Asus A7V333, MSI KT3 Ultra 2, Alpha PAL 8045

[Profyrion]

(Also posted to the Motherboards forum)

Greetings. Long time reader, first time poster...

I'm considering the A7V333 and KT3 Ultra 2 for a new system. I want to use my PAL 8045 heatsink on whatever motherboard I buy, but according to THIS REVIEW:
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzM1
at HardOCP, I shouldn't even bother trying to mount an 80mm heatsink on the Asus board. This is contrary to Alpha's mobo compatibility list, and its actually the ONLY review of the A7V333 that I've seen make an issue of mounting heatsinks on that board. Most notably, Anandtech and Tom's Hardware (yeah, I know) make no mention of it.

Not to say the reviewer was smoking a bowl...

So my question, then, has two parts:

Is the ass-end of a PAL 8045 bigger than the cooler used in the review (big enough to interfere with DIMM #1)?

And, has anyone had any experience with the KT3 Ultra 2 and the PAL 8045? It looks like it should fit. Does anyone specifically use that combination?

Thanks in advance guys. And, in case it comes up, I don't intend on buying another heatsink to fit the board. I will base my purchase on that single criteria.

 

[randomboy]

I think the answer to this question is that it does fit, although it does make DIMM #1 completely useless. I have the A7V333, and right now, just a crappy Thermaltake Volcano 7, which I'm not sure, but its probably in the ballpark of 70x70mm on the base, and I have about 1/4" to spare between the edge of the HS and the RAM currently in DIMM 1.

But apparently it DOES fit, someone else should know for sure

Jeff

 

[mechBgon]

I have an A7V333-RAID and an Alpha PAL8045, and all the DIMM slots are useable on mine. The space between the heatsink and the DIMM in the closest slot is about 5mm. Unless the layout's been changed, it works fine in real life. My board is due back from RMA in a while... if you get an Asus, I wouldn't recommend using their Windows-based BIOS-flash utility!

I'm afraid I'm a bit disillusioned with my A7V333-R on several issues... haven't tried the MSI you're considering, however, so I can't make a recommendation. I typed up some info I thought might be helpful to A7V333 owners, that's here link edited, works for everyone now if you want some in-depth info. My post is the second in that thread.

 

[randomboy]

Heres the link for us NON-subscribers

Jeff

 

[mechBgon]

Doh, I'm sorry about that! I usually manually edit those.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Friend has an a7v333 with a gc68 (80mm) and it fits fine...don't think it's blocking any dimm slots but I can't say for sure...

 

[Profyrion]

Wow, thanks for the great info. I was dead-set on the A7V333 until I re-read that review on HardOCP and looked at the pictures myself (very telling). Now, after having read your laundry list of issues with the Asus, I'm leaning even more toward the MSI board. Looking at pictures of it, and just the way the socket is oriented on the board, I would feel better about how my 8045 was mounted on the KT3Ultra2, and how the air was directed in from all sides. With only 5mm between the cooler and the not-so-cool RAM, I'm questioning Asus' design decisions... and my willingness to buy their product.

Which is unfortunate because I know I would get relatively good performance from that board.

And I know its a stupid reason to buy a computer component, but that red PCB is pretty snazzy. In fact, I've been burned by aesthetics before with the horrible Thermaltake Super Orb (utter. crap.)

I'm curious, mechBgon, what are your temps under normal load?

 

[mechBgon]

On the A7V333-R, a 1700+ (at stock speed) is about 55-56C idle and around 4C higher than that under load, with an 8045 and a Panaflo L1A fan (24cfm, pretty quiet).

 

[Smilin]

I've got an MSI KT3 Ultra 2 @ home with a big honkin heatsink. It's a Thermaltake that's *almost* the size of a coke can sitting on my CPU. Continuing with the coke can illustration -- I could probably duct tape four 80mm fans to each side and one on the top and still not really have any space issues.

