mobo choosing time...

scriptasylum

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Since the Hammer is still a way off (and will be quite expensive at first), I am really shopping around for mobos now. I am still looking for a good mobo with the following features: onboard sound (preferably not AC97), LAN, USB2, and RAID (will be using as a ATA133 controller only). If I decide to overclock, then I'll also need voltage control, multiplier and FSB controls. I've read all kinds of reviews and one place will say brand X is good, and another will say it's bad; who to believe?

If anyone knows of a good site that reviews mainboards, or someplace where I can see user reviews, let me know!

One quick question about O/C: Can you simply change the multiplier is BIOS (assuming the mobo has it, or do you have to "unlock" the CPU as well? I know you can change the FSB setting to O/C too, but I tried overclocking my FSB on my present board too high and it currupted the harddrive running off my ATA133 controller PCI card :mad: So, now I'll be really careful.

Also, I've read that many KT333 chipset boards aren't really that much better than the KT266A boards because of running the memory asyncronously from the CPU bus. So, should I get a KT333 chipset and some PC2700 memory, or stick with KT266 chipset and use normal PC2100?
 
right now I would wait...

you might be better off going with the nforce2 boards coming out or if via comes out something similar than that...

performance is theoretically better... just look around at any set of benches for the new 333fsb athlon processors...

nforce2 should be out relatively soon...
 
quite a few kt333 amd kt400 boards support the 333mhz (166fsb) processors that aren't out yet... be sure to get one of those boards so you can upgrade the processor in a year's time or whenever. get pc2700 (cl2) memory so later it will be asyncronous with the processor.
 
be sure to get one of those boards so you can upgrade the processor in a year's time or whenever

Yeah, but I thought I read somewhere that those new boards will not be backward compatible with the "older" XP processors because of some socket change or something?

I just got an XP2000+ because my t-bird was outdated. I'd like to get a board that can use that processor for a while and will also work for a future upgrade. Plus, I'd like to have the features listed in my first post built-in: LAN, sound (not AC97 tho) , RAID, USB2.

Sure; "Wait until xyz comes out, it'll be good"... Wait, wait, wait. The hammers are delayed and even when they do come out, they'll be too pricey for me at first. I'd just like to buy something that's not already obsolete that performs well (better than my present rig) with room for future expansion. Buying a new mobo sucks, you have re-install windows and start from scratch. Easy enough, until you get to all the other progs I have installed: a total of 97 across both OS's on this PC. So I don't want to be doing this again any time soon.
 
Gigabyte Ga- 7VRXP. Nice board, good for overclocking.
 
NAH, i'd definatly wait, i mean, isnt your current computer enought for now? i mean your comp is super fast as it is.

why not wait for the newer HAMMER boards like i am,, ill be Upgrading from a P3850 to a 3ghz soon if available!!!

now thats what i call an upgrade!!
 
Originally posted by Nick M
Gigabyte Ga- 7VRXP. Nice board, good for overclocking.
i agree. it has all the features (lan, 5.1 audio, raid), stable, the fastest kt333 board, and not that expensive.

or i'd get an Abit AT7-MAX2... all those features, plus serial ata for future harddrives and some other toys. it costs a bit more, though.
 
Take a look at the Albatron boards, they are cheap, they have all the features you want, and are both KT333 and KT400.
 
Thanks everyone.

I was looking at the Gigabyte board since I'm generally happy with how my present mine is, but I heard some bad stuff about that board for some people. I guess that goes back to which review should I trust...

Other boards I was looking at was a Shuttle, and an Abit, Asus. I heard some bad stuff about every one except for probably Shuttle. While not a speed-demon, it was stable and has most if not all the features I was looking for.

I probably WILL get the Hammer, but not when it comes out at first. The chip will be expensive, and am sure the mobo to go with it won't be cheap either. Plus, if I will go to that, I'll want to overhaul the whole thing with serial ATA and such. I don't want to be a "consumer beta-tester" for such new stuff, I can wait a while for the bugs to be ironed out. Plus, I'm interested to see if it lives up to all the hype. We'll see I guess.

I just got my XP2000+ for $105 2 weeks ago, so I figured that was good. Now if I get a decently priced mobo for about $120 or less, that will be a decent upgrade.

I've never heard of Albatron before or read any kind of review on it. I am leary about trying products I never heard of. I almost got an Iwill board once until I read some not-so-good stuff. I think I'll stick to some of the more well established brands for now, thanks for idea anyhow. I will check them out though for the hell of it.

Yeah, I guess my PC is fast enough, but the wife's system needs an upgrade (athlon Slot A 700 with good 'ol PC100 RAM) so I figure I'll get something a bit better and give her my "old" parts. Then I can give the kids her old stuff and get rid of their crappy Compaq celery566 altogether and they can finally play games decent.
 
There is no socket change for the Athlon, it's still socket 462 (A). I've read lots of reviews on the Nforce2 and KT400/333A(As it might as well be called). There's no socket change at all, socket A will die with the Athlon XP Barton core. If you're at all concerned, look around on AMD's website.

As for motherboards, I'd stray away from the "cheap stuff". Gigabyte boards are around 100 bucks and are FAST. My 7VRX is the non-raid version of the 7VRXP and it's faster than the A7V-333 that I sent back. I have no complaints about the board! I love it!
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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