Anything wrong with Epox 8KHA+??

[jflongo]

I'm getting reading to buy a new motherboard and think KT266A is the way to go now. I really don't need raid, but wouldn't mind onboard sound and lan.

At first blush, I was thinking the Soyo Dragon Plus. It got real nice reviews from Tom. I went to pricewatch, looks like I could get this retail for about $164 with 2nd day shipping.

Now the Epox 8KHA+ looks pretty good, I can get that for about $123 with 2nd day shipping retail. Looks like it has sound, but no lan. I'm really leaning towards this one, since Tom was pretty happy with it.

And the Gigabyte GA-7VTXH looks pretty good, I can get that for about $117 with 2nd day shipping retail. This has onboard Realtek Lan, and Creative Sound Chip. Now that I go back and read what Tom had to say, he ragged on the dual bios pretty hard. And said it was mid to lower in performance compared to other ones(not that I will notice it, heh)

Is there anything that absolutely separates Soyo from the pack?? Anything that absolutely separates Epox from Giga??

Thanks,

James

 

[pvsurfer]

Hi James:

Those prices must be in Can$ as all 3 of those motherboards are available for less in the US.

My brother just built a system using the GA-7VTXH and a neighbor used the 8KHA+ for his rig. Neither have had any problems, and from what I've seen, both seem to be fine mobos. Tom's tests show that (on average) the Epox is about 1-2% faster than the Gigabyte. I don't believe that difference is perceptable in real-world applications.

So I would suggest that you select a mobo based on the features that you would use. If you want to setup a RAID configuration (or have need for an additional 2 IDE channels), the Soyo is a good deal. Otherwise I would go with one of the other two. If you are into overclocking, Epox definitely has more OC'ing capabilities than the Gigabyte. If not, the Gigabyte's sound is superior to the Epox and it does have a LAN chip, so if that's meaningful to you, that board would be the better choice. BTW, Tom's reported problems with the Gigabyte's dual BIOS was due to a foolish mistake on their part (it's actually a very good safety feature)!

<b>God bless the <font color=red>U</font color=red><font color=white>S</font color=white><font color=blue>A</font color=blue></b>

 

[jflongo]

Thanks for the advice again ;-) I will be going with the Epox or Giga now more than likely. Now as far as the prices go, the ones I list were with 2 day shipping. If you know of cheaper I'll be more than happy to look at the sites

Thanks,

James

 

[pvsurfer]

James:

You can do better at <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=22&DEPA=1" target="_new">Newegg</A> (California) and they are very reliable.
They sell the 8KHA+ for $112 and the GA-7VTXH for $115. Both prices include Fedex Saver shipping.

Good luck with whichever board you decide to get.

<b>God bless the <font color=red>U</font color=red><font color=white>S</font color=white><font color=blue>A</font color=blue></b>

 

[jflongo]

Ah yes my friend, the $123 I quoted was from Newegg. Your's is Fedex Saver, mine was Fedex 2nd Day Air. That's the difference between the $123 and $112. More than likely I would go with Saver, hard to say. I still need to put a complete system together on Newegg and see how it compares. Thanks for the advice though...

Also, I need to do a little more research, I found this on pricewatch as well from egghead, but can't find it on their site...

EP8KHAL. KT266A, 5PCI, AGP4X, 3DDR-DIMM, Audio, UATA-100, Retail Box. ETA:12-4-2001 $ 89

That would put this one at $96 with Fedex Saver. I need to put the two side to side.

 

[pvsurfer]

Also, I need to do a little more research, I found this on pricewatch as well from egghead, but can't find it on their site...
EP8KHAL. KT266A, 5PCI, AGP4X, 3DDR-DIMM, Audio, UATA-100, Retail Box. ETA:12-4-2001 $ 89

FWIW: If you are going with Epox, get the 8KHA+ NOT the 8KHAL !


<b>God bless the <font color=red>U</font color=red><font color=white>S</font color=white><font color=blue>A</font color=blue></b>

 

[jflongo]

With all said and done, I think i've finally decided on Gigabyte GA-7VTXH. Since there probably is only a 1% difference in speed between the two that means pretty much nothing. Since Giga has very good sound, and a Lan included, it has made my decision. I also asked around at work, and a couple people who have built tons of machines in the past like Gigabyte.

I'm more than likely going to put an order in tomorrow from newegg. I'm still just debating between PC2100, PC2400, and PC2700, heh. I'll probably throw out a post on the memory link and see what people think, or see if there already is a link on it. Thanks, for all the advice.

And on another note, I think when I tell people at work, they feel like puking when I tell them how much i'm building a machine for. The Giga mobo with KT266A with DDR and a Athlon XP 1600+ is probably half the price they paid for a IWill KK266 with SDRAM and a Athlon T-Bird 1.2, 6 months ago. Then I tell them about a Maxtor 40G UDMA 133(not that I get use out of 133 right now) being only $88 bucks, then they bend over the trash can again, LOL. Oh then mention an ATI Radeon 7500 with dual monitor support for $119, they then compare that to their GeForce 2 MX with dual support and cry further, LOL again. Anyhow just a funny note, who's knows maybe all this will cost $500 bucks in 6 months.

 

[pvsurfer]

The GA-7VTXH a smart move, especially if you are not into OC'ing. My brother just loves his.

As to which memory modules, I would just get some Crucial PC2100 for it (depending on the OS and apps you run, 256MB - 512MB should be plenty). And that Maxtor HDD sounds great.

Good luck.



<b>God bless the <font color=red>U</font color=red><font color=white>S</font color=white><font color=blue>A</font color=blue></b>