deciding on a motherboard

[manwithplan]

im gonna be upgrading my system within the next month (finally!) and im pretty fixed on everything im gonna get aside from the motherboard.

ive already got 512mb DDR (while it was cheap last year ) and Ive decided on an XP1800+ and everything else in my system is fine for now at least.

I was pretty much set on getting a via based board (either a soltek, asus or abit one) but with the iminent arrival of the GF2mx-less nForce boards (415-d???) im getting tempted by one of those, even more-so after the new msi bios that eliminates the problem of superstability mode when running all 3 dimm slots full.

What would everyone else recommend I choose or avoid???

cheers
c.

 

[saltedeggman]

get the KR7A-RAID, i got mine from newegg.com and their service is exceptionall WELL!!

 

[soulm4tter]

another vote for Abit's KR7A

 

[saltedeggman]

yes, or the NON RAID version....

Abit skipped the kt266 chipset and went striaght to the "A" chipset....

most of the reivew i have seen on this board, it topped most of the benchmarsk agasinst other kt266a board

 

[murphy55d]

EPoX 8KHA+ is a nice board.

 

[konichiwa]

I'll most likely be getting Soyo Dragon+ just because it has onboard RAID, NIC and Sound. No need to buy a TB Santa Cruz.

 

[Gix]

KR7A-RAID gets my vote. Solid board, I'd say it's the best one out right now if price is no problem. And even so, it's not that much expensive than the other solutions by asus, soltek, epox, soyo.. etc.

 

[Ionizer86]

If you want stability and overclocking, Abit KR7A-Raid
If you want stability, overclocking, a low price, and not too many extras, 8KHA+
If you like extras, like NIC, sound, etc, Dragon+

 

[Imdmn04]

if you got the dough (about $160), and want the cream of the crop kt266a board you can find, go for the asus a7v-266e, its probably not as overclockable as some of ther others mentioned here, but its featured packed, with raid and 6 channel onboard audio( alot better than AC97 crap),4 usb ports. its probably the most stable board, i dropped my xp1700+ @1.6 ghz on this board and its running great.
Besides the name Asus itself means quality, its like a Mercedes of motherboards.
the Abit is also a good choice based on the reviews i have read though i havent got hands on experience with this one

 

[saltedeggman]

if asus is mercedes?

what would abit be???

just curious...any analogy out there??

 

[soulm4tter]

ferrari

 

[Super6]

The Dragon+ is serving me well.

Super6

 

[microAmp]

<< EPoX 8KHA+ is a nice board. >>

 

[Imdmn04]

here are some more analogies:
Abit=BMW, used to own an abit 440bx based board, awesome overclocking ability, with 1 mhz increment adjusts in bios (back in the day this is relatively fancy)
Soyo Dragon+ = Lexus, price/feature, basically bast bang for the buck

 

[azkiwi]

vote for Soyo - a winner for me. The easiest mobo upgrade i have ever had.

 

[Darkhsun]

Soyoooooooo!!!! The dragon kicks ass. Nice audio etc.