Need recommendation for older motherboard for use with Duron 800

[Salvador]

Hello.

I'm looking for an older motherboard to run with a Duron 800. I want the board to be stable, run with PC133 SDRAM and not be fussy with power supplies. I can't remember any of the good later boards before the switch over to DDR RAM. I'm wondering if someone could recommend me a board that I can look for used.

TIA,

Sal

 

[CraigRT]

Asus A7V133
MSI K7T Turbo limited edition

 

[Peter]

With a Duron 800 even the usual suspect of DDR-SDR option boards, the ECS K7S5A, won't be fussy with power supplies either

 

[Salvador]

Asus A7V133
MSI K7T Turbo limited edition

Thanks Craig! That's what I was looking for. I couldn't remember the names of the mobo's from that period. I think another one was the Abit KT7A.

These are Via KT133 chipset boards, aren't they?

With a Duron 800 even the usual suspect of DDR-SDR option boards, the ECS K7S5A, won't be fussy with power supplies either

I have one that I'm not using. It's fussy with power supplies and for some reason, it doesn't work with SDRAM. I have too much SDRAM left over that's not being used and I think that DDR RAM would be a waste with a 800 Duron for a budget system.

Sal

 

[Peter]

I'd give that K7S5A another try, particularly if you got one lying around anyway. Give it the latest BIOS, and then have a go. At 100 MHz bus (as for the Duron), it won't be insisting on "100%" quality SDRAM either.

 

[Salvador]

Do you think that's my problem? The BIOS? It runs perfectly with DDR RAM, but whenever I try and run it with SDRAM, it crashes before it gets done posting.

What about power supplies? Do you think the pickiness of power supplies might be fixed with a BIOS update as well? I'd really like to make use of my SDRAM and a cheap case with a cheap power supply if I can.

Someone passed this deal along. Is this is a decent board? I've never heard of it.

MicroStar MS-6330

Sal

 

[Peter]

I've been running many K7S5A with "inherited" SDRAM from older systems no problem. At the same time, I found surprisingly many SDRAM DIMMs that weren't really up to their "PC133" label, but ran fine on older, slower chipsets. www.memtest.org
Later BIOSes for the board let you tweak the memory timings to try and achieve stability with so-so DIMMs as well. You can even turn the memory bus termination on if you use SDR although that's normally reserved for DDR.

As for the power supplies - "picky" again isn't the right word. You need something adequate, no more no less. Since the K7S5A predates the extra 12V connector and feeds the CPU from the 5V rail, your PSU needs to be strong and stable on 5V and 3.3V rails (the latter feeds the AGP slot). Also, ATX 2.0 PSU specification asks for 2A on 5Vstandby. Stability there is important for the board to retain its CMOS settings.

Either point is drastically less of a concern if you're running a Duron. Less power draw, less of a pushing demand on the RAM.

So, unless your unit isn't actually damaged on the SDRAM slots, I wouldn't fear using it.

 

[Salvador]

I've been running many K7S5A with "inherited" SDRAM from older systems no problem. At the same time, I found surprisingly many SDRAM DIMMs that weren't really up to their "PC133" label, but ran fine on older, slower chipsets. www.memtest.org

Without testing the RAM, I tried several sticks in this board and it didn't work. The system kept crashing half way through the BIOS post. I tried the RAM in both SDRAM slots as well with similar results, so I doubt that both slots got damaged. I'm thinking that it might be a BIOS thing because it is an early version of the board.

I ended up picking up an Abit KT7A from one of the AT members in FS/FT. I'll use this board with this chip and play around with another Duron chip and the ECS board later. I just wanted something that was stable, ran SDRAM and wouldn't require a "substantial" power supply. I don't know much about the Abit board other than I heard that it's pretty decent. I always like to play around with different boards anyway.

Thanks again!

Sal

 

[Peter]

Just for the record, back then, my K7S5A was running a Duron 600, a Radeon 7500LE and a SCSI HDD off a 190W power supply no problem. With a single 256-MByte SDRAM DIMM.

There's a lot more bullsh*t talk floating around than there's truth to the issues with this mainboard. After all, it didn't become the world's best selling mainboard ever for being a bitch to use, wouldn't you think?

 

[SPQQKY]

Best SDRAM board I ever used was the Epox EP-8kta3pro, it was incredibley stable and a great OCer. I used it on many builds for friends and family at the time.

 

[novice]

The MS-6330 board shown in your link is the MSI K7T Turbo a previoius poster recommended. I had an earlier version of it that ran great with a Duron 800 and then an XP1700+ for a couple of years. It is still running fine at my sister in laws with the XP1700+. the old Duron 800 is still running fine in a Chaintech 7AJA2E. I would not hesitate to pick up that MS-6330 board for the price shown. It should work great for what you have in mind. It should run fine with a decent 300 watt PSU. I ran mine with a 300W Enlight unit. It would probably even be okay with a Duron and 250 watt unit, unless you try to run it fully loaded with a demanding video card.