k, narrowed it down, i need opinions though

[mbetea]

k, i have been looking and found 3 boards that i could go either way with, price wise their all pretty much equal, feature wise they are the same. i was going by canopus's compatability list, because that will be the most important thing, making sure capturing goes perfect (well as close to it anyways). so me not having experience with any of these manufacturers, i need opinions from people that have these boards or experience with them. also whichever one i do end up with, i'll have an amd 1.4, 1gb ddr2100(unbuffered). so heres the boards:
MSI K7 Master (MS 6341)
Gigabyte GA-7DX
Abit KG7
i am sorta leaning towards the MSI, but i've heard good things about em all. again thanks for any help thats given.


always with one shoe untied and never finding the other.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

None, all of them use the crappy (and buggy) VIA 686b southbridge.

You might want to get a SiS735 motherboard instead.
If your not willing to wait for a top-tier motherobard maker to release one with the SiS chipset, then the MSI K7T266 (which doesn't use the 686b southbridge )is better than the three you listed.

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

 

[mbetea]

doh! well i'm glad i found out now instead of after i bought one of those. SiS i was looking at and it looks like a good performer. i wasn't to sure about those boards though, just hearing about via in general. yes that was another thing i was thinking about is when are these new chipsets coming around. if its going to be about a month or so i wouldn't mind the wait. sorry if this has already been discussed or anything, but are the new motherboards (and amd's next cpu) be in the ddr2700 flavors? thanks again for the heads up.

always with one shoe untied and never finding the other.

 

[TheAntipop]

read <A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q3/010902/index.html" target="_new">this article</A> for the latest in the athlon motherboard scene. you might want to wait just a bit for a KT266A board. they look VERY nice.

eh, i'll procrastinate later...

 

[Guest]

At the risk of being politically incorrect (or is that uncorrect), I have become pretty cynical about all the "we're gonna be able to....." hype BEFORE a product is in anyone's hands who can prove the claims otherwise.

I'm using the KG7-Raid <b>now</b> and have been very happy with it. Please take this with a grain of salt (as it were) because I am not as well versed as many in here. Perhaps I like it so much because my judgement was based entirely upon what it did.... not what I was told.

I only chose ABit because my first build was a BE6 (On a friends recommendation). I knew nothing and still got it all up and running with no hassles. Next, I upgraded to AMD and chose ABit (KT7-Raid) because the first one worked so well and installed so easily. I had the same experience again... seamless installation and operation. Well, then I HAD to have DDR so I went to the ABit well one more time (KG7-Raid). It certainly isn't the only excellent MoBo out there, but ABit is 3 for 3 with me!

 

[stable]

Not to go off on a rant or anything, but I think the Via Issues need to be revisited before making a statement as strong as, "None, all of them use the crappy (and buggy) VIA 686b southbridge".

The problems with the 686B are specifically related BIOS versions and the use of Creative Labs Live! audio cards (as well as the new Creative Labs Audigy cards). In our tests, there have been no other compatibility or stability problems with relating to the use of the 686B with any other products.

If we were to get real technical here, the proper issue is to come right out and say that Creative Labs has not worked closely with Via to ensure compatibility. Is it a problem, yes. But there are MANY alternatives to using these Creative Labs products. Is it political? Who knows, certainly not me. I can only reiterate that the Via hardware folks are pretty unhappy that Creative hasn't worked with them to correct the issues. Users should start by making VERY sure that they are running the latest BIOS and THEN the latest 4-in-1 drivers.

All of the motherboards mentioned above are good. The AMD 761 chipset is very stable and very fast. I haven't seen specifications or benchmarks from any other chipsets that outperform them in either category. I’ve heard a lot of stories, but nobody has stepped forward with cold, hard numbers in the form of reproducible benchmark results.

We ourselves are pretty disappointed that some of the review sites have been giving these audio cards high marks for compatibility and stability when well over 40% of the systems out there now use the 686B southbridge. Obviously, if there are compatibility issues with this kind of market penetration, someone is off the mark somewhere. Trust me, if a real chipset compatibility problem existed, you would be hearing a great deal more about it.

Creative seems somewhat oblivious to support these days too, so maybe selecting an audio solution from another vendor is better in that not only will it not cause problems, but you won't get a headache trying to get help if you need it.

Steve Benoit


Stable Technologies
'The way IT should be!'

 

[Crashman]

So I can't use a Live with the 686B, that's fine, I prefer the Aureal SQ2500 anyway. Vortex2 cards still rock after all these years! Oh, but wait, they don't work with ANY recent VIA southbridges, there goes your theory about nothing else being incompatable. I realize that you probably don't use these cards in your shop and therefor have never seen the problem. Wondering how many OTHER cards you haven't tried on them that don't work on them!

Back to you Tom...

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

You make some interesting points.

I don't have the time to search through the net and provide the many links to the many problems with the VIA chipset--from instability to incompatability. I don't know how extensive your tests were, but have you ever heard of VIA and their USB problems? How about the Win2000 and AGP compatability issue (which are now fixed with the endless release of 4-in-1 drivers). The VIA problem/stability issues even occurs with the Apollo chipsets on motherboards for the Intel processors. According to an article I read, the problem with the Data Corruption and the VIA chipset even occurs WITHOUT a SoundBlaster card (although it is VERY rare).....the sound card only exacerbates the problem!

As far as you not seeing any "specifications or benchmarks from any other chipsets that outperform them [AMD] in either category," all you need to do is go to google.com and look up "SiS735 benchmark." There are even some right here in Tom's Hardware Guide! I don't know if it is fair to consider the VIA KT266A because no motherboard with the chipset is out yet, but it also beats the AMD chipset in terms of performance (but I don't know about stability)--either way, I'm not betting on VIA boards for a long while, even if the 'new' VIA chipset is a few percent faster than the SiS735--I doubt it will match SIS' stability and compatability.

In short, GO SEARCH THE 'NET and you'll find the many via problems people are having as well as the many benchmarks in which the SiS735 chipset matches or outperforms the AMD 760(761) chipset.

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

 

[mbetea]

i have been doing some more looking and reading. i am usually not one to go and reformat their harddrive every-so-often. but i have to say, just from these drivers, those drivers, etc. it'll take a good chunk of time to get one of those boards running via anything up and running. granted maybe this is how the "latest" mobo work? i'm used to this bx board where i plug everything in, install os, my apps and i'm off and running. i have also been looking at the SiS boards a bit more. when would there be new boards coming out with the SiS chips on em? for me i'd like to go with onboard sound, just cause it's one less pci card and sound isn't a major priority to me, ya i don't want sound like on those old am/fm walkmans, but i don't need dolby digital. i too would trade in a tiny bit of performance for stability, cause from working with/on one it doesn't help workflow if every-other week you're troubleshooting a new conflict/bug. also too, thank you everyone thus far for your posts. all have been informative.

always with one shoe untied and never finding the other.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by mbetea on 09/23/01 02:49 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[o1die]

I would try the K7S5A board for only $65, and use the built in sound to avoid potential conflicts. If you don't like the board, I bet you could get your $65 back by selling it in your local paper.

 

[mbetea]

well i think i have made up my mind and i think i will go with a SiS chipset. i was looking at the k7s5a, but doesn't a mobo usually require registered dimms when you max out the ram? i wanted to stay away from those, some reasons, but mainly because a 512mb registered dimm is about $60-70(looking on pricewatch) more.

ewww, put that thing away, you're in public!