Most Stable AMD Motherboard?

w9design

Golden Member
Mar 1, 2000
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I just came upon a 600MHz Duron pretested to 1.1GHz and I need to buy a motherboard for it.
Stability is key for me, more specifically overclocked stability.
I'm currently debating between four options. I'd like your input.

1) ABIT KT7
Don't really need RAID but I'll probably get it anyway and disable, since it's hard to get non-RAID boards for some reason. It's supposedly a great overclocker and is stable, but AnandTech reports that it crashed 1-2 times every 24 hours. I really like the BIOS-level multiplier adjust.
2) ASUS A7Pro
I don't need the promise controller; I already have the PCI controller version. I really like the extra USB hub, and the iPanel is intriguing. I hear that stability is a concern, so I'm a little wary but I like asus products. Multiplier adjust is only through DIP switches so that's an issue.
3) MSI K7T Pro2 /Pro2A
Seems to be the best of both worlds. Anandtech claims it's rock stable. I'm a little worried about the 1.8V maximum, however. Again, has the multiplier adjust in BIOS which I really like.
4) AMD-760 based board
Obviously this entails staring at a 1.1GHz chip for a month or two, and I'm hesitant to jump on the DDR bandwagon because I already have 256MB of CAS2 PC133 and I'd hate to have to buy all new
RAM on top of everything, just for a 10-15% performance jump. Did I mention it would involve waiting, which I'm not all that fond of?

So the moral of the story is that I need rock-solid stability in an overclocked environment above all. Is there anyone here that can honestly say they have an AMD system that DOES NOT CRASH... at all? Granted, Windows is crap so a crash here and there is understandable. But I'm talking about hardware-level crashes.
I understand that overclocked stability is an oxymoron. But I do video editing and other time consuming and intensive stuff on my computer and it really pisses me off when I'm about to finish a video and the comp locks up.

Opinions?

EDIT: Lest I forget, here is my system config as of yet:
Intel 600E@800
ASUS P3B-F
Matrox G400 MAX
Promise Ultra66 Controller
Linksys LNE100TX Ethernet
SoundBlaster Live Value
ADS Pyro 1394 firewire card
300W ANTEC PP303X power supply
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,112
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I have a K7T Pro 2 and if you cover the bridges on L7, you can get to 1.85v
The board is solid as a rock, but can't vouch for your other choices. MSI has been doing a very nice job lately. :)
 

StickHead

Senior member
Sep 28, 2000
512
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One motherboard that you did not mention and is deffinatly if not the best that a close second is the Epox 8TKA-2. For stability I would go for this or the MSI board.
 

Compellor

Senior member
Oct 1, 2000
889
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The KT7 is a bitch to get running smoothly if you don't have prior experience with VIA chipsets. My board is stable, but it took many formats, tinkering with the BIOS, and proper installation of the VIA drivers to get it that way. The ABIT KT7 is also picky with where you put your sound card, network card, etc. It's an excellent board for overclocking, but I wouldn't say it's the most stable.