Abit KG7-RAID Availability

[EvilAlien]

Aside from the debate on KG7-RAID versus EPoX versus Soyo versus Asus etc, one of the problems some of use are seeing in our chase for Abit's new board is availability. Most, if not all, people posting about their experiences with the board are in the US, and reviews are few and far between.

Is Abit having problems getting stable boards produced?
Have recent high RMA rates encouraged large distributors to drop Abit in favor of other manufacturers?
Is Abit being cheap when it comes to handing out boards to reviewers?
Is is just an availability problem in Canada due to short supply and pecking order?

These questions and more pop to mind. I haven't been able to find a supplier in Western Canada that has the board, a local retailer has the KG7-lite (I'm raiding 2 IBM 60GXP drives, so I need the RAID controller, dammit) however they can't give me an ETA for the KG7-RAID. A local distributor/reseller says "Friday, maybe", this being their answer from last week as well with a brief hopefull "Tuesday, maybe" in between.

So... availability. Who has it, where are they getting it from, should I wait or run out and buy the Soyo DRAGON tonight?

Any Canadians out there who have it, and where from?

Those of you who have it, where are you, and did you get it from somewhere that will ship to Canada?

 

[chainbolt]

the more important point is that on-board RAID controllers have the tendecy to be trouble some, some are even crippled intentionally. In many cases of corse the problems are user inflicted, bit many other problems obviously dut to a poor implemantion. And the main 2 providers HP and promise do not give support for their on-board stuff. Forums all over the world are full with problems. The first reports about the KG7 were promptly related to problems with the
Raid controller.

You better go for a LITE or KG7 non-Raid, and get a stand alone 4 channel RAID controller in, like the Promise TX/4. You will never see that performance with
an on-board controller. Of course it's more epxensive, but it saves you time and probably some troubel.

 

[EvilAlien]

I've been having a hell of a time trying to find reviews comparing HighPoint, Promise, and AMI controllers, the ones I've seen suggest that the HP is best for stripping, however I haven't seen a good number of reviews to make a more informed decision. I'm leaning towards the HighPoint since hadn't heard that its a crippled version (like the Promise Lite)...

 

[Moses321]

I'm in Toronto and the KG7-RAID has been available for over a week now. I'm not sure why it's so hard to find one out west.

=========
Hubris

 

[EvilAlien]

Moses:

Where did you get it? I can't even seem to get it from distributors based in Vancouver. I'm told by a local reseller that they think "this riday. maybe..." which is a pretty poor excuse for an ETA.