Motherboard Suggestions

[LaMigra]

O.K. I know that there are more than a few opinions out there about which is the best Motherboard but I have narrowed my search to MSI, Abit, Epox, and Asus.
I would like to hear arguements as to KT-333 or KT-266a.
I am interested in having this system built so if there are suggestions as to a good site for this I would appreciate that as well. I am looking for stability as well as speed. If you could be specific as to what you like about individual Mobos that would help.

 

[tersagun]

Actually the difference between 333 and 266a is little.If you don't wanna spend much money than you can buy the KT266A, not a big deal. Epox and MSI are really good at price/performance. But pls read my thread about SIS745,too.
Because (i don't know that chip very much) but many people said SIS745 is really good and very cheap. So you can choose SIS745, too.

"Don't necessarily listen to tersagun,he's been advocating AMD systems,he thinks Intel sucks ass.."

 

[Spitfire_x86]

If you want stability + perormance, your best choice should be MSI KT3 Ultra or KT3 Ultra-ARU (ARU models have RAID + 5.1 sound). It's inexpensive, too.

Epox EP-8K3A+ is the fastest KT333 board, but stability is questionable.

ASUS A7V333 is good, but it is pricier and factory overclocked. You can't set FSB 133 MHz at this board, you have to set 135 MHz instead.

Performance diffference is very very little between KT333 and KT266A. KT333 is a KT266A plus USB 2.0, DDR333 and ATA-133 support. USB 2.0 will be important in near future. DDR333 support makes KT333 better choice for overclockers than KT266A. ATA-133 is avilable in only Maxtor D740X and some D540X model hard drives. ATA-133 is useless if you don't use an ATA-133 featured Maxtor HDD.

nForce is very little slower than VIA KT chipsets plus it has excellent onboard audio (audigy like). It lacks USB 2.0, DDR333 and ATA-133. It's bit pricier than KT333. But it has onboard 10/100 Mbps NIC.
My recommended nForce board is ASUS A7N266-C

I don't know much about SiS 745. It is neither better or more attractive than KT333. Price diffference should only be marginal of a good KT333 board and a good SiS 745 board.

You should wait for nForce2 if you can. It will have USB 2.0, DDR400, AGP 8X and ATA-133 support. It will also have Firewire ports and Dual 10/100 NIC. Audio will be same as nForce. It is possibly going to be the best performing Athlon chipset. Nothing more should be talked about features.

KT400 will be released by the same time of nForce2. It is KT333 plus AGP 8X and DDR400 support. Waiting for it doesn't worth in my eyes.

 

[Crashman]

Yes, SiS 745 is very good and very inexpensive.

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had asked more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[chuck232]

The KT333 mobo such as the EP-8K3A+ don't have USB2.0 support IIRC. Only some newer KT333 have USB2.0 such as the EP-8K5A2...

The KT400 will not have support DDR400, only DDR333 IIRC. Also, there's really no difference between the KT266A and KT333. The AXP's FSB is at 2.1GB/s so DDR333 or DDR400 won't really help cause DDR333 has 2.7GB/s and DDR400 has 3.2GB/s bandwidth. Until AXP's has a FSB of 166MHz, DDR333 won't really help. (or if you unlock and overclock)

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>