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Advice on a MB upgrade

J

jv316

Senior member
I am currently using a Epox 8KHA (Via KT266) with a Voodoo3 2000 video card. I was thinking of upgrading. I am not much of a gamer but do occasionally. I was thinking of upgrading to a low cost KT266A board with a Radeon or MX400 video card. Or just buying an MSI Nforce board with all the on-board goodies. Any ideas?
 
My opinion is, it is about the same cost and you will get comparable performance both mobo and vid card....So go with the nforce...

IMO, the kt266a has some issues I want resolved or more clarified before I upgrade. LOwer end boards may onle add to headaches...

I am waiting for sis745, and more ali chipset reviews.

edit: actually cheapest kt266a and cheapest gf2 mx 400 would be around 120 dollars before shipping, but I don't recommend the board. I see many good boards in the 85 range and the gf2 400 in the 60 range so that is about 145 dollars. The chepaest nforce is like 159 with shipping, but many have 5.1 on board sound which is a great advantage. save pci and get better sound card possibly...
 
Since your looking for a low cost KT266A board, go for the DFI AD70-SC. Its very stable, fast, and really good price too.
 
Are you unhappy with your 8KHA? If not why change your board for a so small difference with KT266A? Take your money in a new cpu and a GeForce 2 Ti or a Radeon7500.
 


<< My opinion is, it is about the same cost and you will get comparable performance both mobo and vid card....So go with the nforce... >>


Do not go with the nForce, it still has some driver issues and is overpriced for majority use.



<< IMO, the kt266a has some issues I want resolved or more clarified before I upgrade. LOwer end boards may onle add to headaches... >>


This is an opinion of Duvie's, not something that has been backed up with any clear statements. Most AT members agree that the KT266A is a fast, stable chipset.

Using Newegg, here's what I found:

Cheap KT266A Board - $69 ECS K7VTA3
Sound Card - $30 Soundblaster Live 5.1 OEM
Video Card - $65 Cardexpert Geforce 2 MX-400
Total: $164

NForce board Total: $164

Which one has greater performance and upgradability? Not to mention chipset stability and driver support? The clear answer is the VIA KT266A based solution.
 
My opinion goes along with PUNKtotalled's. Your not really going to see any difference moving up to a newer motherboard compared to just keeping what you have now and getting a better video card and/or CPU(you didn;t say what CPU you have now?).
 
You didn't say the speed of your CPU, but in my experience. The vid card can make an enormous diff in performance. If you have say a 1gig, or so. I personally would just get a more modern card myself, like a nice used GF2 Pro (prefer faster 5ns RAM of course, 32, or 64Mb would be fine). These can be had for around $100 (I think paying less here would be easy).

That IMO would be faster then another mobo w/ a lesser card. I've changed mobo's, and CPU's like crazy. Nothing, and I mean nothing made a bigger difference then my GF2 Ultra did.







Note: This has just been my opinion, and is open to all disputes, arguments, insults, etc. 🙂
 
I am using a 1.2ghz Athlon with 256mb Crucial DDR. I just figured with what the nForce offers It might be a good board for now plus with 5 pci slots and 1 agp the upgradability is there also. Plus, I have not read a bad review of the nForce yet. Most of what I have seen says that it is just as good as the KT266A.
 
Unless you're running 2x128MB of DDR, I'd avoid the NForce for memory reasons. Performance wise, you'd want the 420 which with its TwinBank architecture requires 2 sticks of memory.

I'm with those that are saying you should just get a nice video card and wait for all the issues with both the NForce and KT266A to be smoothed out. Of course, by then you'll have the option of the SIS745 and have the choice of mobos that provide support for the Thoroughbred and Barton.
 
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