Shuttle AK35GT2R or Gigabyte GA-7VRXP

[MIXPIX]

Im about to buy a new system and i was wonder what board i should get. I had my heart set on the gigabyte one but ive ive seen alot of problems with it on the boards here. I have a shuttle ak31a right now and im really happy with it and the newer shuttle is getting good reviews so i was wondering what you all thought on the 2...

Heres some of the things im getting

-athlon xp 2000 or 2100 (depending on how much extra cash i can get)
-geforce 4 ti 4400
-60gig 7200 ata 133 maxtor
-512megs pc2700
-win xp pro

If you have any other boards to suggest please let me know

Thanks alot

Matt

 

[pc_builder]

I have lots of problems with my GA-7VRXP motherboard and would suggest you keep away from it due to multiple issues. I am not fond of the Shuttle boards, but I do have an AK31A motherboard in a system, and it works well enough I guess. I have always had a lot of luck with Epox motherboards and I like the new MSI mobos also. It depends on what you need in the motherboard as far as features. If you want the best than Tom suggests the Soyo Dragon Ultra, which has now been superceeded by their Ultra Platinum motherboard. But the Soyo boards are considerable more expensive. If you buy the new Epox KT333 motherboard they give you a free PCI USB 2.0 card since the motherboard has no direct built-in USB 2.0 support. I am currently using an MSI KT3 Ultra motherboard in this system and it does a very nice job, and ALL the BIOS features work. I am using an 80gb Maxtor ATA133 hard drive on the Primary Raid IDE channel in ATA133 mode and I have my Toshiba 16x DVD drive and 32x CDRW drives on my regular primary and secondary IDE channels. I flashed it to the latest 4-10-2002 BIOS and it has been a solid performer so far. Of course different people have different "talents" and results may indeed vary from one person to another. I'd recommend a nice Aluminum mid-tower case for keeping the system cooler, and a good quality cpu fan/heatsink. I am using an Athlon XP 1700+ with a Thermaltake 7cu+ fan, and a nice aluminum case, and my cpu temperatures runs around 43 degrees centigrade with the current NY temperature and only using fans and window ventilation. Take your time making a decision since it is something YOU will be living with, or crying over!

 

[MIXPIX]

Wow, thanks for all the information...

The only problem with getting the soyo is that im on a slight budget...not a real tight one but im not going to go all out.

Id really like a board thats jumperless, and i dont need raid or built in sound, i dont care about the built in sound because i have a turtle beach santa cruz and a hercules gametheater xp lying around. Do you have any suggestions based on that? Is there a good mobo thats stable and is completely jumperless?

 

[pc_builder]

Well I like to buy most of my stuff from NEWEGG.COM since their prices are excellent, and often the lowest. They are VERY reliable and ship all FEDEX with extremely reasonable rates. I can say that the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU board is a very solid board [using it in here now] and it costs $109 + $8 FEDEX Saver delivery [not in stock there now]. EPOX always puts out a good solid performer, but their board [8k3A+] has no RAID and USB 2.0 is only with the add-in PCI card they include for free [$108 + $9 FEDEX saver - in stock]. The down-n-dirty solution would be the Shuttle AK35GT2 that I have no personal knowledge of except that it costs $73 + $8 FEDEX Saver shipping at newegg. The Shuttle AK35GT2R has built-in Hi-Point RAID controller and that mobo costs $22 more [$95 + $8 FEDEX Saver]. The final decision will have to be yours though! Best of luck. BTW, all of those boards have the KT333 VIA chipset, but if you can hold off for a while longer, the newer motherboards with the KT333A VIA chipset should be coming out soon. They have support for up to 8X AGP video, but who knows when that will be out <grin> on the market. They're still selling the heck out of 4X AGP 128mb video cards, and I don't see them coming out with any 8X AGP video cards anytime soon.

 

[MIXPIX]

yeah...newegg kicks major behind...ive been buying there for about a year or so now.

im really starting to hate looking for a nice mother board...heh...Ive narrowed my serch to the shuttle AK35GT2R and the MSI KT3 ULTRA-ARU...the msi one for the features and the shuttle one for the speed and price and the jumperless part<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by MixPix on 06/02/02 07:39 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[psyclone]

Try the Epox 8K3A, if you want raid then the Epox 8K3A+. I put the 8K3A+ in my computer after having problems with the Gigabyte and never had any problems since

<b>This is an exceptionally bas sig!</b>

 

[MIXPIX]

thanks for the info...but i think ive decided on the msi board. I would go with the epox one but the msi has the usb 2.0 and it comes with some sweet tools as well. Im not definite though. I might change my mind...i always do...