KT333 Motherboard Recomendations.

[tRaptor]

OK, its time to switch to DDR (and a mb that supports athlon XP)

What KT333 Motherboards do you you recomend? or 400 i guess.

I like my abit kt7a (except its incompatability with AthlonXP)
so i've been concidering at KX7-333R. Raid is not a must but i'd really like to have it. I'm also trying to keep this under $120 but i'll look in to all recomendations.

Thanks in Advance.

~tyler

 

[Basie]

That is a very good choice. Also look at the newer Epox Boards.

 

[Insane3D]

IMO, the top KT333 board right now is the Epox 8K5A2+. You get 5.1 sound, 6 USB 2.0 ports, Onboard LAN, and RAID for under $100. It also overclocks much better than the Abit...if you are planning on it. I would also suggest getting one of the AGOIA 1600+ XP's @ Newegg for $52. You can find more info here.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
IMO, the top KT333 board right now is the Epox 8K5A2+. You get 5.1 sound, 6 USB 2.0 ports, Onboard LAN, and RAID for under $100. It also overclocks much better than the Abit...if you are planning on it. I would also suggest getting one of the AGOIA 1600+ XP's @ Newegg for $52. You can find more info here.

I second that motion

 

[Goi]

What's your budget? And do you need any special features like LAN, onboard sound, RAID controller, overclocking options etc?

 

[tRaptor]

Nothing really special required, many PCI slots i guess. This is going to be a direct swap from my kt7a (other then ram) and i already have everything. But RAID would be nice, and Overclocking is a MUST.

Insane3D: Acording to anandtech, the 2 abits seem to be he best for OC'ing Right Here I'd Be more than happy to be able to hit a 215 (or anything within 20 mhz of that) fsb.

Goi: I dont really have much of a budget, basicly $100 for the mobo and about the same for ram, Im trying to keep it as low as i can, but im really trying go for good quality first.

I guess i know in truth that most of these boards would wrk for me.

~tyler

~PS THANKS a lot for all the hep, i know i can be kinda stupid sometimes

 

[Insane3D]

Insane3D: Acording to anandtech, the 2 abits seem to be he best for OC'ing Right Here I'd Be more than happy to be able to hit a 215 (or anything within 20 mhz of that) fsb.

That roundup didn't include the Epox I mentioned because it just came out in September..that roundup was done in June..


If you look here, they got the board up to 231mhz FSB stable.

The highest FSB we were able to reach on the Epox 8K5A2+ while maintaining stability was 231 MHz FSB.

There is also a Anadtech forum member here, Technonut that was running 214mhz FSB with no issues in that thread I linked above...

The 512MB Corsair XMS3200 Rev. 2.1 (Winbond chips) runs at a 214FSB in my 8K5A2+ at CAS2.

 

[Insane3D]

So are you gonna blow your money on that last generation Abit with no options? Just curious..

 

[Mem]

Epox 8K5A2+ is the OC king,stability & features are excellent,look no further .

 

[tRaptor]

OK, you've almost got me convinced. @ only $116 it sounds like a great board.
I guess it would be nice to have onboard sound and LAN casue then tehy can stay with my old board (kt7a) and make a good lan/enertainment box outta it.

I'm going to look at some more about it first, and i'll make my decision. unfortunitly newegg is sold outta them.

I'll pry stick with the mushkin ram jsut cause its good and not so expensive.

Thanks guy's

~tyler

 

[tRaptor]

So far looks good, but im having trouble finding reviews.


Questions:

Does it have thermal diode protection for AthlonXP?
Am i going to have to get some sort of new backpanel for my case?

 

[Insane3D]

OK, you've almost got me convinced. @ only $116 it sounds like a great board.

For Epox boards, don't bother with Newegg. The 8K5A2+ is $99 @ Mwave.

So far looks good, but im having trouble finding reviews.

No offense man, but if you look at the link I posted before, or just go to the stickied "Official 8K5A Series (KT333)Thread" at the top of these fourms, I have posted 7 review links for the 8K5A2+.

Does it have thermal diode protection for AthlonXP?

Yes, it fully supports the thermal diode of the XP. Again, I answered that question a couple of times already in the thread I linked.

Am i going to have to get some sort of new backpanel for my case?

Yes, you will need to change the I/O plate, but you will not need to get one....it comes with the board.

 

[tRaptor]

Well i did it. I bought an Epox 8k5a2+

Thanks a lot everyone. Im sure i'll be back when i have got it up and running and i'm (hopefully) pushing my FSB up there with teh best of them.

Only thing i need to do is order ram but for the life of me i cant rember my address at school so i'll prob have to wait till i get back there.

~tyler

 

[Rafael]

Hehehe Another one sold Insane! LOL
Yeah cant go wrong with the new Epox!! Nice mobo, good oclocker, stable, nice features.
Insane U are almost convincing me to get a new mobo! LOL
Just the bad part of it, is that where I live this baby costs about 200 bucks!
But Im thinking about getting one.

Raf

 

[tRaptor]

its hard having the box sitting there. I cant wait to get back to school and get some ram. Just thinking about having a fsb @ 200 is making me not sleep at night.

One last question tho. There is no active cooling on the north bridge is there? (its just looks like a heatsink but i coulda swear i saw somthing about a fan under it.

Well anyway i'll just have to find a little fan. i know i have one around here somewhere.

 

[Actaeon]

Nope, no active cooling on the 8K5A2, but I don't think its a problem. I read this somewhere on the forums, but "Whatever is good enough for EPoX, is good enough for me!"

 

[VTrider]

I've been running a 8K5A2+ for a few weeks now, I have to honestly say that this board rocks. I have one of those NewEgg XP1600 AGOIAs happily running at XP2200+ speeds right now (Have an AROIA that will run just as fast on this board too!).


-VTrider

 

[tRaptor]

how fast are you running your FSB?

Unfortunitly for me i'll be on jsut a t-bird 1.4 for awhile, my 1.4 can hit 1558 so i thing i can get her to 1.6, maybe more.
Cant wait to get the new mobo running.

Does anyone know how long newegg is going to have the 1600+ on sale?

 

[VTrider]

I currently have my FSB @ 166 (2100+ speed) for some stability testing. Earlier I was running I believe on a 172 FSB w/seemingly no problems. Mozilla started to crash lately after months of stability so I'm just figuring out if it was indeed because of the 172FSB. I've backed it down to 2100+ speeds and Prime95 hasn't missed a beat for a day now (as was the case with 172FSB also).


-VTrider



BTW: Newegg has been selling those 1600s forever now, seems like they list them as AGOIA now on their page! That's cool, I wouldn't be in any rush to get them, but I wouldn't wait forever either - all good things must come to and end sooner or later