Mother Board Votes!!!!!!!!

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 9:42 am

building a computer i need to know from u guys whats the best mother board i should get. With having good up grade room and performance. Also what has a good price to. So just send in your votes and lets get it on!!!!!!

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 9:50 am

Judging from your other post, I'm assuming this is for an Athlon XP.

I love Asus boards, have had zero issues with them, top quality, top performers. Just their websites are a bit painful, speedwise and navigating.

I gave MSI a shot when rebuilding my gaming rig. I like it, quality seems decent, website and support looks good. Manual is "so so". I tried MSI because Asus hadn't released their nForce chipset board, and wasn't going to for a while, back when the Athlon XP came out and I was hungry to build one.

Abit I used to love back in the Intel 440 BX chipset days, but their quality has been flushed down the toilet.

Chipsets...I'm loving my nForce chipset. I've been against Via for years, but their 266a chipset seems to be well liked and top performers. AMD chipset...I wouldn't get anything that is discontinued, and SiS, yuck.

monkeyhead · Post by **monkeyhead** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 10:27 am

I LIKE MSI

Grimson · Post by **Grimson** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 11:46 am

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Judging from your other post, I'm assuming this is for an Athlon XP.

I love Asus boards, have had zero issues with them, top quality, top performers. Just their websites are a bit painful, speedwise and navigating.

I haven't had any problems out of my asus boards.

Murman · Post by **Murman** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 1:21 pm

Originally posted by grimson

I haven't had any problems out of my asus boards.

Yup ... ASUS is very good, I have two off emm one Athlon A7V133 & one Intel TUSL2-C

I have to say the A7V133 w/the Athlon run's hot but other than that it's a rocket @ at default settings & the TUSL2-C I run at total deafult and I'm very pleased with it's performance as well.

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 1:24 pm

well i called around there is this asus board that seems cool that supports both ddr and sdram it has i think two ram slots. Also it has 5 pci

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 1:49 pm

epox 8h7a+ or the soltek SL-75DRV4

only 2 266a chipset boards i would considering buying now

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:00 pm

http://www.viahardware.com/kt266ar_1.shtm

Some good reading for ya, yah, it's a long read.

To sum it up, from these boards:

Abit KR7A-RAID,
Acorp 7KT266A,
AOpen AK77 Plus (A),
Asus A7V266-E,
Biostar M7VIB v2,
ECS K7VTA3 v3,
Gigabyte 7VTXH+,
MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU,
Shuttle AK35GT/R,
Soltek SL75DRV4,
Soyo K7V Dragon Plus,

Honorable Mention went to the Soltek
3rd place to the Abit
2nd place to the Shuttle
and 1st place to the Asus.

lord_yuri · Post by **lord_yuri** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:05 pm

I've always liked Gigabyte myself great service and very good for overclocking. Here's a nice Athlon Xp board http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/products/7dxr+.htm It's not Via but it's nice. If you want Via go with the GA-7vtxh+

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:10 pm

a number of ppls here have the
MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU,
mobo; most of them like it, If I were to build a comp today that's the mobo I would get...
the Asus A7V266-E looks pretty good as well...

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 2:23 pm

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=887

http://www.socketa.com/reviews/epox/8kha+/

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/mainboards/epox/8kha+/

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 3:13 pm

well so far most people seem to like asus and msi

velvta · Post by **velvta** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 4:42 pm

well there was a link that someone posted and it turned out the asus a7v266e got the thumbs up. I got the same version without the e. Does seem to run a little hot but...havent had much time to use it really...

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 5:35 pm

Well so what it seems people are saying is i cant go wroung with either one asus or msi. I dont like the idea of anything running hot though, would that be a big problem. Like i said the one i was looking at well i called the place. They said they have a asus with 5 pci and two ram slots that can take either sdram and ddr. Which is nice because i have 512 sdram in the one i have right now. So i can wait to get the ddr ram later which is fine by me. What do u guys think???????

