Best Dual AMD Mobo <$250 USD?

[Guest]

ASUS A7M266D runs $30-40 more than the Tyan Tiger 2460. Is there any difference in value or performance? Why?

Anyone seen ASUS reviews? Where?

I’m comparing MBs for a new dual AMD rig running 3D CAD, Viz, & games, on a Win2k or XP Pro OS.

 

[khha4113]

Anyone seen ASUS reviews? Where?

Try <b><A HREF="http://www.amdboard.com/" target="_new"><font color=red>AMDBoard.com</A></b></font color=red>. It has many links to reviewers.

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

 

[mbetea]

the ONLY difference between the MP and MPX chipsets is that the MPX has a dual pci bus.... 64bit/66mhz and 32bit/33mhz. if you do not use or plan to use any raid/hdd controller or some other peripheral that uses the 64bit/66mhz interface, then the tiger MP would be fine. also too the MPX chipsets have no functional onboard usb. all the test boards had it, but as far as i know, actual production boards either do not have em at all or do not have them hooked up. i personally do not see having to use a pci usb card a sufficient "fix" for that mishap(if you want to call it that). funny too how amd has not and will not "certify" the current MPX mobos, wonder why they even let the chipset be released in the first place then. apparently companies like gigabyte, epox, abit who are expected to release the MPX boards are later this month/next month, they are apparently waited for the fix.

Dorks = people that use their system specs for sigs.

 

[Guest]

I'm planning to add a 2nd HD with a RAID Controler, down the road. I'd do it now, but $$$ are limiting. So, does that knock out the Tyan Tiger? Or, is there a way to add the 2nd HD? +'s vs. -'s?

 

[Ncogneto]

Actually, Epox is reported to be releasing a MPX board with working USB, as it is possible to fix the issue on the board level. AMD will be releasing a newer southbridge with issue cleared up shortly. This left motherboard makers three options.

1) Put extra effort and money and fix the issue on the board level
2) Disable USB and ship a USB add in card
3) Wait until the new revision of the chipset is avaiable with USB fixed.

Bear in mind that not many users in the target area of a dual board ( servers, workstations) even bother with USB and You see why Tyan, Msi and Asus shoose option 1. Not to mention you can still place the usb card they ship with the board in one of the two 64 bit slots ( which would place all your USB devices on a seperate bus).

It's not what they tell you, its what they don't tell you!

 

[mbetea]

tyan and asus boards have already been out 2-3 weeks now. asus chose to include a usb2.0 card, while tyan chose to include a usb1.1 card. i've read a lot of posts on other forums saying that on asus's board, they cannot get the system to POST at all with the usb in the 64/66 slots. i personally don't like having to use an addon card for something that should be an integral part of the chipset in the first place. usb isn't new and it makes me wonder what "else" amd had trouble with on this chipset. to me it would be like shipping boards with no functional ide controller, but including a pci hdd controller. that is why i haven't purchased a mpx board yet and probably won't. i'll most likely wait til a revision comes out for the thoroughbred (if one does) or the hammer chipset. i don't know if msi released theirs already, haven't really looked at theirs, but that is why we haven't seen gigabyte, abit or epox boards hit the street yet. they are/were waiting for the fix, gigabyte said 2 weeks, which is around the same time i finally got it out of someone from amd about when "fixed" mobos would be out.

Dorks = people that use their system specs for sigs.

 

[mbetea]

it depends. you don't necessarily need a raid controller for a 2nd hdd. you could hook up a 2nd one on the onboard ide. but if you already have 4 devices ya, a pci raid is no biggie. but, a raid controller i do not think will work with just one drive attached. i've also seen posts from people that have not been able to get a promise fasttrak100tx4 to function in the 64/66 slots on the asus board. the promise cards are supposed to be 64/66 and backwards compatible. which makes me question the chipset again, is this a defect of the raid controller or the chipset?

Dorks = people that use their system specs for sigs.