Abit KT7A-Raid vs. Asus A7V133

[Simulat]

Anyone have any links to reviews or comparisons between these boards? Saw the one on Toms and have found some reviews of the Abit board but cant seem to find many reviews of the Asus one. Built my own system around an Abit KT7 just last week and am thinking about selling it so I can switch to one of these. Seem like a safer bet than DDR without much of a current performance difference.

Any recommendations on which of these boards is preferable? Anyone have experience with either of them?

Selling the KT7 in the sale/trade forum if anyone is interested in it.

 

[TechFool]

Well at this point Abit is the ruling king! However, Asus is just starting to get some exposure. Give it a week or so and see what happens...

 

[Dulanic]

I have the A7V133 and it totally rocks. It also has optional Promise RAID controller.

WCPUID FSB

Does good FSB too Mine will do 155 but I dont run it that high cause my CPU doesnt like that high a clock speed.

 

[~zonker~]

I just set up a KT7A-RAID today with a Duron 700.

I'm totally pleased. I got the Duron up to 132Mhz @ 1.65V, totally stable so far. I really wanted the RAID, and the platform, for when the Tbirs get cheaper.

I don't think anyone would really be able to tell the difference in performance without running benchmarks. The DDR is not going to pay off that much, I think, until the processors can really utilize the boost. Why replace the RAM was my question...

 

[Mingon]

~zonker~ duron 700@132? is that 1032 or 1320

 

[~zonker~]

7 x 132 = 924

Still, everything is pretty much in spec and the CPU was a bargain, so to speak ($60)

 

[Simulat]

Wanted to add another question: I used the retail heatsink/fan that came with my cpu (1ghz). Didnt use any thermal grease, it was one of the ones with that adhesive pad. I installed everything without unlocking the multiplier for the CPU. Will obviously need to do this when I get a board that will support a 133 FSB.

Can I easily remove the CPU from the adhesive pad and then reconnect them or will I need to add some new thermal grease? Whatever heatsink/fan combo it is, it seems to work great. Granted, its particuarly cold in my apartment now, but my idle CPU temp was just 26 Celsius when I checked, seems really low. Fans RPM was 5488 if that is any indication of its value.

Is a conducive pen worth getting or will a pencil work just as well to unlock the CPU?

First time overclocking obviously. Its quite a thrill.