EPoX EP-8K7A Questions

[Daxxax]

Thanks in adavance, here is my question I am planning on getting a 8K7a board very soon but I am kinda confused on what bus and CPU it will supprort. see, I have a "old" Epox KT133 chipset system right now and I have a unoverclocked Duron 750 running in it. I want to wait till this fall before I upgrade my CPU " I also want to get PC2100 memory for future upgrades, so what I am asking is will my Duron 750 run OK in a 266DDR board with PC2100 memory? is there a jumper on the 8K7a board to allow it to run at 200mhz? And what is the real difference between a 266 Athlon and a 200 Athlon? I don't mind running it at 200mhz bus for the time being till I buy a 1 ghz+ cpu later on. I know everyone will say yeah you can do it if you you overclock it but I lost one Duron to the pencil trick and if I mess up another one my wife will divorce me so right now I don't really want to take the chance even if it is a small one. I am pretty sure everything will be OK but I just need some assurance before I go ahead and order the MoBo.

 

[DietDrThunder]

Will your Duron 750 run OK in a 266DDR board with PC2100 memory? Yes it will. Epox's websites Compatibility List shows it to be compatible with the 8K7A+ and it will work with the 8K7A as well. I'm using a 1.2 GHz Athlon on this motherboard, which doesn't show on the list and it is working fine.

Is there a jumper on the 8K7a board to allow it to run at 200mhz? Yes, it is set to 200MHz as default, but you might want to check it anyway.

And what is the real difference between a 266 Athlon and a 200 Athlon? I'm not sure what the real difference is but there is only about a $1 to $2 price difference so just go with the 266. Also, right now you can get the 1.2GHz 266 Athlon for $1 more than the 1.0 GHz 266 Athlon. The 1.2's are already factory unlocked and you don't have to do the pencil trick.

 

[Daxxax]

Thanks alot I was pretty sure about all those things just wanting to double check before I start throwing money around. You the Man!!

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Cepak's got you covered. The main difference between the 200 MHz FSB T-birds and the 266 MHz FSB T-birds is their FSB. J/K They are almost the same price, and obviously they will have different default multiplier settings to achieve their rated clock speed. I think the 200 MHz FSB will begin to disappear as more and more of the DDR and 266 MHz FSB compatible chipsets appear. Currently I think there are only four chipsets readily available for the 266 MHz FSB T-birds. Two are from VIA, one from AMD and one from Ali. SiS and NVIDIA s/b entering the scene in a big way by the end of the year.

 

[tjll11a]

I love this motherboard. Running a 1.2 axia code thunderbird 200 mhz at 10.5x135

 

[blackhawk]

I switched from an MSI Pro2a to the Epox and my duron 600 that would only do 6.5 x 105 on the MSI now does 6.5 x 160,although with better cooling, and on the 266mz bus.