MSI KT3-Ultra2 or Soyo KT-333 Lite?

[AMCRambler]

Looking at upgrading my system again finally from my ol' 1gig SlotA Athlon. I'm not looking to spend too much on a board so I was checking the MSI KT3-Ultra2 and the Soyo KT-333 Lite. They're both around 80 bucks at Newegg so the price is right, but I was wondering if anybody had anything to say one way or the other about them cause right now it's a toss up for me.
Also, I'm looking at going with an Athlon XP2400 and was wondering about the cooling issue. If anybody's has any suggestions for a cooler it'd be much appreciated. I'm thinking the Thermaltake Volcano 9.

 

[BD231]

Go with the MSI, I know 4 other people with this board that have had 0 problems, I use the MSI KT3 Ultra2 as well. Great overclocker, currently running at 180 fsb, I've had it at 200 with no troubles as well.

 

[Insane3D]

Don't overlook the Epox 8K5A2...faster than both the Soyo and the MSI and overclock better. They even beat some of the KT400 boards..and they can be had for ~$85.

 

[newbiepcuser]

I had very good experiences with MSI boards, also the Ultra 2 comes with USB 2.0 right?

 

[AMCRambler]

Yes I think the MSi does ocme with USB 2.0. So does the Soyo though. I think I am going to go with MSI. I've been using an MSI board for my current computer and I've really got no complaints. Thanks for the suggestions guys. I can't wait to put this new one together!

 

[bagaki]

yep - the KT3 ultra2 has USB 2.0

bagaki

 

[warrenpeace]

I just made the same move a month ago... picked a MSI KT3ultra2BR (with raid). Zero problems. I have been very satisfied. I was going to get aa Soyo dragon variant or an asus, bought the MSI as a tossup between them.

 

[DigitalXtreme]

Go with the MSI dude ... no probs here at all
Dunno about the overclocking part though ... because I got my CPU running at stock speeds
Hope this helped

DX

 

[Smilin]

Well...6 votes for MSI in a row but I'll chip in my $0.02...

I'm running an MSI KT3-Ultra2 BR. Yep, has USB2. It also has some extra headers for casefront or a PCI slot (which also has 4xdiagnostic LED's nifty!). I've had 0 trouble at all. It overclocks quite well too. I also built another PC for my buddy (non-BR version) and he's having no troubles either. The non-BR version doesn't have the neato looking silver northbridge fan though.

I'm using a ThermalTake Dragon Orb 3 (w/7200 rpm fan)...Hooked it to a Thermaltake High-med-low switch that mounts in your PCI slot...fuker is just too loud at full speed.

One last thing...
The KT3-Ultra2 is the only board today that will support the 166Mhz Frontside bus on the new Athlon 2700's that are coming out. Food for thought.

 

[Insane3D]

The KT3-Ultra2 is the only board today that will support the 166Mhz Frontside bus on the new Athlon 2700's that are coming out. Food for thought.

Sorry my friend, but that is extremely incorrect...

First of all, there is at least six other KT333 boards that support them, the Epox 8K3A, 8K3A+, 8K3AE, 8K5A2, 8K5A2+, 8K5A3+. Second, any and all KT400 boards, from any company, will fully support the 333mhz FSB Athlons. Sorry to disappoint you, but the MSI is far from the "latest and greatest"...

 

[Markfw]

The XP2400 requires a heatsink with a copper connect pad. Check the AMD website, and reviews of HSF's to make sure you get a good one. Tomshardware has a good article. Whatever you get, don't skimp on the HSF, as they are not like earlier Athlons, yes they run cooler than a tbred-a would at the same speed, but they are faster.

 

[om3gaboost]

dont' count out soyo..no one really likes them, but i have a soyo dragon lite for the p4, and it runs great.
no problems whatsoever.

 

[AMCRambler]

Went with the MSI KT3-Ultra2 and everything worked out great! Runs like a dream and it's alot cooler than my old slot A 1gig. The only thing I dind't like about the KT3-Ultra2 is that even after I upgraded the bios to the latest version to support my XP 2400, it didn't detect the chip as a 2400, but as an 1800 still. I found that kind of odd, but after poking around the bios I ended up selecting the "load high performance defaults" and after it posted again it was detecting it as the 2400.
As for the heat sink, I went with the Thermaltake Volcano 9. It was a little pricey, I think about $27 at Newegg, but like MarkFW was saying well worth it as far as keeping the chip cool. The temp with the pc idle, is around 36-37C, and when I'm putzing around online it gets up to 40-41C. This is with the fan set to 4600rpm, I can cool it down more by cranking the fan up to 5300rpm but it gets a little loud. I definitely like the adjustable fan speed on the Volcano 9. They have a cool little thermisistor that comes with them you can stick under the cpu and have the software control the fan speed, but I didn't feel like messing around with it. The knob is just as easy to reach down and turn. My friend ended up going with the same HSF and he put the thermisistor under the chip, but after he got everything put together the system wouldn't boot. After a couple hours of testing the components by swapping them between systems we found that because the wire for the thermisistor was under the chip, the chip wasn't all the way down in the socket. We also found that unless you have a heatsink clipped on top of the chip the board won't boot either. The extra force from the clip holding the HSF on pushes the chip into the socket further. I guess it's a safety design so that you can't put a chip in without an HSF, but it would have been nice for MSI to mention it in the manual! Could have saved some time. Well I'm gonna shut up now, lol. Thanks for all the recommendations.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Ewh, comparing MSI to Soyo is like comparing Volkswagen to Daewoo. Definitly go with that KT3-Ultra! Better yet, check out the KT4-Ultra. On the HSF, Thermaltake is great- check out the Volcano 8. It's cheaper, does the same job, and is officially rated for that Athlon.