DDR Boards are here! Asus A7M266 reviewed. Is it time?

[broadwayblue]

I (like many) have been waiting for the msi turbo since december. However, with delay after delay and the huge price decreases on DDR RAM it seems like the 133a mb may not be the best way to go. Got Apex just reviewed the brand new Asus A7M266 DDR board and they were seriously impressed...and they weren't even using a "c" AMD processor either. So I ask you all, why should we buy 133a mb's when ddr boards are now available and the price of ddr ram is falling fast? My only main concerns over this asus ddr board is that it only has 5 pci slots and two dimm slots...and that this model does not include raid. So are ddr motherboards the way to go...or is there still enough concern to hold off a little longer?

review

 

[Zipperhead]

i have the board and mem-just waiting for the t-bird 266.about another week or so.why spend money on yesterdays tech?

 

[ManuTOmanU]

What I am scared of is the memory...

You know how long it took to have some decent SDRAM out!?!


I don't really trust DDR memory yet... there are no reviews and nothing that would tell me... we just have to try...

But I don't know... don't know...

But anyway either way i am going to get a new upgrade at the end of March... lol happy...

 

[broadwayblue]

yeah, crucial says the pc2100 isn't even out yet, unless you want non guaranteed engineering samples.

Zipperhead, where'd you get yours?

I am seriously thinking about getting this board but other than the pc2100 ram availability issue I am concerned about the lack of pci slots. I would only have 4 available if I add an ide controller card...maybe they'll have a raid version available soon so I could use all 5 pci slots.

found the ram at muskin:pc2100

 

[Zipperhead]

mushkin-get the hyundi chips.here

 

[ManuTOmanU]

still have seven weeks to go... getting excited...

Yahoo... lol

have fun guys i am going back to work... keep me up...

 

[ManuTOmanU]

could you check over the link... cannot get it to work... somehow..

could be that the server or proxi is down...


Not even the homeside comes up... plz


thanx...

 

[ManuTOmanU]

i don't know... nothing is working but anandtech and ICQ...

what is the prob...?

 

[ManuTOmanU]

got it working...

 

[DaddyG]

I wouldn't touch an AMD 760 mobo. They have serious issues with signal noise. Even AMD is glad that VIA has a DDR chipset.

 

[broadwayblue]

DaddyG, can you explain further about the signal noise? i didn't see that mentioned in the review by lostcircuits. thanks.

 

[Jumpem]

BroadwayBlue, on the last page of that review they state that Asus has overcome the "noise" problem.

 

[broadwayblue]

Jumpem, thanks for the info.

"The A7M266 is one of the best boards I have ever come across, if not the best. Using the original AMD761 North Bridge, ASUS has solved the noise problem by using higher quality components and it does show."

what a solid review! i just don't know how 4 pci slots (after I install an ide controller card) is going to be enough though...

 

[Zipperhead]

link fixed

 

[senior guy]

broadwayblue~

The very same thought - that going to DDR now (instead of KT133A) has been crossing my mind for much the same reasons as you explain when you started this thread. In addition, price aside, I've been checking out my neighbor;s new Micron XP box. It is based on the Gigabyte GA-7DX with 128MB of PC2100, and it's performance is very impressive to say the least.

BTW, the reason that most every AMD760 DDR board has but 2 DIMM slots is because they can not be populated with more than 2 unbuffered DDR sticks, regardless of size or speed (and the price of registered DDR memory is outrageous)! Apparently, the ALiMagik1 chipset does not have this restriction.

 

[paruhd0x]

I'm not going to switch to DDR till it is benched and been in the "technology pool" for a while and settled down. Don't get excited just yet


Oh and ManuTOmanU, can we say Nef?

 

[ManuTOmanU]

what do you mean...?

 

[IntelConvert]

I believe paruhd0x means that the boards and the technology are still very young and therefore, compatibility issues and/or other problems are likely...