Best parts for a stable KT7-Raid / Win2000Pro system?

[wmachine]

Building a new Win2k box and am trying to get the best stability (& ease of install / lack of conflicts) and am trying to figure out which parts you all think will give me the best shot at it

Here's what I have on order so far:
Abit KT7-RAID
Athlon Tbird 1GHz (Taisol HS/fan)
Plextor 12x10x32x IDE
Pioneer DVD-105s
Enermax 430W atx PS
Intel Pro/100+ NIC
Netgear RT314 Router (to connect to RCA cable modem)

Here's what I'm thinking of ordering:
Crucial CAS2 256MB (could go to 512MB)
(2) IBM 75gxp 45GB (to be used RAID 0)
Internal 250MB Zip Drive
Somebody's Geforce2 GTS (32MB or perhaps an OEM 64MB)
Internal modem (for when the @home mail server crashes)

Here's where the more I read the less certain I am of what to get:
Soundcard (was going to get an SBLive)

I'd like this machine to be fast & reliable, it will be used for some CAD work, Photoshop and basic apps (overclocking and gaming won't be on this one), so here's what I'm trying to figure out before I bring down my credit card in flames:

From the posts I've read, the 75gxp's seem to be pretty popular, are the 45's a good choice? Any others which I should consider? Do I need special cables to get reliable ATA/100 Raid 0 operation?

Any problems with the internal zip / Plextor CDRW / Pioneer DVD combo? Best configuration for Slave & Master / Channels?

Any internal (oem) Zip ok or should I get a retail name brand?

Any of the Geforce's work particularly well with a system similar to this? Any to watch out for?

Have read a good deal about SBLive conflicts (although maybe this is partly because it's more popular than other cards), any suggestions for a simple, sound card which gets along ok with everything else?

Any other suggestions on Windows 2000 professional installation?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[DaddyG]

If you can cancel the order for the ABIT mobo do it now.

 

[Galadala]

Go ahead and use the DVD as the master, Burner as slave. Works well for me.

It has been said that to fix problems with SB Live! that you should enable in the Bios: "Memory Hole at 15 - 16MB" I believe this will solve the problem with you

Oops... Pressed the post key a little too much there, yeah.

 

[Galadala]

Go ahead and use the DVD as the master, Burner as slave. Works well for me.

It has been said that to fix problems with SB Live! that you should enable: "Memory Hole at 15 - 16MB" I believe this will solve the problem with you. Try updating the drivers to the latest one as well, that usually helps...
good luck

 

[wmachine]

the Abit is on it's way, had read a lot of good things about it (including Anand's review). Is there a problem with the board itself, or just when running Win2K?

 

[andrey]

although Abit boards post great scores in benchmarks, the quality of Abit boards is on the low side. I will be very surprised if your board will even work after 6 months. I have had quite a few Abit boards in the past and all those little things will drive you nuts: fan connectors stop working, secondary IDE channel will stop recognizing hard drive, one of the PCI slots will have mind of its own, DIMM slot will not accept SDRAM you've been using w.o any problems before, etc.. Anand usually uses only one video card and one sound card in his reviews, so all those "little misceleneous" problem can be really easy to overlook. Also, notice this fact, the only boards Anand uses in his servers are Asus and MSI. As couple people avove already mentioned, cancel order on Abit if you can.

 

[wmachine]

Ouch! will have to check and see about return policies, figured with all the good reviews that the Abit kt7 would be a good bet (and the prospect of nice fast raid 0 HD's clinched it) Kind of surprised that they've gotten such good marks if their QC is that suspect.

Hadn't intended to OC or fiddle to much with it, just wanted to get a quick system that works without crashing to often (hence the choice of a regular 1 GHz Tbird rather than an unlocked & oc'ed lower speed version, the Intel NIC over a Netgear, the CAS2 memory over 3, and the choice of Win2K over 98SE, etc.)

