Advice needed on MB Purchase

[Guest]

okay ive been looking around at motherboards? but im kinda losing it on the technical details.

if anyone can recommend a good board with the following requisites, i'd really appreciate it.

im going for an older chipset because i dont have all that much to spend, and it's in canadian dollars too. another strike against me.

i was looking mainly at the abit kt7 series, but then again my opinion might be flawed.

primary concerns:
i'm upgrading major parts from my amd k6-2 350 with asus p5a board. i want to use most everything still in there, i'm changing the video card, motherboard, cpu, and hard drive. obviously the hd and vc don't factor into the mobo decision.

i'm aiming for a athlon 1700 xp processor, but i'm not even sure waht the kt7 will take, i heard it can only go to 1.2. i'd still take that if it meets the rest of the requirements.

i'd prefer to keep my old pc100 sdram rather than buy new stuff.

don't want onboard stuff at all. i've got the video and sound covered already very well.

so basically i want a board that will handle pc100 sdram and have no onboard stuff. i want top quality for it, and if possible one that accepts the amd xp series processors.

any input from you experts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[o1die]

If you are sticking with sdram, I would try the ecs K7s5a which can work with either sdram or ddram (sis 735 chipset). Just be sure you have an amd approved power supply, preferably 350 watts or more. The abit kt7a uses the kt133a chipset, which is ok, but there are newer boards available with faster chipsets. This board has onboard lan and sound, which can be disabled. It sells for as low as $52 in the states; it should be $100 or less canadian.

 

[Crashman]

If you really want to save money, get the ECS K7S5A, it's cheaper than any of those older boards, performs better, and has non of their compatability issues.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[camieabz]

Yep.

K7S5A + XP1700+ = 350+ PSU (400W preferred).

<b><font color=blue>~ Whew! Finished...Now all I need is a Cyrix badge ~ </font color=blue> </b>

 

[Guest]

thanks guys! this is exactly the sort of help i was looking for!

just out of curiousity though, is there a higher quality board than the ecs out there? i could afford to throw just a little bit more money at it if possible.

 

[o1die]

Not really. Your use of sdram really limits your choices. Whenever I upgrade, I sell off my old stuff in the local paper. If you sold your sdram and used ddram, you could use any kt266a board. Some like the shuttle ak31a are only a few dollars more than the k7s5a.

 

[camieabz]

Couple of options form Shuttle:

<A HREF="http://www.spacewalker.com/english/mainboard_detail_info.asp?number=166" target="_new">AK32L</A>

<A HREF="http://www.spacewalker.com/english/mainboard_detail_info.asp?number=109" target="_new">AK32</A>

I have no idea about these boards, but they're socket A, SDR <b>&</b> DDR RAM, which I figure is what you're looking for.

<b><font color=blue>~ Whew! Finished...Now all I need is a Cyrix badge ~ </font color=blue> </b>

 

[Guest]

If you want both DDR and SDRAM slots, I'd reccomend the Asus A7A266 over the ECS K7S5A. The A7A266 has 2 DDR and 3 SDRAM slots, and uses the ALi MAGiK 1 chipset, which I have found to be rather stable and still a good performer.