AMD Questions and hopefully answers

[nino]

Hi all,
I'm wondering whether or not to get the KK266 or the KT7A and the only reason that leads me toward the ABIT is the fact that it has a voltage range of 1.1-1.85 volts whereas the Iwill only has 1.5-1.85. Is this an issue? Here's the question. As chipmaker manufacturing technologies improve and the die size decreases they typically require less power. I'd like to buy a board that I can grow into suggesting the Abit board BUT will future processors (i.e. Palomino) even work with the KT133A chipset. Is the Palomino even pin compatible with the socket A design? I'd hate to find out that future Durons/T-Birds/Palominos are pin compatible and will work with the KT133A chipset but require 1.4 volts in which case I'm screwed if I buy the Iwill board.
I know, most of you are saying don't worry just spend the extra money but it turns out to be a big enough difference for me to worry about as I'm a college student and the onboard sound can save me some more $$.
Thanks,
Nino

 

[nino]

Oh yeah,
Does anyone know if Iwill would be able to change the voltage range in the future via a bios change or is it a physical chip that would need to change also?
Thanks again,
Nino

 

[drjefft]

Nino, you pose a very good point about the voltage range. Unfortunatley I cannot answer your question. But I do have a few other pionts you may want to consider before you buy.

The KT133a chipset is now in its second stepping, the A1 version. Asus and Abit bought up all the initial supplies of the A0 stepping which does not do the 266 FSB thing as well as the newer A1 stepping of the chipset.

Market watchers are reporting that the MB sector will probly undergo a consolidation later this year. Meaning that the larger companies will buy up some of the smaller companies. Since Abit does NOT have an OEM presence and are presently reported as being under extreme financial pressures, they will probly not see the end of this business year.

So you may want to look to the Iwill KK266. It uses the same 3 phase power as the Abit and indeed uses the A1 stepping of the KT133a chipset. Iwill has an OEM presence, although cannot be called a large company.

Besides the Iwill KK266 is a newly designed board, the Abit is just a rehashed design just changing the chipset to the KT133a.

If RAID is what you want then the Iwill has that too in the KK266-R and it uses the AMI RAID controller which is safer for your data than the ABit controller which uses the Highpoint chips - or so I've read.

Good luck on your decision!!!

 

[inwoosac]

both boards do 133mhz(266ddr) bus perfectly..there is no such thing as "as well" as the other...however, moving higher than 133+...i'd give the upper hand to the A1 steppings...
voltages will probably drop from the std 1.6 in duron/tbirds... however, lots of people run duron/tbirds anywhere from 1.6-2.0v's.... so i'm sure theres no problem running palmeno's w/ a little more juice ..heeh..that is.....considering u can get rid of the heat... and who knows the longevity of the processor.
heck, who knows if it will be less than 1.1v