Iwill KK266-R not impressive!!

[Jakki0]

After spending a week with the Iwill KK266-R I have come to the conclusion that it may be stable but not really impressive. Here are a few gripes I have with the board:
Iwill could have done much better with the BIOS. Also there is no feature to turn on the puter with keyboard/mouse.
I have 512mb (2x256) of Micron 7e PC-133 and all of a sudden I am getting a messages that there is not enough memory to open some programs.
My PC-150 (2x128)Kingmax memory shows up under sandra as pc-133 cas3.
In the BIOS under "Advance Chipset Features" I will quote this straight from the manual: "4.6.3 DRAM Clock. This field allows you to select the DRAM operating frequency to get better performance. HOST CLK (default value): DRAM clock is the same speed as Front Side Bus,
HCLK 33MHz: DRAM is set 33 MHz less than the Front Side Bus.
This is completely wrong. If you leave at default, upon boot your memory will show as 100MHz even if your FSB is higher. (mine is at 120MHz) if you set it at the other setting that is when you get +33MHz and not the -33MHz as mentioned in the manual. However if your FSB is under 133MHz ,which mine is since my Duron 750 is locked, you will have stability problems.

Anyone have similar experiences with this board? Any suggestions for me?

 

[pm]

<< My PC-150 (2x128)Kingmax memory shows up under sandra as pc-133 cas3. >>



This is a Kingmax problem. They brand the memory as PC-150, but they program the SPD
as if it were CAS3 PC133 - which I always found to be a little disconcerting since I
would have thought that they'd at least put in CAS2@PC133 in the SPD.

The last time that I looked at their spec. sheets, the memory on my PC150 DIMMs really
was CAS3 PC133 according to their own documentation. So they are (presumably)
testing this CAS3 PC133 memory at 150MHz and then labelling it as such while leaving
the original values in the SPD.

 

[zippy]

<< Iwill could have done much better with the BIOS. Also there is no feature to turn on the puter with keyboard/mouse. >>


Wow, you're pretty picky. Everyone else said they did a great job with the BIOS and made it virtually the same as abit's Softmenu III. Oh, btw, who the fsck cares if you can turn on the computer with the keyboard or mouse? Dude...hit the damn power button!


<< I have 512mb (2x256) of Micron 7e PC-133 and all of a sudden I am getting a messages that there is not enough memory to open some programs. >>


What slots are you putting the RAM in? Avoid putting RAM in the middle slot when possible.


<< My PC-150 (2x128)Kingmax memory shows up under sandra as pc-133 cas3. >>


Of course it does- that's what it is. There is NO SUCH THING as PC-150. Their &quot;PC150&quot; name for it only indicates that they guarantee it will run at 150MHz. Not to mention, they sell it as CAS3 memory. Also, regardless of what speed you are running the memory at, SiSoft Sandra only takes what the SPD from the memory is telling it- in this case, that is Cas3, PC133.
Clarically, that last section didn't make much sense to me...think you could rephrase it?

 

[Dennis Travis]

What OS you running with it? I just read again that Win 98 has problems with 512megs and above RAM with that same message. Do a search here on the forms as I did read it here a few times now.

The Power on with keyboard is not a necessary feature. I always felt they were trying to copy the mac. I just hit the power button.

 

[DSLHunta]

Doh and I just purchased an IWill too. =]

 

[Jakki0]

For zippy:
If ACPI can give you &quot;Soft Off&quot; what is wrong with &quot;Soft On&quot;? Not every one need a &quot;Hard On&quot; esp if the box is under your desk.

If the BIOS is more like Abit's then they should really do something and make it more like ASUS and most others with a &quot;better&quot; BIOS. IMO Asus BIOS is better. If it wasn't for the promise RAID controller that is on the A7V133 that would be the one I'd get. (think I'll get one without the RAID since I already have a Promise FastTrak 100 controller.) Asus also gives you better options with regards to sharing IRQs.
What I was saying in the last part is that your memory (whatever it is 133 or 100) will default to 100 if you use the default setting in the BIOS, not to your FSB as indicated in the manual. And if you use the other setting it is a FSB+33MHz and not a FSB-33MHz (as per the manual)that you would be setting your memory.

For pm:
Concerning the Kingmax memory I will try to contact them about the matter. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jakki0]

To Travis:
I am running 98se but the problem came up with the 256 of Kingmax installed. That is why I went back to the 512 micron and the same problems. Used the microns on the CUSL2 for about three weeks and not once did that problem come up.better board?