MSI KT333 vs. Soltek KT333

[Guest]

Those two seem to be the only KT333 boards I can find in my area. The MSI is $10 more.

MSI MS-6380E KT3 Ultra KT333 Socket A DDR 333 5 PCI ATA133
Soltek SL-75DRV5 ATX KT333 Socket A DDR 333 5 PCI ATA133

Which is the better MOBO for gaming? I'd be using it with an AMD XP 1700 and either an MSI GF3 Ti 200 or a retail Radeon 8500. PC2100 Micron RAM.

Also...are both VIA cards? Do they still have the usual VIA problems? Would it be better to get the IWILL 333 board? Good performance/stability?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

sorry to bump, but I don't want it to disappear over night. Gotta know

 

[dad11345]

If you can get the MSI raid version with usb 2.0. Also the price of the ATI card is very impressive for the performance you get.

 

[Guest]

I don't really want the RAID version since I don't plan on using that feature. What does USB 2.0 do?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Anyone know anything about the Soltek KT333 board?

 

[prfstrkr]

If it's only $10 of difference, why bother thinking of SOLTEK? MSI vs Soltek is,in the issue of brand name,like Nvidia v.s. Matrox in graphic card field. You might not need MSI's RAID and USB2.0 for now,but not FOREVER! Without these feature even, MSI is no doubt WAY WAY better.



Never trust in any unknown online vendors!!!

 

[Guest]

I thought you needed 2 HDs in order to take advantage of RAID. As for MSI...I thought they were one of the mid-lower end computer hardware companies. MSI got pounded in Toms benchmark vs. every other KT333 mobo (can't find any of the others, though). I wasn't sure about Soltek.

What IS USB 2.0?

BTW, the frame-rates with the KT333 vs. KT266a...was the only reason the KT333 did better because of the PC2700 RAM?

Thanks.

 

[FiL]

I can tell you that in my self built system I run an Athlon XP 1900+ with a Soltek 75-DRV2 and PC2100 DDR RAM and it runs fine for now. (I know that you're looking at the newer mobo the Soltek DRV5, but hey I'm just saying the DRV2 is OK) USB 2.0 is definately a plus point for the MSI board (not that I know much about that board) but I would disagree with the guy who said MSI are way better than Soltek.

The new VIA chipsets such as the KT266A and KT333 are much better compatibility wise than the older VIA chipsets, I don't think you'll have any troubles with these chipsets.

Realistically, both boards I'm sure will do an excellant job.

 

[prfstrkr]

Ok, you might find MSI to have the lowest performance among all KT333 boards in terms of testing somewhere. But you don't buy your computer for testing! It's for everyday usage. And in terms of that, MSI does have better performance, otherwise it won't be considered the only 1st tier other than Asus among dozens of mobo manufacturers.



Never trust in any unknown online vendors!!!

 

[FiL]

In addition to my lovely AthlonXP system I have a Asus P2B board running a PentiumII 400Mhz and the system runs amazingly well, has done since 1998 when i made it. it's on almost 24 hours a day with a out a glitch for weeks on end. SO i agree that Asus are top tier.

Yet I would never say MSI are the same quality than Asus! I've always thought as MSI to be in the same catagory as Soltek.....it's just opinions I guess.

 

[pvsurfer]

Of the 2 boards you list, I would go with the Soltek SL-75DRV5 not only for it's superior performance, but especially for its 'Anti-Burn Shield' circuitry. AthlonXP's are great CPUs but they do get very hot and will burn-up in a matter of seconds if your CPU cooling fails. The SL-75DRV5 is one of the very few AthlonXP compatible boards that's equipped with the necessary circuitry to read the XP's thermal sensor and shutdown the system (in sufficient time) should it overheat!



<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>

 

[Guest]

Better performance and security? I guess I'll go with Soltek. Wish there were reviews on it, though

BTW, are there more Mobo's getting released in Canada within a week that is much better? I can wait...but not for long The last crash uninstalled a bunch of programs (including Word, my email account and Excel--d'oh!!).

Thanks guys!!

 

[pvsurfer]

If it's only $10 of difference, why bother thinking of SOLTEK?

USB 2.0 only comes with the RAID version of the MSI's KT3 (KT3 ULTRA-ARU) and that goes for US$35 more than the Soltek. If Decado wanted both RAID and USB 2.0, I would agree that the price differnce is worth it. But since he doesn't want RAID, the Soltek is the better performing board and the only one (of the two) with the important HSF fail-safe feature that I mentioned. Besides, he can always add a USB 2.0 or FireWire card for $25.

<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>

 

[Guest]

WHAT IS USB 2.0!!!!???!!!

AFAIK, USB are those ports used for plugging in mice/joysticks. What is USB 2.0?

Thanks

 

[prfstrkr]

USB2.0 is the port that delivers much faster speed than normal USB for things like digital cameras and photo scanners...

In terms of mobo ranking, no i did not solely rely on my personal opinion saying that MSI is as good as Asus. It DEFINITELY goes like this: Tier1: Asus, MSI Tier 2:Epox,Abit Tier3:IWILL, Soltek Tier 4:ECS,BioStar,etc...(any kinda official source will agree upon that.)

Never trust in any unknown online vendors!!!

 

[Guest]

'K. Thanks. Don't have scanner or digital camera.

 

[Jablumen]

You were looking for a review of the Soltek board? Tweaktown has <A HREF="http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=214" target="_new">one</A> and also of the <A HREF="http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=211" target="_new">Gigabyte 7vrxp</A>(which I just happen to have). They liked the Gigabyte board better and at least here, it is fairly competitive with the the Soltek board. Nevertheless, there doesn't seem to be anything seriously wrong with the Soltek board. Like they said above, you probably can't go too far wrong with the MSI or Soltek boards.

Also a bit more on USB 2.0. You can always add a card later on for $25. It gives transfer rates that are almost a factor of 10 times faster than USB 1.1. Did you ever wonder why until recently external CDRW drives were only 4x? There was not enough bandwidth with USB 1.1 to feed a reliable stream of data any faster. With USB 2.0 you can get yourself an external burner that will write at 24X speed. You can also get external hard drives that you can easily carry from one PC to another. That's what all the fuss is about.

Good luck with your new system.

John

Ain't this fun!

 

[Guest]

Thanks! Cool news about CD-RW. Have to keep that in mind