Iwill KA266 (ALi MAGiK 1 chipset)..

[cocokrisp]

I'm getting the Iwill KA266 once the Palominos come out .

 

[nippyjun]

Will the KA266 support palaminos?

 

[nippyjun]

Can you run the memory at 100(200) and the CPU at 133(266) or do they have to be the same speed?

 

[Xerin]

New boards with the VIA KT266 chipset support asynchronous speeds between the CPU and memory but I don't think the other boards do (AMD 760 and Ali Magik 1).

 

[nippyjun]

Are any of the KT266 boards available?

 

[Punamo]

Alright, after reading all the reviews I think I'm gonna order this board over the weekend. Before I do that though I'd like to hear from anyone who has issues with this board.

Planning to get it at newegg.com (Raid version, $165 with free shipping). I just hope that Crucial can come up with more PC2100 ram so that the components won't sit at my place forever.

Should I do it? Are there any other options?

 

[nippyjun]

After reading more about it this board seems very good. I just ordered one from newegg. Version 1.3. Good deal!

 

[web1723]

Punamo,

I had a chat with crucial sales person thursday. He said that they expect more in 30 to 60 days. He didn't want to speculate on prices, but when asked if I should go ahead and buy pc133 or wait for pc2100 based on his knownledge of general ram market pricing, he said to wait for the pc2100. That works well for me since I am upgrading from a P233MMX and am willing to wait. Of course, the longer I wait, the more confused I get over what to buy.

From the reviews, I like to Iwill, too. But waiting a few weeks will allow the new VIA DDR chipset to get more established.

 

[Chiznit]

First post after months of lurking.

web1723, I'm in the same boat. P266MX, and the longer I wait the more confused I get also. I'm definitely getting something in the next week or 2 though, and I think I'm also going to go with the KA266.

I was going to go with the KK266, but I would like to have at least one upgrade without having to replace the mobo. Figure I can put a 750 T-Bird in now and recognize a nize improvement over my current sys. Then in a year I can jump to the 1.5/266 chip for a small price. The way the RDRAM prices have been dropping, we should be able to get a decent deal, for the prospect of future benefits.

 

[Punamo]

web1723,

Thanks for the info on Crucial's next shipment.

Heh, I'm using a 233MMX too and I think it's about time to retire this thing. I still cannot believe I'll be getting another 1000Mhz of CPU power soon!!:Q

 

[Nitemare]

The board on newegg is version 1.03. Is this the same as version 1.3, the latest?

 

[lane42]

Yes

 

[IntelConvert]

Can anyone who has the KA266, please tell me if 4-way memory interleaving can be enabled in the BIOS?

 

[Punamo]

Nitemare:

I noticed that on newegg's site too. The KA266-R shows version 1.3 but the KA266 (without RAID) shows 1.03

If anyone checked that out with newegg please comment.

Thanks.

ps:// now if crucial would get the PC2100 RAM back in stock...

 

[nippyjun]

I just got the KA266-R and it is Version 1.3.

 

[Skooch]

Bought a KA266 last week, and it is version 1.3, I'm sure 1.03 is a typo.

 

[Kovalen]

I was wondering since I had both a KK266 and a KA266 if anyone would like me to run some benches comparing the two.

Most all of the reviews that I have seen for the KA266 are for early revisions and performace has almost certainly increased since last november/december when most of the reviews were done.

 

[nippyjun]

A couple of KA266-r questions

Question: When putting the mobo into the case should brass standoffs be screwed into the case then screw in the mobo into the brass standoffs?

Question: Do you need to have a fan plugged into the CPU fan header to have the mobo start?

Question: The manual seems a bit confusing to me. I need to know the order of things that need to be set up.

Thanks.

 

[Geocross]

regarding the "1.03" that it says at newegg, that is the 1.3. Besides hearing from people who have bought it from there, there also never has been a 1.03, just 1.1,1.2,1.3,...

 

[IntelConvert]

Hey Kovalen~ You bet I would!!!

BTW, I would also like to know if 4-way memory interleaving can be enabled in the KA266's BIOS?

 

[RoboTECH]

nippyjun, you are correct about the brass standoffs, just make sure nothing is touching anything other than the little metal ring around the hole in the mobo.

PlunX!!!! you gonna PM me about your Pro2 or what bro????

 

[Kovalen]

Alright, I will try to get them done by Wednesday morning. I'll get both boards as tweaked as possible before I run them. I'll get some sandra scores, 3dmarks, and Q3 scores. If there is anything else best let me know soon.

 

[nippyjun]

When using raid 0 with the KA266-R, after partitioning, do you need to use any special parameters when formatting? I see that for the abit KT7A-Raid board you need to do a format C: /Z:32 to format the C drive, do you need to use this for the Iwill board? If you do need to use it, do you use it on all partitions or just the C partition.?

 

[IntelConvert]

Kovalen~

Yeah there is... Would you let us know exactly which Rev. versions you have of each board and what the rest of your test setup configuration is?

Also, while I don't want to sound like a broken record. would you please tell me if 4-way memory interleaving can be enabled in the KA266's BIOS?

 

[Kovalen]

I havent had time to mess much with the KA266 yet, but from the manual, the answer to your question is no.

I have finished the KK266 tests, including 3dMarks, Q3 timedemos, and sandra benches. I am waiting on 3dMark2001 since it is coming out later today before putting back in the KA266. Madonion is getting hammered so it might take a while for me to get it for the tests.

As for my systems:

KK266 Rev 1.1 Crucial Cas2 PC133 256Mb
KA266 Rev 1.3 Crucial PC2100 256Mb

Thunderbird 1.2Ghz
3D Power Geforce2 Pro 64Mb (default 200/400)
SB Live
Plextor 12/10/32

This good enough?

I will go back over these when I finish and post the scores late tomorrow hopefully. I dont care which one wins since I will keep the system that does better and sell the one that doesnt, so I am impartial on this matter.