MSI K7T Pro2A or ASUS A7V - need suggestions

[scheck]

i'll be putting a new pc together this month and i plan on getting an amd 1.2 ghz. i was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on what motherboard to get. i don't plan on overclocking my pc and featurewise the a7v and pro2a are pretty similar. i've only used asus motherboards in the past and had no problems with them so i'm hesitant to get a MSI board, even though theres been good reviews on it. thanks

 

[Mem]

Everybody by now knows my views,yes go with the MSI K7T Pro2A,I don`t know why you are hesitant,MSI make very quality boards,rock stable,very low RMA rate ,great BIOS update support,so what more do you want?Btw right now I think IMHO they are better then Asus,also I`m using a MSI K7T Pro board which is the most stable motherboard I`ve ever owned.

 

[DaddyG]

I think the only reason that i'd pick the ASUS board would be the extra ATA controllers. If you have a bunch of drives (HDD, CD-ROMs, DVD etc), the extra controllers on the ASUS could be useful.

 

[RGN]

Until I fubard it with a bad bios image, I was REALLY impressed with the MSI board. It has been years since I have used an AMD solution (because of past bad experiances), But teh K7Tpro2 is excellent!!!

 

[Davegod75]

i didn't like the asus. Too many problems. It is a lot of work to get working stable. I'd get the MSI.

 

[OD3]

My current box is Asus A7V. I do not like it. It is unstable, and took way too much effort to get it stable in the first place. The lst two boxes I have built were Pro2's and both owners have no complaints. Hell, even Anand just rated the Pro2/Pro2-A as the best of class for socket A KT133 chipset boards! He also runs four of his serves off of these boards. Need you question stability again?

 

[Gothmoth]

i think msi ist the right choice.

i have a abit be6 (f***ing HPT controller, i dont buy abit again).
its running stable without using the HPT controller, BUT the controller is why i pick the mainboard :-(
thats why i replace the abit be6 next week with an msi k7t pro2a

i have a epox 8kta too, its stable and works just fine under win2000.

 

[scheck]

well, i think i'll be getting the msi board now, does anyone have any recommendations for cpu fans to use with this board. i won't be overclocking it, so it won't have to be an extreme cooling solution.

 

[megatrend]

Arctic Wind Plus from http://www.jmcproducts.com/AWPsink.htm

It's made with an temperature sensor and the fan does only run that fast as it's needed by temperature control. This makes this cooler very silent.

But do not use this one for overclocking beyond (!) cooler specifications. There has been an article about that @ anandtech.com and furthermore in the PC Pro Magazine of Germany, showing this cooler as a very good compromise between very good cooling and beeing very silent.

 

[Mem]

scheck the Taisol heatsink/fans are pretty good(I`m using one right now)here are the models,
Athlon? (Thunderbird) Socket A Model CGK742092 +1.2GHz
Athlon? (Thunderbird) Socket A Model CEK734092 1.2GHz
Athlon? (Thunderbird) Socket A Model CEK733092 1.2GHz
Duron? (K7) PGA Model CEK724002 850MHz

I`m using the 733092 model for my 900 T-bird,note they are AMD approved as well.

 

[PCComp]

Let's put it this way:

I have an Asus A7V (only used for a day) sitting in it's box with all the cables and booklets. I'd gladly trade it, plus 20 bucks, for a MSI K7T Pro 2A.