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KT133A mobo round-up.

B

Biggs

Diamond Member
This one right here.

Ever since the hype that the IWill got a month ago, I have been leaning towards this mobo. Problem is, the Asus looks and sounds damn nice. Could anyone convince me not to get the IWill KK266 and opt for the Asus A7V133 instead?
 
The A7V133 is an excellent board.... Tom originally recommended the IWill over Asus because of the price/performance... but now the A7V133 has dropped to within about $5-8 of the IWill.
 
What does the price matter??? The cost is usually only a few dollars difference. The "pain in the a## factor" of a problem board is the real consideration. R.
 
Exactly... as GamePC mentioned they stopped carrying Abit because the RMA rate is so high! Its about time some reviewers mentioned this! They also mentioned the problems OCing a 100FSB chip to 133 on the IWill.



<< These boards aren't perfect either though. We've had (and continue) to have issues with factory unlocked Athlon CPU's with the KK-266R board. On the other hand, we've already have had some serious RMA issues with the Abit KT7A-RAID boards (Not surprising folks, this is Abit) which have forced us to pull this off our company store shelves. Our Abit testing board seemed to work just fine, but over periods of time Abit boards seem to have shorter lifespans than other Athlon boards on the market. Pity. >>

 
Yup, the A7V133 is the very fast and stable according to recent reviews. I'm leaning towards it now because simply for the Asus name. The IWill sounds real sweet but like I said, I'd rather not take my chances. The newer revision 1.2 has been causing a lot of problems as of late.

A few questions,
1) Can you use 2 identical double-sided RAMs on banks 0,1 and 2,3? I've heard people who have had problems unless they use banks 0,1 and 4,5?
2) How loud is the fan on the northbridge?
3) Are problems with using 'B' Thunderbirds(200Mhz) when trying to lower the multiplier and increase the FSB?
4) Has the problem of the memory changing to less aggresive timings when booting at 133Mhz FSB and above been solved in the latest official BIOS?
5) I've recently read a problem when transferring files over a network causes system lock ups.
6) What's the differences between the mobo revisions?
7) What's the most recent revision?

I think I should have e-mailed Asus themselves for I have so many questions. 😉
 


<< A few questions,
1) Can you use 2 identical double-sided RAMs on banks 0,1 and 2,3? I've heard people who have had problems unless they use banks 0,1 and 4,5? >>


I have 2 double sided sticks in DIMM 1 and 2


<< 2) How loud is the fan on the northbridge? >>


If I didnt have a FOP38 Id tell you 🙂 But I dont think its very loud at all.


<< 3) Are problems with using 'B' Thunderbirds(200Mhz) when trying to lower the multiplier and increase the FSB? >>


Nope I run my T-Bird 800 at 7x150


<< 4) Has the problem of the memory changing to less aggresive timings when booting at 133Mhz FSB and above been solved in the latest official BIOS? >>


Yes, although you could always override it in the older BIOS also.


<< 5) I've recently read a problem when transferring files over a network causes system lock ups. >>


Thats from IRQ conflicts, I had the same problem, just moved my NIC to a different PCI slot. Any board can have IRQ conflicts. There was a problem using some cards in PCI 4 or 5... Asus fixed that in 1003 BIOS.


<< 6) What's the differences between the mobo revisions?
7) What's the most recent revision? >>


Only revision Ive even seen is 1.04... dont think there is any other.
 
Not sure of the difference between 1.05 and 1.04... my 1.04 works fine so Im not worried about it.
 
Thanks for the comparison link.

As it is I see the Iwill like a crazy/adventurous girlfriend that could provide you with multiple orgasms for a long time or drive you nuts after a few weeks. The Asus in the other hand is like a normal/conservative kinda girl that won't bother you but it's likely to die young due to lack of features.

If I was really to get married to my mobo, then I'd go with the Asus. But heck this stuff doesn't require long term commitment, so the Iwill looks very attractive.

If Iwill came out with a solution for the 1.2GHz bug today I'd jump on it like a mad man. I like the ISA, the Cmedia, and the 3-phase. The only other question besides the &quot;bios&quot; bug is about the AMI controller.

For the Asus the only thing that turns me on is its stability. And as a replacement for my BP6, I have to say that stability is high up on my deesires.

BUT, lately, with the drop in price of DDR, I have started to think whether a DDR board wouldn't be worth the extra 20% in price.

So is anybody else thinking twice about DDR?
 
My biggest problem with the ASUS is the onboard RAID controller doesn't support RAID 1. Although I do not plan on immediately using the controller, no RAID 1 makes it essentially worthless to me...
 


<< My biggest problem with the ASUS is the onboard RAID controller doesn't support RAID 1. Although I do not plan on immediately using the controller, no RAID 1 makes it essentially worthless to me... >>



You can actually use a modded BIOS and modded drivers that give you full RAID, Ill have to look it up.
 


<< The Iwill rocks. I don't care about an ASUS, becuase I've already bought this board >>



Well I'm glad everyone on this board makes comments as useful as yours.
 
I just made a phone call and my friend and she told me that she has the Asus A7V133. I'll get it ASAP! 🙂
 
I just got the A7V133 Rev. 1.05 🙂

But it seems that it won't change the CPU Voltage from the BIOS. Any suggestion?
 
I just set up one of the Iwill KK266-R boards for a friend. Yes, I like the board. Is it easy to set up? Pretty much, if you are experienced. My friend wanted/needed RAID-1 for data security. RAID 10 would have been nice if my friend had wanted to buy 4 hard drives. That feature along with the touted stability made the Iwill attractive. Even at default RAM and cpu settings the board has had some minor lockup issues that were resolved with juggling drivers. So, regardless what the reviewers say there are some setup issues with any board. I just wanted to check it out mostly. Heh....

The MSI pro2a was by far the easiest board I have set up to date. I just wish it hadn't crapped out on me like it has with many other users also. It's going in the garbage if the new one fails.

I have an A7V in my own box right now. If I had to choose a new board I would probably go with the A7V133 (same layout) due to familiarity and confidence in it. The improved stability and performance continue to impress me. Yes, it will do RAID 0,1 and 10 like Dulanic mentioned. You just have to hack it. Check Here for info and drivers. Crazyape will likely have the answer. Odd that ASUS did not enable them all. Probably a $$$ issue to promise.

Depending on how big of a cpu you plan on using the 3 phase cooling may or may not be an issue. We'll see. I'd like to think ASUS would have incorporated it by now if it really was an issue.

 
I just put together a Duron system together on the kk266 and it's running fine for me. I'm running 6*150. Dulanic have you even tried the KK266 or is it that your opinion is the final word?
 


<< I just put together a Duron system together on the kk266 and it's running fine for me. I'm running 6*150. Dulanic have you even tried the KK266 or is it that your opinion is the final word? >>



Ive used the Asus, IWill, and Abit.

Check out this thread.... not everyone is having much luck with the IWill... IWill knows of the problem and is working on it which is a +. One person doesnt = a bad board... thats why I havent said much before now about this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=29&amp;threadid=370774
 
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