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DFI Asus or Abit?

H

Haden

Senior member
Currently I'm thinking about upgrading my Celeron 466 system.
Athlon XP 1500+ is most expensive cpu I can allow myself, also I wan't to keep my 416Mb(128+256+32) SD-RAM (PC133).
As it's clear about cpu I'm not sure about SDRAM mobo:
Abit KT7A KT133A
Asus A7V133-C VIA KT133A
DFI AK75-EC KT133A

Thought about Abit, but I'm not sure about revision number, if it's <1.3 I will be in huge trouble with Athlon XP? (can't check it till I get mobo and I won't be able to change mobo if I don't like revision number).

Is it worth extra money to go for Asus instead DFI?
I know I would need BIOS update for Asus, but will I be able to boot system with Athlon XP for flashing or I need Duron/TB?
 
For the ASUS A7V133-C, you need PCB revision 1.05 and BIOS version 1007 to support the Athlon XP. As long as the stock is a relatively recent shipment from ASUS, it should be fully Athlon XP compatible.
 
Have you considered also looking at boards with only two SDRAM slots? I'd be suprised if you can actually see the difference between 384MB and 416MB of PC133. You can probably consider a lot more boards that way, and even some that have slots for DDR too.

You might also want to keep in mind that your PSU, while great for your Celly, might not be up to snuff for the faster Athlon. You can find AMD Approved PSUs for the XP 1500+ for under $40 if your PSU isn't already on the list.
 
I must say, I agree about giving up 32MB of PC133 so you can get and use ECS K7S5a for future DDR support because the full potential of your CPU will never be fully utalized without DDR.
 
Buying a PC133 mainboard with an Athlon XP isn't a good idea, it was set by anandtech itself, can't remember were.
Instead, I would recomend an Hybrid solution, the ASUS A7A266, wicht has 3 DIMM and 2 DDR slots (you cannot mix types!!). I was very reluctant about buying an ALI chipset solution, since I had so many problems with two Gigabyte GAA5A (super 7 boards). However, the brand convince me, I test it under Win98SE and live it running WinXP PRO final, it performs perfectly, and I have the 25% overclocking promise from ASUS. This machinne is in my work and one of my friends use it everyday.
I have had a number of boards but no one performs as good and as fast as the ones from ASUS, reliabity is excelent, I have my self an A7V133, but on my spare machinne have a BIOSTAR with a DURON 800, hehe, it works good, after you manage to insert the DIMMs, low quality slots!.


Alejandro
 
Thanks for answers.

My PSU failed several month later, so I bought 350W having in mind later updates, shouldn't be a problem.
I looked for KK266, but it's too expensive. For some reason I can't find any hybrids for reasonable price and going for DDR would drop me to Duron 1Ghz.
I will choose A7V133-C (it must be revision 1.05). I don't do much gaming so It will rock after 466 cele I think 😉

XP 1500+/Volcano 6Cu
Asus A7V133-C
416Mb SD-RAM
IBM 40Gb 60GXP
Maxtor 40Gb
TNT2 Ultra
CDROM/CDRW
3 case coolers.
 
well, i'm using dfi ak75-ec rigth now.......it's stable and i never have any problem with it
it's easy to install and has a useful manual.

i can run 24/7 without any problem nor need to restart the comp.

it's solid and good.

 
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