Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: mason22 on November 16, 2001, 03:51:00 PM

Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mason22 on November 16, 2001, 03:51:00 PM: choose, and explain: (will be fitted with either a XP 1800+ or 1900+)

(Epox)EP-8KHA+

(Microstar) MSI K7T266 Pro2

(Gigabyte) GA-7VTX-E

(Asus) A7V266-E-WA

or

hold out for the Nforce chipset?
______________

I'm not interested in RAID or IDE(i'm a SCSI guy).
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: rogwar on November 16, 2001, 04:16:00 PM: [ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: rogwar ]
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mason22 on November 16, 2001, 04:32:00 PM: note: these are all VIA 266A chipsets. not the older VIA 266 version.
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: whels on November 16, 2001, 04:54:00 PM: (Epox)EP-8KHA+

whels
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: Raubvogel on November 16, 2001, 06:18:00 PM: None of the above...( I had a bad experience with VIA chipsets.)
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: -ammo- on November 16, 2001, 06:39:00 PM: I just built using the epox board you listed. It was an easy setup. It comes with a very detailed manual and utilizes the award bios (very easy and trouble free setup).

My machine is running like a champ, no problems whatsoever. I, like you, went with a Palomino CPU, I bought a 1600.

G'luck
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mason22 on November 17, 2001, 01:36:00 PM: <help?>
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: -ammo- on November 17, 2001, 06:58:00 PM: Have you made up your mind yet?

What have you found out in your own research?
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mason22 on November 17, 2001, 10:28:00 PM: looks like the Epox is the best bet so far...read a good article at www.anandtech.com (http://www.anandtech.com)
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: Lephturn on November 19, 2001, 08:39:00 AM: Only because the king as not yet arrived. Wait... the king is making his grand entrance!
http://www.abit-usa.com/eng/product/mb/kr7a-raid.htm (http://www.abit-usa.com/eng/product/mb/kr7a-raid.htm)

Oh yeah baby. This will be THE 266A board, mark my words. This is what I would purchase. Abit is always top-notch for performance, tuning, and options. Their quality has been called into question in the past, but I have never had a problem with their boards. The more recent boards have been very good quality in my experience.
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/abit/kr7araid/kr7araidp1.htm (http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/abit/kr7araid/kr7araidp1.htm)

Here is the first review I've found.

Personally, I want a non-raid version. I just don't need the extra controller on-board. A stripped-down version of this board possibly with built-in LAN and/or sound would be sweetness, and likely inevitable given the success of their KT7E board.

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: Lephturn ]
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mrsid2 on November 19, 2001, 09:04:00 AM: I used to be an Abit cheerleader too, untill I bought the KG-7 RAID which totally blew my nerves. Blue screens, stuttering, corrupt data - you name it. It wouldn't overclock past 138Mhz FSB without crashing..

I returned it and took MSI K7266 Pro-2 RU instead. Yeah.. Same ddr-ram sticks now overclock to 166Mhz with _default voltage_ unbelievable.

All that aside, I think Epox 8KHA+ is still the king of the hill performance wise even after the introduction of KR7.
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: Animal on November 19, 2001, 12:52:00 PM: Epox

Im using a KG7 and so far its smooth at 1.5GHz 150FSB, Corsair 2100 RAM, wich should make a difference.
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: popeye on November 19, 2001, 01:15:00 PM: Just replaced my ancient Abit BX6 with the MSI K7T266 Pro 2. This is the least expensive 266A board I could find. Installation was a breeze, performance is fine.
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: Swager on November 19, 2001, 02:58:00 PM: Epox 8KHA+

Mine is runnign great! Easy to setup, even for a rock like me!
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: Gunthr on November 19, 2001, 03:02:00 PM: If you want to go slumming, get the Shuttle AK31, CHEAP but good. No probs. Via 266a chipset, 4 dimm slots, plain vanilla with good overclocking features. $80.
Title: Mother Board Decisions Decisions....
Post by: mason22 on November 19, 2001, 03:14:00 PM: thanks for all of your input guys.

went for the Epox board and a 1800+ with crucial 2100 ram.

overnighted it all, so, this weekend should be fun :D