I've been quite happy with this board as well. I don't have any experience with that particular Asus so it might be a great board as well, but you definately won't be disappointed in the MSI. The size of that heatsink tells me you're probably going to overclock. The MSI has some from-your-desktop overclocking utilities that let you fool with FSB clock, voltage and whatnot on the fly without a reboot. It even has -get this- an 'auto' overclock button hehe. It pretty much just slowly overclocks until it crashes and then bumps the speed back a few notches after the reboot. I havn't used the auto feature yet...kinda takes the fun out of it.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Profyrion

And I know its a stupid reason to buy a computer component, but that red PCB is pretty snazzy. In fact, I've been burned by aesthetics before with the horrible Thermaltake Super Orb (utter. crap.)

I'm curious, mechBgon, what are your temps under normal load?

Hehe I don't think it's a stupid reason at all. In fact that red PCB was a small part of the purchase decision for me as well. It looks great with a new red PCB Radeon 9700 Pro or an MSI 4600 if that's your flavor. A red cold cathode and some red zip-strips looks really nice under a plexiglass side panel.

I've got a Dragon Orb 3 that's working well for me but yes, the super orb's don't work very well from what I've read. It's a bit on the loud side so I had to install a high-med-low switch to shut it up a bit. At low setting (about 3200rpm) I get a CPU temp of about 47C at warmed-up idle inside a case temp of about 37-40. (not sure if you care or not...you asked mechBgon, not me)

 

[randomboy]

I'm @ 52c idle on my Asus with a 1500+ OC'ed about 330mhz (its at 2000+ speeds as of now 10x166) and about 59c under load.

Just curious, does the MSI read on die temps, or socket thermistor??

Either way, I'm sure you'd be happy, good luck in your search!

Jeff

 

[Profyrion]

You guys are great.

I really appreciate everyone's input and I'm glad I came here with this issue. I'll be sure to post my experience with the MSI in the coming weeks.


And, in case you were wondering, I'm probably not gonna bother with overclocking. I've never been big on that. I just want a stable system that will let me play games (including the bloated EverQuest), run some CADD, crunch some SETI units, and surf the web.

I'm putting an Athlon XP 2000+ in it, 512MB Crucial PC2100, and probably the MSI GF4 4600. Should be a good system, open to future upgrades.

Cheers.

 

[Profyrion]

Originally posted by: randomboy
I'm @ 52c idle on my Asus with a 1500+ OC'ed about 330mhz (its at 2000+ speeds as of now 10x166) and about 59c under load.

Just curious, does the MSI read on die temps, or socket thermistor??

Either way, I'm sure you'd be happy, good luck in your search!

Jeff

From Anand's KT333 Roundup:

We were also pleased that the KT3 Ultra was one of only two motherboards in this roundup that properly supported reading temperatures off of the Athlon XP's thermal diode.

I assume that feature made it into "version 2" of the board, though MSI's feature list doesn't mention it. Their site is kinda sparse on board specs.

*shrug*

 

[IRJack]

Here's a thread with some more temp sensing info for the a7v333.

 

[beverage]

Originally posted by: Profyrion

And I know its a stupid reason to buy a computer component, but that red PCB is pretty snazzy. In fact, I've been burned by aesthetics before with the horrible Thermaltake Super Orb (utter. crap.)

Yeah, I was looking forward to the redness too when i bought a MSI K7T Turbo-2. Guess what. I got it, and opened the box. It was GREEN :Q. I was pissed. But, I had already waited for it longer than I should have due to the place I ordered from being out of stock, and I didnt' feel like complaining to them anymore, so I kept it. Of course it is MSI, and it works fine..but it just looks too normal :frown:

 

[NesuD]

Msi Ultra 2 was a big bust for me. flakiest board i have ever tried. Returned it and got an a7v333 instead. worked perfectly right out of the box with a 2200+ tbred. using an ax-7 heatsink on it with no space issues. Not much space between dimm 1 and the cpu cooler but it doesn't block the dimm slot.

 

[tritium4ever]

I've got an Alpha PAL8045 mounted on a KT3 Ultra2. Surprisingly, there's LOTS of clearance around the heatsink. The layout of the CPU socket on the board is just about perfect with the KT3 Ultra2.