Help me choose a mobo for Athlon XP!

[Ram0]

Im about to upgrade my old Tbird 800 w/ Asus A7V to an Athlon XP 1800 w/ DDR mobo. I want to try and save as much money as I can so I can pickup a GF3 ti200, I was looking at the MSI k7t266 pro2 because that was around $100. I also saw a gigabyte kt266a board for about 85. I would like to go for the A7V266-E or KR7A but those boards are around 160, and I have no use for raid. Im looking for a good kt266a board with multipliers in the BIOS (no dipswitches). Any Suggestions?

 

[nealh]

You realize the the Athlon XP is locked so you will need to unlock the processor(no easy chore)to use multiplier adjustments otherwise the only way to overclock is via FSB

I have the abit KR7A-RAID..nice stable board...$160 or so at newegg

Soyo dragon Plus is nice..onboard sound, LAN and raid...$140 at newegg

What is your price limit..I think you would be better suited getting a 1700+(mine easily does 11x150 on the Abit) and using the saved money to move up to a better mobo..the speed difference between 1700 and 1800 in minimal and I doubt you would notice it..newegg has the 1700+ for $127 in oem version

 

[Ram0]

I was taking a look at the user reviews of kt266a boards on newegg, and everybody seemed to love the EpoX board. That board is around 100 dollars as well. I think I may end up taking your advice and buying an asus or abit w/ xp1700. Ill have a few days to make the decision but I wanna pick the best board. Also I feel like i may wanna hold off because I saw that the kt333 boards are coming out next month.

 

[hollowman]

i am using epox 8kha+ right now. gotta love it. i originally had KR7a raid before, but seem 8kha+ runs little faster due to it's memory bandwidth. very recommended for overclocking, stability and yet still a budget mobo. only thing you should concern about this mobo is little picky with memory it's using.

 

[KouklatheCat]

When I first bought my Epox 8KHA+ I thought "How good can this board be, its less then a hundred bucks?" "Ill bet I will be yanking this sucker out and doing a fresh install about an hour after I get it installed." "Ill bet I will be taking this sucker to the shooting range." Lets just say I was wrong and I love my 8KHA+.

Typically when I do a MOBO change I F-Disk and do a fresh install. I did not do it when I first put in my 8KHA+ and everything went flawlessly and ran great for about a month when I screwed with Windows and had to reinstall. After I f-disked and reinstalled (due to my screw up not the boards) my computer runs great.

The 8KHA+ is a good stable board. I just built a computer for my partner using the 8KHA+ and an XP 1600. I used 256Mb of Crucial PC2100 and it is an awesome machine.

 

[Ram0]

Looks like im sold on the Epox. Sweet, heres my new system (hopefully)

Athlon XP 1700+ (maybe 1800 or 1900)
Epox 8KHA+
256 MB Crucial DDR
Gainward Geforce3 Ti200
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB
SB Live
Enlight 7237 300 watt PS

 

[o1die]

I like the shuttle ak31 version 3.1, and right now newegg has a refurbished one for only $59 with free shipping.

 

[Mem]

Using Epox 8KHA+ with XP 1700+ here only one word to describe it "solid" also very easy to setup since you only have one jumper (100/133 fsb) to worry about.

 

[KouklatheCat]

Ram0,

Sounds like you got the makings of a kick A$$ system.

If you havent already dealt with the Enlight 7237 it is a good case. I recommend Panaflo fans.