Best KT133A MB for 1 Ghz Thunderbird O/C??

[ZeRoSKiLL]

I'm building another pc, which of the KT133A boards are the most stable and have the least problems? I've been reading about multiplier issues with a lot of the boards. I'd like to be able to use the 133fsb, but if it's gonna lead to stability issues, I guess I could settle for a regular KT133 board.

So far I've got my eye on the MSI K7T Turbo (non-raid).

Any suggestions?

 

[Bartman39]

A7V133... see the "rig"

 

[ivanov]

I've got the MSI K7T turbo-raid... works fine for me at 7x150fsb... totally stable but u gotta flash to the overclocker bios in order to have the full range of multipliers... but besides buggy bios, i think the K7T is a great board....

look at the Iwill kk266 as well... nice board too...

if u wanna use 133fsb, u need to get a KT133a based mobo... the KT133 chipset has a limitation on the FSB as far as stability is concerned

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

What about Iwill's KK266? and the Epox 8KTA3?? I just recently put together a pc w/ an 8KTA2+ and the board was rock solid. Anyobdy have any experience w/ these 2 boards?

 

[ManuTOmanU]

how about the Asus, Yep the Iwill is great too, but the 133FSB problem, it might not work right...

I would personally get the ASUS, but just an opinion... Iwill's layout is nicer in my eyes, but the Jumper that changes the 133 FSB support....

 

[mercutio11]

A7V133 Baby~~

 

[tigereye]

I'd say the Iwill kk266 now that they have the multiplier issue worked out.

 

[NZstorm]

KK 266. This board is just plain sexy. I bought a Soltek SL75KVX at the start of Jan,damn stable board but lacked a good layout and OC options. Two weeks ago I got the KK266, the install is easy, OC easy and am running my Duron 650 at 6 * 150 rock stable, good onboard sound and ISA to boot. There was a limited bad batch of about 1000 Revision 1.2 boards but that was rectified on 5th March. Go for it, you won't be dissapointed.

 

[TuffGuy]

abit kt7 is the fastest and the best for overclocking. msi is the most stable if you're not going to overclock.

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

Still haven't heard about the Epox 8KTA3. Doesn't anybody have this board? I just saw a socketA shootout (can't remember where right now) and the 8KTA3 came in 2nd behind the Abit KT7. The 8KTA+ came in 3rd and it's only a KT133.

 

[Garet Jax]

Zeroskill,

I have been trying to make this decision as well. I have been monitoring these forums for about a month and a half now looking for opinions on these exact questions. I have not seen more than a handful of Epox posts.

I have decided to wait for some time before finally deciding which system to buy. With Crucial DDR 2100 on the horizon (as opposed to paying userous Mushkin rates), via's DDR chipset offering coming out soon, instability in a lot of the KT133A chipset boards it just makes sense for me to hold on a little. That and the fact that I don't need a new computer immediately.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I'll let you know next week on the 8KTA3. It's waiting for me at home to replace a P5A with (the CPU probably won't get here until saturday or monday)

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

Cool. I've actually built a pc based on the 8KTA2. I got a duron 650 to run at 950. And it was rock stable. I'm mostly interested to hear of any problems at 133fsb and multiplier issues.

 

[Garet Jax]

Zeroskill,

In case you are interested, I just saw a deal posted on the Epox board in the hot deals forum. Here is the link:

Epox MB

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

Thanks for the heads up.

BTW, Newegg has the same board for $112 w/ free shipping hehe.

 

[Insane3D]

Abit KT7A-R...very fast, stable, and built for overclocking. It has my 1.2ghz bird running a 1.35ghz (9X150) at below default voltage (1.7v). The Abit boards are made for overclocking, none of that useless stuff like onboard sound, and it has a very nice layout that includes four nicely placed fan headers. The Iwill and Epox have multiplier issues I believe, and the MSI is very stable, but slower than the other boards in benches.

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

I guess the KT7A WOULD be my next choice, if it wasn't so much more expensive than the Epox 8KTA3 and the MSI K7T Turbo. $12-$15 may not seem like much but I'm on a tight budget

 

[Superdoopercooper]

Iwill KK266. People are getting some amazing FSB speeds... check out Iwill forum at AMDMB.Com.

 

[Dulanic]

<< abit kt7 is the fastest and the best for overclocking. msi is the most stable if you're not going to overclock. >>



Actually the Asus is the fastest, the MSI, IWill, and Asus are the most stable (None crashed in 48 hours testing for Anand)

 

[White Widow]

While the Asus *is* the fastest motherboard (go here for scores), it is important to realize that Anand clearly states that &quot;it should be noted that among these tests all motherboards are within 5% of each other, so performance should not be a major factor in your purchase decision.&quot; With that said, go for stability and options. The only KT133a board I have extensive experience with is the KK266, and I couldn't be happier. I even got one of the bum boards (couldn't reliably adjust the multiplier), but Iwill sent a replacement over 24 hours after I faxed in the request, and it is amazing. I have taken it as high as 152MHz FSB (RAM limitation) and it was looping Prime95 and 3DMark all night. The BIOS controls work great, and with the brand new BIOS (3/07/01), the memory scores are KILLER. My Duron at 933/266 gets a Sandra2001 MEM score of 531/627. But, like i said, I haven't had the opportunity to really tweak out the other boards, but you DEFINATELY cannot go wrong with the KK266.

-Aaron

 

[CichliSuite]

I'll put a vote in for Epox. Great board, and it's completely stable. It doesn't get a lot of posts cause not many people seem to own it - it's a underdog, but a damn good one.

It isn't much different from the other boards - all KT133a boards so far has been very oc friendly and stable (the only one with significant problems and performance penalites has been MSI's K7T). However, what sets EpoX apart is it's price. Cheap!!!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

OKay, got the all the parts in. have an 850 T-bird on an 8KTA3 running at 1GHz (7.5x133), the voltages seem a little high (but not excessive, and the board is kinda wide, which wouldn't be a problem if I didn't screw up and buy a case that was a little too narrow (the MB blocks 2 of the 4 5.25&quot; bays DOH!)

No problems during the install, only 5 jumpers:

100/133MHz FSB (you can do some pretty good tweaking in BIOS)
STR enable
KB power on enable
CMOS clear
Power loss recovery

 

[ZeRoSKiLL]

How are the 2 drive bays blocked??

 

[Boonesmi]

i have the same problem, the motherboard is too wide and blocks my lower two 5 1/4 bays

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Zero: they won't slide all the way in, they bump capacitors. The case that I replaced was a bit wider and wouldnt've blocked them, but I didn't like the clam shell cover and it only had a 250W PS.

The A7V series would probably have similar problems as would most socket A boards.