Motherboard for AMD athlon to use pc133 memory

[vroom1810]

Hi all....I have an older computer that seems the motherboard is now bad. The pc lights up, but won't boot. My brother thinks it may be the motherboard. I want to use everything in it (harddrives, existing memory, etc). I believe the "bad" motherboard is an MSI. I have the older memory in it....i think it's pc133...not DDR. Can someone recommend another motherboard brand/model that's inexpensive, but very good (and possibly where to get it online)? I believe the cpu is 800 or 850 athlon. I assume i can still use it and not have to get another cpu. thanks for any help....robert

 

[earthling30]

Is it a slot A processor?

 

[vroom1810]

I just double-checked and the processor is a Duron 800. I don't actually remember what brand of motherboard it is, but do know i have 2 pieces of pc133 in it (not DDR). I don't want to have to go out and buy the newer DDR memory, just use what i have. Does this help any? thanks

edit: i don't know a whole lot about computers, but just found the box the processor came in. It says AMD Duron 800mhz. How do i tell if it's a slot A processor?

edit: aren't some motherboards capable of using the memory i already have and also DDR? I might go for a motherboard/cpu combo if i can afford it, but if i can still use the same processor i would probably do that. My step-dad built this particular pc for me a couple of years ago. This will be a back-up computer for me since i have a newer one now.

 

[earthling30]

I'm looking now. More than likely what you have is a Socket A PC133 setup by what you have described in your post (The area where the processor plugs in to is a square this is a Socket A; however a long thin slot that looks similar to where the memory is connected to is called a Slot A). This is old technology so it might be kind of hard to locate.

 

[vroom1810]

earthling30, thanks for your help. I found this at Compgeeks: MSI K7T Turbo VIA KT133A Socket A ATX Motherboard. It seems like the only mb that would use the memory that i have. Do you have any idea if this mb would be a good choice? It's only $19.95 and i can spend more. I don't want to get a mb that isn't a good choice.

 

[magomago]

ECS K7s5a pro gets my vote

it'll allow you to reuse all your parts, and in the future you can move to DDR and toss in a athlonXP down the line.

 

[vroom1810]

thanks, magomago for the input. Do you happen to know how much it would cost and the best place to get it online for the best price? (i sent you a pm).....thanks, robert

 

[magomago]

Shouldn't cost much. I picked it up at a Frys combo along with a 2200+ for 59.99 last year.

My guess would be to check newegg/zipzoomfly/mwave or a frys if you have one by you and see if they have it- if you check out for sale/ for trade you'll probably find it very cheap

But for someone in your position I couldn't think of a better board- it isn't the fastest out there, but if you are at a 800Mhz Duron with pc133 ram, it leaves you a lot of "upgrade" options to the AthlonXP line and DDR ram

And contrary to the complaints I've heard, mine hasn't caused any problems and probably was the easiest installation I've ever gone through (more than I can say with my A7N8X Deluxe...)

But if I were you, I'd sift through the for sale/ for trade

 

[Zugzwang152]

if you browse FS/FT look for a MSI K7T, excellent boards. Otherwise you're probably better off with a K7S5A, although I had a bad experience witrh an earlier revision, the pro boards are supposed to be quite good.

 

[earthling30]

Originally posted by: magomago
ECS K7s5a pro gets my vote

it'll allow you to reuse all your parts, and in the future you can move to DDR and toss in a athlonXP down the line.

Cool, you mean that cpu will work in will work in that type of board that is designed for more AMD XP and higher FBS Durons cpu's. I honestly didn't know that. If that's the case then you'll have a better chance in finding what you're looking for. Good luck.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

socket a is socket a and all socket a cpu's should work. Getting a motherboard with ddr and sdr capability allows you in 6 months or a year to upgrade to 3200 for like 35 dollars and ddr for (hopefully with the prices lower) for about 50 bucks for 512 ram

 

[CraigRT]

for a Duron 800, I'd just get the MSI board you found.