Could ditch the Zip drive, which would bring it down to the raided gxp's/CDRW/DVD and just video & NIC (can probably get by w/o the sound card, although if someone makes a good basic "no frills" sound card w/o all the gameports/midi/whirling light interface etc.etc. & W2K drivers, I'd be interested)

Does anyone have a KT7 running W2K & raid that works ok?

 

[wmachine]

Had heard some problems with the SBLive with the rest of this hardware, the Santa Cruz and the new Philips Acoustic Edge look interesting, has anyone used them with similar hardware and win2000?

 

[billyjak]

Mine Computer runs fine on a dual boot with the KT7 Raid
I didn't install raid for the dual boot though.
Use the Hot Rod disk to install win2000 as the updated Hotpoint drivers didn't work for me.
I copied the updated drivers to a disk, then copied the Abit win2000 drivers to the disk.
When installing win 2000 Press F6 and insert the disk and your ready to go.

 

[Technonut]

I never fooled with the RAID versions of the KT7, but out of the 6 KT7 non-RAIDs I have built (5 for customers that requested them, and 1 for myself) I have had no complaints yet. I am not denying that there are some people out there having problems with them, but the same could be said of any mobo. I have seen many people on the Forum go with the MSI Pro2A in the last few weeks, and have been seeing posts pop up recently with people having issues with them, including a couple of RMA's, power up problems, IDE issues, etc... Does it make it a bad board in general? No.

I am not an ABIT fanatic either. The majority of my Socket A builds are based on the TYAN Trinity KT as it is very good quality, and has a 3 year warranty. I have used many MSI Slot A K7 Pros, FIC's, EPOX's, ASUS, etc..and have found them quite good also.

I just happen to personally prefer the KT7 at this time. I have zero stability issues with it, and find it performs very well no matter what I throw at it. I run the board 24/7, have a loaded system, and everything works, including a USB modem, USB hub, USB scanner, and a printer and digital camera on the hub. I have no problems with IDE devices, (all ports filled + a drive on a Promise card) power ups, or anything else.

As far as speed and BIOS tweaks go, the KT7 is hard to beat. Check out this Winstone Content Creation score of 40.7, and this Sandra Memory Benchmark of 540/637 conducted on my system.

This is only my opinion of 6 non RAID KT7's. I just do not see a reason to go as far to cancel an order for a board that you will more than likely be very pleased with. If you are interested, I can point you to a couple of recent reviews that did not use "cherry picked" KT7 RAIDs, but obtained them like anyone else would, and in one of the reviews, tested it for a couple of weeks before putting the review up. They were very impressed with it. Also it was the Athlonmb.com mobo pick for the best Socket A system available based on price and performance even over the MSI.

Sorry for the long post, I just get tired of the remarks when there are many satisfied KT7 users out there.

EDIT: I run a dual boot Win98SE/Win2000 with the KT7 also with no problems.

 

[Lightingguy]

Another satified KT7 user. At 1196, stable, and using the big forged Taisol, cool and relatively quiet.

Love the BIOS and the 4 IDE (2+2) channels.

Solved the SBLive problem.

Works for me!

 

[wmachine]

For the sound card ordered an SBLive! oem, so the video card remains the only question mark, am leaning towards the GeForce2, although some of the comments I've read on image quality have me thinking about a Radeon or ATI G400max.

Will be using with a Nokia 446Xpro 19" monitor (probably no higher than 1024 or perhaps 1280, have to wear my reading glasses when the type gets too small *sigh*)

Usage will be for general apps (Excel/Word/surfing) and some CAD work, any thoughts on which GeForce (GTS 32 or 64M/ Pro / Ultra) or other card might be the best bet? (want speed & stability under W2K)

 

[Rellik]

Since you don´t game on the system, go for a matrox card. G450 or G400
series. Your eyes will thank you and for the occasional small game they are ok..

And the Crucial Ram is great. get 512...