Zero Hour: 'Nitpicks' of Athlon mainboard choices

[preventer_wind]

I posted earlier about building a system for rendering 3D graphics. I was suggested the Iwill XP333-R by AMD_Man, I believe. I did a bit of research on it to find out that it was good. I have a few "minor" complaints about it, but more on that later. As for alternatives to Iwill's ALi MAGiK C1 solution, there's Soyo's Dragon (KT266A) and the few, the cheap, the SiS735 (now 745?) solutions. Though 745 is out with improved performance, i find no showings on pricewatch. Maybe someone could point me in the right direction.

I'll summarize my current plans since last time... I've pretty much decided on the Radeon 7500 for purely cost/performance ratio reasons (that and I found one boxed with an s-video to A/V adapter, handy). OS will end up being XP or 2000 Pro (2000 Pro if I had my druthers, but It's being bought for me so I have a somewhat limited say in the matter). I decided to skip the expensive skuzzy route in favor of the newer 7200rpm IDE drives, I'll most likely end up with a maxt0r 20/30/40gb depending on how much cheaper they go down on ebay as compared to pricewatch. As for ram, I must say I'm dissappointed with the current ram situation... price inflation and all. I'm probably going to end up shelling out the big bucks for crucial 256mb ddr chips. Darn it all, I planned on ram prices being significantly cheaper when I set out to plan building this system.

But enough of that, and back to the topic at hand: Which motherboard? One thing I ought to bring up is that noise is an issue. I'm not planning on overclocking, I want this system to be as quiet as my relatively meager budget will allow. I'm wondering a few things about fans... namely if the Athlon XP's stock fan is noisy enough to warrent getting oem and buying my own, quieter fan. Another thing is about chipset cooling: Most boards I see with the SiS 735 have a passive heat sink on the northbridge and that's it. I see an active fan on the northbridge of the XP333-R, and that makes me ask "How loud?"

The bigger thing that scares me about Iwill's board is the lack of AMD approval, while the K7S5A is approved though it is:

1)lacking in ram banks,
2)underperforming the MAGik C1 slightly, and
3)lacking other things that contribute to it's "cheapnes".

Having said all that, my biggest question is: Why isn't the XP333-R or any of Iwill's other boards approved for Athlon XP usage?

I'm very close to purchasing my components now, but the mobo issue is the thing that I am most unsure about.

 

[preventer_wind]

As long as noone's responding... I'm also kinda considering holding off until the Thoroughbred comes out, after which prices on the XP's will undoubtably drop to unseen lows. Heck, the XP's have been dropping a few bucks almost every day since the release of Northwood and the 2000+. I don't know though, as it seems there is always something new just around the bend and I know I can't wait forever for a new system, especially with the semester starting next week. I won't be building till the end of this month for sure, but maybe I ought to hold off until the end of next month?

Another thing is about the Soyo Dragon+. It isn't approved by AMD either, and well... I hear people talking about the issues of the KT266A chips and am leaning tward going with an ALi or SiS solution instead. Maybe someone could explain VIA's issues. I've heard of chipsets with split makers, and it makes me wonder why some mobo designer doesn't get a wise idea and make a board with the powerful VIA northbridge and one of the more stable ALi or AMD southbridges.

I've got more to say, but as long as noone's talking I might as well save some for later...

 

[preventer_wind]

Okay, we have 65 hits and no takers... hmmm...

Going off of what I said earlier, i have a few questions:

Why put an active fan on the northbridge rather than a passive heat sink? Can this be modified and still operate "safely"?

Is the stock heatsink-fan for the Athlon XP exceptionally noisy? Is it quieter than most other available hsf's or no?

Why have reputable Iwill's boards not been AMD Approved? Is AMD approval a sham?

Why haven't more boards with reputable ALi's chipsets been approved? Is AMD playing favorites with it's approval system?

When should the ram price stabilize? Never? I mean, gosh, the price is so inflated now, it's crazy...

I've heard that Soyo has a bad reputation quality-wise, anyone know why I would be told this? I think this might go back to the socket 7 days. I was told this by one of the guys at a local system building shop.

Should I wait possibly for new mobo choices or maybe even for Thoroughbred?

Any other advice i might be able to use?

Help would be much appreciated!

 

[kamiwut]

The SIS 735 is a one chip setup. No north/south bridges. I've read it runs much cooler, therefore requiring no fan. I have two ECS K7S5A motherboards and haven't had a problem. For such a cheap mb, it performs just fine. Just don't expect to oc them.

 

[preventer_wind]

95 hits and only one taker... better than none i suppose. Thanks, kamiwut. I already knew the k7s5a had a passive heatsink, figured that it must run quite cool. I keep comming back to the Iwill XP333-R because it was recommended to me by AMD_Man, he was saying that it's stable enough and powerful enough for use with 3D rendering/modeling and the like. SiS boards are nice, cheap, and (arguably) stable, but most offer support of both standard and DDR memory and have a 2 DIMM limitation. That's my biggest beef with the SiS, that and the fact it underperforms VIA 266A and ALi C1 chips. I also want a board with a lot of extras like lan, raid, and a sound component that will at least let me adjust the bass and treble. That points me to two boards: Soyo Dragon+ and the aformentioned Iwill XP333-R. Neither are AMD approved, which makes me scratch my head and wonder "what the heck?"

Who knows, maybe I'll get the K7S5A after all...

 

[Guest]

Seems to me all you have to do is read Toms review of the Soyo Dragon Plus to convince you it's a board well worth the money. It sold me. Havnt built the system yet but.....!

relax