Help Choosing a Motherboard

[JeffDogg1979]

I bought an Abit KT7-RAID board and a 1.33ghz 266mhz T-Bird on Monday. I've had just too many problems with it and I'm returning it to the store I bought it from today.

My question is can someone provide me with some info on which board to buy? I hadn't purchased a motherboard in 3 years, so I had no idea which companies still produce good motherboards, unfortunately for me Abit's quality has decreased. If you are wondering, I consulted various message boards(here, www.viahardware.com, abit.com.tw) for solutions, and I've flashed the latest BIOS, so nothing has helped me. One of my problems was not being able to install Win2k("cannot copy file from source&quot.

I'm not an overclocker, so I really don't care if a board does. I just want a decent motherboard that will get the job done without hassle.

www.comlinkma.com <----the store I'm going to(has selection of MotherBoards on website)

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

 

[Jennifer66]

Well if you have to pick between one of the boards on that site I would say the asus a7m266. Only because I would go for the amd 761 chipset rather than via.

 

[Coligeon]

<< I bought an Abit KT7-RAID board and a 1.33ghz 266mhz T-Bird on Monday. I've had just too many problems with it >>


Well, first off, the KT7 doesn't even support 266 Fsb Athlons, so that might be your prob, it only supports 200 Fsb athlons. As far as a motherboard goes, if you want an Sdram system, just get a motherboard with KT133A chipset on it, there are many out there, one that is good is the Asus A7V133, another would be the Iwill kk266. Also, don't be saying Abit has lost quality when you didn't have quite the &quot;exact&quot; compoents you can use, I Think it is the KT133 chipset only utilizes the Athlon B type, not the C. Good luck.

 

[RobsTV]

Actually, you can run the 266's in the 200MHz Abit boards.
But, you are limited to around 110(220ddr)FSB.
Technically, that is overclocking.
Most you could do without overclocking is 100*12.5, or 1250MHz.
You should still be able to run 110*12 or 1320MHz, as all of these parts are made for overclocking, and that is wasted with this combo if you don't overclock. If you really don't want to overclock, there are other boards to choose from that are better suited for non-technical types. I say non-technical types because overclocking in many instances is simply changing a Bios setting, and requires no extra parts, effort, or added instability. But once you see how easy it is, most want to go farther, and when you really push it, extra cooling and precautions need to be taken. A little overclocking though never hurt anything.

 

[Coligeon]

Well yeah, of course I could have said that, but JeffDogg1979 said there was no interest in overclocking and besides, the KT133 chipset was not stellar in that department, so it doesn't support Athlon C type, yes you can overclock it some, but it still lies in the same area no matter what.

 

[JeffDogg1979]

C types? B types? what does that mean?

I know nothing about motherboards/CPUs outside of the Intel Platform. Up until recently I've had no need to build anything else, because Intel was always better. The one thing that strikes me as odd, is all the wacky things people have had to do to get these boards up and running. Install Sound card first, then NIC. Don't use certain slots. Don't install windows using your actual chip speed. Since when did it become so difficult to assemble a machine?

Anyway...It may interest you to know, I bought the KT7-Raid board as a chip/mobo combo. Every company that was at the particular show I bought it from, had this mobo combined with the same chip.

Thanks for the advice,
Jeff

 

[anime]

do a search under epox--you'll see how people like their epox 8k7a. this board rocks! there are few quirks to be ironed out--other than that--it's awesome!

 

[Coligeon]

<< C types? B types? what does that mean?

>>


C type is the newer 266 Mhz Fsb athlon and the B types are the older 200 Mhz Fsb models, see your motherboard doesn't have true support with that Athlon C type if that is what it is.