Fastest KT266a without onboard junk?

[Metalloid]

Sorry everyone I know this thread has been done to death but what would be the fastest kt266a board that is good for 3d gaming? I dont want onboard audio, lan, or raid. Although an onboard modem would be nice if possible but not necessary. I was thinking either the Asus or Abit, but I have heard that Soyo's and MSI's are good too. Any opinions

 

[zzzz]

I think only Abit comes without anything else onboard on the KR7a model. Epox is nice too but (I think) has onboard sound.

 

[JimMc]

Epox 8KHA+ for no frills, fast 266A performance, very good overclocking features.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

KR7A hands down. You can get RAID if you want, or shave a few bucks and leave onboard RAID out. Otherwise the KR7A lacks onboard sound and onboard LAN. However, the KR7A does not lack 4 DIMM sockets and it also does not lack 6 PCI slots. The KR7A's overclocking potential is pretty much the highest of any KT266A board. It is also one of the most stable KT266A boards, especially when it comes to having all of the DIMM sockets filled with ram (and it has four unlike most KT266A boards).

 

[Metalloid]

Yeah I was definitly leaning towards the Abit KR7A after I sell off my Asus A7V266. I wont do much overclocking because I dont like using FSB to overclock (it speeds everything up) and my Ahtlon XP 1600 isnt unlocked. Keep the opinions coming.

 

[jsouth]

I am too, going for the Abit KR7A-Raid ($142.00 at Newegg.com) After searching around and found the review on this web site (Anandtech).They gave the Abit KR7A-Raid Editor Choice Gold Award. Just ordered that board and 512MB of PC2100 a moment ago (02/14/2002 8:00pm Central).

 

[AA0]

you don't like to o/c your fsb? are you crazy? thats the best way to get performance, I just crank the fsb, I could care less how high the cpu actually goes, the 10+ multipliers out there make cpus somewhat inefficient.

 

[Metalloid]

What things are increased when you oc the FSB? AGP and PCI slots, memory, CPU and others. If anyone can give me a list of things increased with FSB oc'ing I am more likely to do it. It just is too risky if I am overclocking a bunch of different things at one time. Should I get heatsinks for my DDR ram? Anyway to not crank up PCI slots?

 

[RaymondY]

May also want to consider the Epox 8KHA+ motherboard. I just upgraded from my Iwill KK266-R motherboard and the Epox is excellent. A+ on stability and speed.

Cost of the board is approximately $100 shipped from Newegg.com

THe Epox 8KHA+ does not come with RAID, onboard NIC, etc. It does have onboard sound but I have disabled that option as I am using my SB Live Value.

 

[breweyez]

i havent seen the KR7A bios. But I would guess you can change the pci bus apart from the fsb. Thats what a 1/5 or 1/6 setting is for. Could someone please tell me if this MB can do that. Thanks

 

[AndyHui]

I would have to recommend the new ASUS A7V266-EX.

The new EX model is a revised A7V266-E, but has no onboard sound or RAID....and the 686B South Bridge has been replaced by the less troublesome VT8233A with ATA133 support.

 

[oldfoof]

My vote goes to the Epox 8KHA+
Been Great.....


Fast and Rock Stable

 

[CraigRT]

<< Fastest KT266a without onboard junk? >>



ABIT KR7A is not onboard oriented at all..

infact it might be the only one I know if without the onboard sound entirely, most mobos at least have AC97, not the KR7A.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

another vote for the KR7A.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Sorry everyone I know this thread has been done to death but what would be the fastest kt266a board that is good for 3d gaming? I dont want onboard audio, lan, or raid. Although an onboard modem would be nice if possible but not necessary. I was thinking either the Asus or Abit, but I have heard that Soyo's and MSI's are good too. Any opinions >>

The Soltek SL75-DRV4. People will tell you EPoX, but it doesn't benchmark as well nor does it overclock as well.

 

[FIFO]

Daovonnaex, I have no problem with people having their own oppinion but where are you coming from???

If you consider 1% or less a big performance difference, then I just don't know what to say to that...

Besides that, on this very site, in the 266a round-up, the Epox board had a much higher overclock of the FSB than the soltek.

Ultimately, I say the following: I own an Epox 8KHA+ and before I started in with the overclocking, I ran the system at 133FSB with max memory tweaks for 12 days running prime95. It never crashed once. I am currently running the FSB at 145 and I have still not had a single crash in any of the applications or games that I run. I only reboot the PC 1-2 times a month and only because I am tinkering around. The final drop in the bucket for me was the price of the board. As the 266a round-up points out, it costs less than the Soltek.

Good luck and have fun...

Jason.

 

[CraigRT]

<< The Soltek SL75-DRV4. >>



Mine's in the mail !!!

 

[exp]

<< Cost of the board is approximately $100 shipped from Newegg.com >>


You can also get a refurbished Epox 8KHA+ from Newegg for $69. A lot of people here on AT have had good luck with them--appear like-new in retail box with latest BIOS revision, etc...for the most part not your usual refurbished crap.

 

[MiklosMillora]

Go with the The Soltek SL75-DRV4. Very fast and stable motherboard

 

[Stang289]

Take a look here at the Anandtech review. It might help you make your decision. You might also want to take a look at the Iwill XP333. I know it's not a KT266a mobo, but it is a rock solid board with excellent overclocking ability.