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Abit K7TA raid vs. MSI K7T TURBO Raid Trying to choose
- Thread starter RSM
- Start date
glenn1
Lifer
I have the Turbo now. Great and supremely stable board. I would not hesitate to recommend it without reservation. Still, it has two relatively minor quirks which i think are worth mentioning.
First, the current available BIOS'es out there for the Turbo are not yet the best they can be, and that's been causing some minor headaches for those who like to do 'extreme overclocking.' That's a very fixable problem, and i think it shortly will be. Don't know when, but i have no reason to doubt that MSI will continue to refine the bios until it's virtually perfect.
Secondly, and this is perhaps not a big deal, but there are some very slight cooling issues with this board. Only 2 on-board fan connectors, and the in-socket thermistor for the Turbo boards seem to 'read hot,' that is, shows readings higher than i think are actual (mine seems to, and i've run across some other folks who report the same). It's nothing to get concerned about, just an FYI, and that's one of the inherent problems with all socket-a boards - imprecise cpu temp monitoring via the in-socket thermistor. Go to the cases&cooling forum and you can read all about it.
I've used Abit boards before, and haven't had any problems with them. Abit pushes the envelope with their boards a bit more, both in overclocking potential, and in quality control it seems (one of the higher RMA rates in the biz).
All in all, i'd say that the Abit, while being a bit more finicky and perhaps 'higher maintainence' than the MSI, has a slight performance edge. The MSI board is solid as a rock, you won't be able to make the board unstable even if you tried, but you might not be able to push it quite as far as the Abit. But they're both good boards, and i don't think you'd be particularly disappointed with either. 😀
First, the current available BIOS'es out there for the Turbo are not yet the best they can be, and that's been causing some minor headaches for those who like to do 'extreme overclocking.' That's a very fixable problem, and i think it shortly will be. Don't know when, but i have no reason to doubt that MSI will continue to refine the bios until it's virtually perfect.
Secondly, and this is perhaps not a big deal, but there are some very slight cooling issues with this board. Only 2 on-board fan connectors, and the in-socket thermistor for the Turbo boards seem to 'read hot,' that is, shows readings higher than i think are actual (mine seems to, and i've run across some other folks who report the same). It's nothing to get concerned about, just an FYI, and that's one of the inherent problems with all socket-a boards - imprecise cpu temp monitoring via the in-socket thermistor. Go to the cases&cooling forum and you can read all about it.
I've used Abit boards before, and haven't had any problems with them. Abit pushes the envelope with their boards a bit more, both in overclocking potential, and in quality control it seems (one of the higher RMA rates in the biz).
All in all, i'd say that the Abit, while being a bit more finicky and perhaps 'higher maintainence' than the MSI, has a slight performance edge. The MSI board is solid as a rock, you won't be able to make the board unstable even if you tried, but you might not be able to push it quite as far as the Abit. But they're both good boards, and i don't think you'd be particularly disappointed with either. 😀
grendelkhan
Member
I have the Abit board and it definately has a learning curve. But once you get past that, it's smooth sailing and a top-notch performer. I went ntus for three weeks before I finally got things running but now I have zero complaints.
tracerbullet
Golden Member
The MSI performs lowest because of 1 reason: no memory interleaving. I'm hoping a future BIOS will have it. In fact, a beta on the MSI site that I haven't tried says it does have it. With that, the differences are very small.
For me the choice is clear: MSI. I used to have the KT7A RAID. 1) Highpoint drivers made it blue screen on startup (98SE or 2000), 2) USB - if I plugged anything in, it froze (98SE or 2000), 3) If you have anything plugged into IDE#4, you are limited to 3PCI cards (The others might have been a quirk for me, but this is pretty much considered fact). 4) The floppy drive worked for only about 5 minutes after bootup - different cables, different OS's, different drives - all quit responding after about 5 minutes.
I RMA'd it for the MSI - set up shop in about 2 hours total. Not one single solitary problem at all came up. It was as beautiful as a whore's a$$.
I must agree that the ASUS is more O/C friendly... I took the MSI for the extra PCI slot.
Some people love their Abit's (see above). Maybe I had a damaged board or something, but like a VW, I will never ever ever buy another one.
For me the choice is clear: MSI. I used to have the KT7A RAID. 1) Highpoint drivers made it blue screen on startup (98SE or 2000), 2) USB - if I plugged anything in, it froze (98SE or 2000), 3) If you have anything plugged into IDE#4, you are limited to 3PCI cards (The others might have been a quirk for me, but this is pretty much considered fact). 4) The floppy drive worked for only about 5 minutes after bootup - different cables, different OS's, different drives - all quit responding after about 5 minutes.
I RMA'd it for the MSI - set up shop in about 2 hours total. Not one single solitary problem at all came up. It was as beautiful as a whore's a$$.
I must agree that the ASUS is more O/C friendly... I took the MSI for the extra PCI slot.
Some people love their Abit's (see above). Maybe I had a damaged board or something, but like a VW, I will never ever ever buy another one.
I have both Abit KT7-RAID and MSI K7T Turbo-R. The Abit is faster than hell, and very picky where you put your PCI cards, very picky. On the other hand the MSI is a very easy board to work/live with. Put your cards in where you want and forget about them.
I guess you might put it this way. The Abit for extreme overclocking abilities, and the MSI for the best all around stable motherboard. Perhaps it doesn't have all the features of the Abit, but I think it is a very good motherboard. I use it 90% of the time now. I still like playing with the Abit from time to time tho. Still like wringing it out....hehe
I guess you might put it this way. The Abit for extreme overclocking abilities, and the MSI for the best all around stable motherboard. Perhaps it doesn't have all the features of the Abit, but I think it is a very good motherboard. I use it 90% of the time now. I still like playing with the Abit from time to time tho. Still like wringing it out....hehe
I'm running a 1Ghz @ 1.13Ghz Abit KT7A-Raid combo with a maxtor 7200 20 gig on IDE1, cd-rom on IDE2, 2 IBM Deskstar 45 gig drives raided. I'm using all my PCI Slots. I've had absolutly no problems with Win2k. Benchmarks on Sandra clearly blows away the P4 1.5ghz in everything but the mamory.
okay, tracer, with SPD enabled, I'm told the 4-way memory interleave problem is solved, that enables it, and you get good sandra scores
as far as the 2 fan headers on the mobo...SO WHAT??
has anyone stopped to think that perhaps plugging 2 chassis fans and a CPU fan into the mobo requires too much strain on the mobo?
I would NEVER plug more than 1 chassis fan into a mobo. That's just silly, IMHO.
stability = good.
instability = bad.
I would think having all those fans plugged into the mobo at once would cause instability due to the intense power needed.
as far as the 2 fan headers on the mobo...SO WHAT??
has anyone stopped to think that perhaps plugging 2 chassis fans and a CPU fan into the mobo requires too much strain on the mobo?
I would NEVER plug more than 1 chassis fan into a mobo. That's just silly, IMHO.
stability = good.
instability = bad.
I would think having all those fans plugged into the mobo at once would cause instability due to the intense power needed.
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