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 5:38 pm

asus vs MSI, i'd say msi.

u want ddr ram just get 1 256 meg crucial stick and get another later when u can if the cash is a problem.

odog · Post by **odog** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 7:53 pm

i only settled on the MSI K7T266 Pro2 after i found out that the Soltek SL75DRV4 was not alpha compatible.

compatible

i won't recommend the epox board.... to many stories of people with problems....

i love asus but have had problems with thier boards... my A7V was kinda a pain in the ass somewhat.... not really the board faults tho, more that goddamn highpoint ATA100 chip...

my last two boards have been MSI(a K7T turbo and the K7T266 Pro2), they are a great board for the price. it's not an asus but at less then 2/3 the price it's more then worth it.(MSI ~$95 shipped $155 shipped)

HalfLifer · Post by **HalfLifer** » Tue Feb 12, 2002 9:34 pm

MSI, mines been great. 100% better than the POS kt7a I had. I have the Pro2 Ru.

MartialArtist12 · Post by **MartialArtist12** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 1:24 am

MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU

Fast, stable (as long as you don't install Via drivers

), reliable, good features like RAID and USB 2.0, LED diagnostic lights, and a nice red color.

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 9:45 am

can i have a link to the msi website

CajunTech · Post by **CajunTech** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 9:47 am

Motherboard Manufacturers

MSI is midway through the list

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 10:09 am

Also whats the big differnce in ddr and pc133 sdram. Well the people in the stores say there is not that big of a differnce. Right now i have 512 megs of ram sd pc 133. But what do u guys think they were just sales people.

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 10:20 am

So is this what people say is real good the msi

CajunTech · Post by **CajunTech** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 10:24 am

I haven't used that board, but from what I hear it sounds pretty good. I also like the onboard Promise Raid controller.

cy · Post by cy » Wed Feb 13, 2002 11:30 am

Isn't Abit always one of the best ones? How come no one mention it?

Here, let me say it, Abit

CajunTech · Post by **CajunTech** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 11:52 am

I've been looking at ABIT, ASUS, MSI, Soltek, and SOYO lately. Used a Soyo Dragon Plus for a month and it was very stable and fast (with Win 2000, sucked with WinXP). I'm looking at buying the Soltek "Purple Ray" next, or the MSI KT333 board if it becomes available in the next week or two.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 3:25 pm

Originally posted by odog
i only settled on the MSI K7T266 Pro2 after i found out that the Soltek SL75DRV4 was not alpha compatible. compatible

i won't recommend the epox board.... to many stories of people with problems....

i love asus but have had problems with thier boards... my A7V was kinda a pain in the ass somewhat.... not really the board faults tho, more that goddamn highpoint ATA100 chip...

my last two boards have been MSI(a K7T turbo and the K7T266 Pro2), they are a great board for the price. it's not an asus but at less then 2/3 the price it's more then worth it.(MSI ~$95 shipped $155 shipped)

what are the epox problems u have heard?

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 3:37 pm

Well with the mci board iam getting iam going to put a 1800xp processor in it. Those seem like good processors what do u think??

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 3:49 pm

[quote]Originally posted by cy
Isn't Abit always one of the best ones? How come no one mention it?

CY
from what I have hears; Abits quality has gone downhill lots off DOAs and RMAs

odog · Post by **odog** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 3:56 pm

just the general stability issues.... these have been replicated by reviewers that have found the board can't make it thru a good burn in.... i'm not sure if they have worked this out since the board was first released, but i hesistate to recommend based apon that.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 4:47 pm

do u have any of those reviews, cuz i'm looking into going epox myself, thats why i keep hounding ya, thanks

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Feb 13, 2002 5:04 pm

Originally posted by BaLa

Originally posted by cy
Isn't Abit always one of the best ones? How come no one mention it?

CY
from what I have hears; Abits quality has gone downhill lots off DOAs and RMAs

I totally agree. I used to love them, still have a BH-6, BE6 rev 2, VP-6, and BX133 RAID. But around two years ago, got tired of sending back dead arrivals, and by what I read on this forum, and some buddies of mine, so do others.

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 2:04 pm

Is the 1800 xp a big upgrade from the thunderbird 1.0 gig??? and going from the via chip set to the msi chip a big upgrade as well???

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 2:08 pm

a the 1800 is 500 mhz faster and has better multimedia code.

msi doesnt make a chipset so what msi mobo are u talking about?

CajunTech · Post by **CajunTech** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 2:12 pm

I've got a 1700+ on the way.. Anyone know if a retail Athlon XP has a heatsink/fan in the box?

sentra8777 · Post by **sentra8777** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 3:14 pm

I mean this board MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU