Seeking stability with DDR Athlon

[squirrel]

i've had numerous problems since i aquired my new computer, which was composed of an Athlon 1.2 GHz, 256 MB DDR Ram, Asus 7100T MX 32 MB video card, Creative SB128 PCI, altogether on a ECS K7VTA3 mobo...

i've done lots of work trying to solve the dramatic instability of this system but nothing solved it all. i'm going to change the motherboard cause i seems to be the source of the problems...

i don't care if i don't get the fastest board on the market, but most importantly i want it to be stable! to crash/freeze the less! i'm using win98se and i can't work nor play on all my programs (that i've been using a LOT on my older computer without ANY problems) because it will crash so often! i have lost thrust in my system.

what should i get myself? MSI KT266 Pro was my first thought. MSI K7 Master is fastest, but it's made of two different chipsets on the north and south bridge and i'm afraid this could cause unstable behaviors...

tell me what you think. could it be another component that is causing all that ?

get me the most stable board, even if it's not the fastest, and even if it's gonna cost me more money.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

hey i have the gigabyte 7dxr and you know what .. it is a great board and super stable. I have never had a problem.
Infact i buring stuff AND watch tv AND browse the web at the same exact time it runs as if there arn't any programs running! lol it's great. Just please note. do not install any via drivers for this board. you need amd drivers which are found on amd's website. But ya i recommend this board to anyone who wants features and stability! And the performance is there also. Plus you have 3 dram slots to play with instead of 2. ANd yes they work.


<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[Guest]

Hi squirrel

Get the ECS K7S5A.......Its faster than the GA 7DXR...just about.....and it is super stable and very cheap. It has only one chip in the chipset.......SiS735. It has very limited features and o/c'ing but it is absolutely rock solid. Had mine for 3 weeks not one crash,BSOD or lock-up.

Hope this is of use



K7S5A. 1.2T'Bird@266Mhz 128Mb DDR. WinNT4 ......No Problems!

 

[FatBurger]

but it's made of two different chipsets on the north and south bridge and i'm afraid this could cause unstable behaviors...

All boards have a North and Southbridge, except for SiS735 boards (as mentioned directly above).

<font color=green>I post so you don't have to!
9/11 - RIP</font color=green>

 

[squirrel]

actually, what i meant is that on the MSI K7 Master, the north bridge is from AMD, and the south bridge is from VIA

 

[arsend]

As far as price and stablity is concerened, I would go with either the SIS 375 chipset, or an AMD chipset MB. Avoad VIA chipsets like the plague as they tend to be very picky if you don't know how to treat them right. AMD and the SIS chipsets are much more stable and the SIS chipset is also much cheaper (Because it only has one chip no nrth and southbridges to deal with.)

If it works for you then don't fix it.

 

[AMD_Man]

Don't do that!!!! You'll just be wasting money. It sounds to me like you have an insufficent power supply. Get a 430W Enermax Power Supply and most of your problems will probably go away.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Delf]

I dont think that you psu is the problem, i have only a 250w on a very similar system and i have no problem what so ever! ( abit KG7-Lite athlon 1.4 and 256 ram and a geforce3)



Delf

 

[AMD_Man]

I dont think that you psu is the problem, i have only a 250w on a very similar system and i have no problem what so ever! ( abit KG7-Lite athlon 1.4 and 256 ram and a geforce3)

You're probably just not stressing your system enough. All the problems he described suggest a Power Supply problem.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor