Asus VIA A7V333 KT333 or EPOX 8K3A KT333CE? Which board?

[Lysimachus]

I've been taking a close look at these Motherboards and have been debating as to which one to purchase. Right now I have the Epox 8K7A, and I'm wondering if I should switch to Asus for my next system, because the Asus VIA A7V333 is receiving good reviews as well as contains the lates USB 2.0 (where as Epox still has 1.1).

If there is even a better board then these in your opinion, by all means let me know.

Check 'em out at Newegg here. Scroll down and find the boards on these direct links:


Asus at Newegg


Epox at Newegg

 

[Lysimachus]

Hey! My dad and I are about to order one of these motherboards NOW! I would appreciate if someone could give me some input ASAP!

thanx.

 

[brianblair]

Hey Lysimachus...

I have purchased two of the ASUS boards in the last month for 2 different systems - one is the mobo with RAID and the other doesn't have the RAID. If you are wanting to set up a RAID system (or just want additional IDE channels), I would recommend a RAID PCI card. The RAID that is integrated in the MOBO is a "Lite" version - and seems to be crippled when compared to the full version from PROMISE. I have setup a RAID 1 (Mirror) array, and my HD benchmark in SANDRA is a lot lower than it should be. Over on amdmb.com, some users of this board have had some luck disabling the USB 2.0 and gaining some performance back. However, with my experience with this board I would recommend the board w/o the RAID. Other than the crippled RAID controller, these boards are great. The onboard audio sounds pretty good too. Let me know if you need any other questions answered.

Brian

 

[Mingon]

I am upgrading from a gigabyte kt266 and decided to go for the epox board, my main reason was I wanted a board that would hit 166mhz fsb so I didnt need to upgrade again for a while.

 

[Lysimachus]

Thank you for the replies. I was not planning to purchase the cards with RAID anyhow, since that would require two Hard Drives, would it not? At leat that's what I understand...that in order for RAID to be of any use, you must have two HD's so you can have one HD as a backup incase your main HD fails, correct?

Anyway, anyone else care to add some more input on this matter?

Which board? Asus or Epox?

 

[slider94]

I purchased two of the a7v333 raid versions from mwave.com just to get the retail versions. It's a really nice solid and stable board once you get everything setup. I was just a little suprised with all the jumpers and the promise lite raid controller. I was used to abit and epox with the highpoint raid controllers and less jumpers.

If firewire isn't important, then it's probably better to go with the non-raid version since I don't think that firewire is included in the non-raid version. I usually like to use the raid controller as an extra ide controller instead of raid. For some reason, the promise lite raid controller takes longer to read drives connected to it compared to the highpoint controller, which is somewhat annoying.

Check the asus website out before you flash the bios, especially if the shipping bios is prior to the 1005 bios. There are also some updates to the manual and the drivers.

 

[Mem]

If you want Asus stability at a cheaper price go Epox,IMHO their current models are excellent,the MSI version is also another good choice( KT3 Ultra-ARU & MSI KT3 Ultra) it`s really down to features you need or don`t need,USB 2 is handy but you can always add PCI USB 2 card latter,so many options .

 

[rlotharius]

Hey Mem what do you think of the Gigabyte GA-7VRXP? I noticed all these boards being thrown out but no mention of gigabyte?

 

[SP33Demon]

If I were you, I'd wait for the next Epox board which will be released any day now... the 8K3a2, I believe it has quad channel RAID or something like that in stead of dual on the 8K3A+... Also, you have to think about compatibility with T-Bred's soon when they are released, and I'm sure EPOX will have that covered with the upcoming 8K3a2... Just my .02

 

[Boonesmi]

if i was buying a new kt333 board today it would be the epox 8k3a

but if i was going to wait a few weeks i would take a very serious look at the soyo k7v drgaon ultra (i loved the k7v dragon+ kt266a)
and the reviews ive seen of the ultra make me think it will be awesome too
kick butt onboard sound thats better then most sound cards, onboard LAN, extra usb ports that mount in either a 3.5" or 5.25" bay.. not to mention all of the bells and whistles


** edit ** i just checked newegg and they now have the dragon ultra listed, but its "out of stock"
but still you should check out the on newegg

 

[daywalker]

<< If you want Asus stability at a cheaper price go Epox,IMHO their current models are excellent,the MSI version is also another good choice( KT3 Ultra-ARU & MSI KT3 Ultra) it`s really down to features you need or don`t need,USB 2 is handy but you can always add PCI USB 2 card latter,so many options .


>>



There is no such thing as "Asus stability at a cheaper price" Mem.

In my opinion Asus motherboards have the best stability than all the other brands.

 

[Kovu]

I bought the ASUS an dit is brillent, I also use the RAID IDE on it, as well as have a RAID 5 SCSI controller, so it gets pressed to the limits. ONE work of advice, DO NOT USE THE BIOS FLASH UPGRADE UTILITY IF YOU HAVE VERSION 1004. YOU *MUST* USE AWFLASH.EXE TO UPGRADE IT. I did this by acident, but luckly own a rather fancy EProm Programer.. most people don't!!

 

[serialb]

<< There is no such thing as "Asus stability at a cheaper price" Mem.

In my opinion Asus motherboards have the best stability than all the other brands. >>



Do you know what you are talking about? In my opinion your opinion is twisted.

 

[Mem]

daywalker,if you feel happy paying more for Asus fine,(I`ve nothing against Asus boards ,except price ),the fact is both my Epox and MSI are rock stable so why should I pay more for Asus ?



rlotharius ,Gigabyte are making some very good boards now and stability is good with their boards,so if you see one that you really like, go for it,the dual bios feature on Gigabyte boards should be standard on all boards IMHO,something Asus called learn from .

That Gigabyte GA-7VRXP board has been reviewed at

Tbreak here ,pretty good review.

 

[Mingon]

<< In my opinion Asus motherboards have the best stability than all the other brands. >>



I would say that gigabyte offer the best stability, asus the best all round features.

 

[Lysimachus]

The thing is, you guys have been saying that the Epox 8K3a2 is coming out soon for a long time now!

I think it was like over a month or two ago that I heard this, and I still don't see a second version out.