine. Now I just need to get some PC150 RAM and I should be able to hit an FSB of 145 or better. The KT7A is also well known for stable multiplier overclocking as well as FSB overclocking. Just make sure you CPU is unlocked.

The Iwill board does have higher FSB overclocking ability, but the stability isn't as good as Abit's. Also, read the THG review of both boards... the Abit seems to score better than Iwill in almost every benchmark... hmmm....

 

[lhgpoobaa]

well my PC is away getting checked out. find out later today precisey what wrong with it (as if i dont know)
all still under warantee so hopefully i wont have to pay anything.

if the mobo IS dead dunno what ill do. get antoher a7v133 or possibly the KT7A or the KK266.
choices choices.

reading the posts it seems the KK266-R has the fsb overclocking edge, but the KT7A has the slight speed edge in benchmarks.

anyone actually tried the KT7A with PC150 or PC166 ram and removed cards that crash at high fsb? cauz i really want my mobo to be able to run at 160. using my a7v133 i know that my ram and devices can, but the board just couldnt. 154 was the magical number.
also... for you FSB overclockers out there, how LONG have u been running at such elevated bus speeds? i want this mobo to last at least 12-18 months, not like this one which had barely done 4.

In memory of the 90+ Auzzies missing in the WTC disaster. An attack that has changed the world.

 

[Guest]

You have a problem with your NorthBridge.
http://www.chip-online.com/news_stories/news_stories_3612.html

I have the same problem. When my computer is cold I can get it to boot at 9 * 133 (I have a 1.2 C) but if I reboot it it won't post.
I think there are 2 solutions :
- change the fan on the northbridge for a better one
- get a new board.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

wish my problem was that repeatable...

to get u up to date:
took my beast in to be looked at.
it ran fine *rolls eyes*
got it home it also ran fine
which made me think...
bumpy roads...
hmmmm. bad contact maybe?

so moving on...
last nite i chopped out the rean of the case so the fan had a nice big hole to push air out of (lower mobo & cpu temps by 3-4C)
anyway... upon reboot my pc ran for 15 mins then just kept locking up... and i knew i didnt do anything besides cut out the metal... AND MOVE THE CASE AROUND AGAIN.
so i reseated all the cards and power connectors and it ran fine for 4+ hours till bed time.
then this morning, it locked up upon returning from hibernate mode (first time for that).
upon reboot it was fine, and has been running at full speed since then 5+ hours, stress testing, games, audio ripping mp3 creation constant cure for cancer mp3 playing....

*sigh* very curious issue. here one moment, gone the next, manifesting itself at different times, but in the same way.
complete lockup occasionally iwth constant pc speaker tone.

also tried a couple of reboots too. no problems

think ill keep going with this mobo for a little. i really want to pin down the issue.

In memory of the 90+ Auzzies missing in the WTC disaster. An attack that has changed the world.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lhgpoobaa on 09/18/01 00:08 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Uncle_joe]

What you just described might not be mobo problem.

It's more likely to be Windows. This may sound strange,
but if you reinstall Windows that might help.

Also, if you had changed components, and installed new
drivers for them, Windows would randomly crash. That
happend to me, and I reformated and reinstalled everything
from scratch. Had no problems since.





Breaking news: Intel hit by a SledgeHammer! AMD to blame! More in just a moment...

 

[lhgpoobaa]

umm...
HELL NO!

sorry.
trust me. it aint a windows problem. at one bad stange i had 2 blank drives, and couldnt even do a sucessfull scandisk to even START a windows install.
and that applies for both win2k and 98.

not my drives.
no my processor
not the cables, swapped em both out.
not my ram, tried both sticks sperately and in diff slots.
happened still when i removed the sound card and modem

and if it was a psu problem it should cut out when i do lots of other things with drives.

In memory of the 90+ Auzzies missing in the WTC disaster. An attack that has changed the world.