I am currently selling one also, hopefully I can get 20 bucks for it... still works perfectly! (Mine's a limited edition - red PCB)

 

[earthling30]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
socket a is socket a and all socket a cpu's should work...........

Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[earthling30]

Here's a link to the board.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=243811

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: vroom1810
earthling30, thanks for your help. I found this at Compgeeks: MSI K7T Turbo VIA KT133A Socket A ATX Motherboard. It seems like the only mb that would use the memory that i have. Do you have any idea if this mb would be a good choice? It's only $19.95 and i can spend more. I don't want to get a mb that isn't a good choice.

YES get that board. I had that board for three years...it's fantastic. I just barely sold it and upgraded to a Dell (stop laughing). It's a really fantastic board. I had a 1.4ghz Athlon thunderbird and pc133 ram on there (I had it maxed out at one time...3 x 512mb pc133 with the 1.4ghz tbird, the fastest cpu and most ram it could handle at the time lol). I believe it's gotten a motherboard bios update and can handle cpus a bit faster now, not 100% sure tho. But this thing is a rock, I loved it. It was pretty much the first real computer I built (had a duron in it then plopped the athlon in it).

MSI K7T Turbo = awesome!

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: magomago
ECS K7s5a pro gets my vote

it'll allow you to reuse all your parts, and in the future you can move to DDR and toss in a athlonXP down the line.

I don't know if i would vote for any ECS board, as i just replaced mine...but since that K7S5A Pro was the only one i could find locally that would support SD-RAM, i went with it.

It does have the capability for you to switch to DDR RAM later, or put a faster CPU later.
I believe it supports up to the 2600+ w/ 266FSB (someone could correct me if i'm wrong on this)

 

[Tostada]

I would give another vote for the K7S5A, but those things are actually getting pretty hard to find. I think they came all the way down to $42 on Newegg for awhile, but now Newegg doesn't carry them, ZipZoomFly is out of stock, and Pricewatch only shows two places with them for $55.

So, I would simply check around for a used board. Check the sale/trade thread. If that's no good, just go buy a new board and DDR. You can get a new VIA Socket A board for $27 and 256MB DDR for $35 at Newegg, so paying a lot for something that takes PC133 is a waste of money.

 

[dguy6789]

ks75a pro supports 266FSB and lower, so you couldnt upgrade to an athlon xp 3200+. But you could upgrade to a 2400+ or (if you can find it) a 2600+ 266fsb.

 

[dderolph]

I bought the K7S5A PRO from Newegg just last March but I see they are no longer selling it. I bought it to replace an older board and moved my PC133 RAM over to the new board. Later, I assembled another computer with my old board, put the PC133 RAM back in the old board, and sold that computer. I bought some DDR RAM for my K7S5A PRO.

Another motherboard which will use either PC133 SDRAM or DDR (probably PC2100) is the
MSI KM2M Combo-L. Newegg has it; see MSI KM2M Combo-L

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: vroom1810
earthling30, thanks for your help. I found this at Compgeeks: MSI K7T Turbo VIA KT133A Socket A ATX Motherboard. It seems like the only mb that would use the memory that i have. Do you have any idea if this mb would be a good choice? It's only $19.95 and i can spend more. I don't want to get a mb that isn't a good choice.

YES get that board. I had that board for three years...it's fantastic. I just barely sold it and upgraded to a Dell (stop laughing). It's a really fantastic board. I had a 1.4ghz Athlon thunderbird and pc133 ram on there (I had it maxed out at one time...3 x 512mb pc133 with the 1.4ghz tbird, the fastest cpu and most ram it could handle at the time lol). I believe it's gotten a motherboard bios update and can handle cpus a bit faster now, not 100% sure tho. But this thing is a rock, I loved it. It was pretty much the first real computer I built (had a duron in it then plopped the athlon in it).

MSI K7T Turbo = awesome!

I agree it's an amazing board.
first system I really ever had that started to get me into computers.. it ran like a champ, and still did up until 3 days ago when it was replaced with an A7V266-E.. I loved that MSI.