New owners of MSI Pro2-A

[JimmyZ]

Hey guys,

Our old thread was getting a little deep. So here is a fresh start. I got the Pro2-A board hooked up this afternoon. No problems what so ever!! I inspected the south bridge chipset lettering (to make sure it was a ATA100 and it said 686B. It is also running my IBM ATA 100 drive at ATA100 (That what is says when the computer starts up)

Not that I really care, but the whole female voice that is supposed to talk...well, mine doesn't. Oh well....it was just a bell or a whistle anyway.

I am going to OC my T-Bird 750 tonight and see how high it goes. It is a week 26 chip...any Idea if I can get it to a GIG? I have an Alhpa 6035 for chip cooling.

Talk to you soon,

Jimmy

EDIT: I wish I could learn to spell teh

 

[PlunX]

On mine, the voice that's supposed to talk sounds like a bunch of jumbled static.. Dunno what's up with it.

 

[JimmyZ]

I guess i'm lucky the voice doesn't work on mine then! I heard that if you either plug or unplug your PC speaker, the voice gets better or worse.

Well, I just tried overclocking this tbird 750. It only can get to 995 on post (9.5 X 104) with the V at 1.85. I would be happy with that, bu the damn thing won't go into windows any higher than 875 (8.5 X 3) and remain stable. Very sad. Any suggestions....I have a minimal setup right now. I would like to run at about 950.

Tbird 750 week26
256 PC133 222 Crutial RAM
GForce2 MX
IBM ATA 100
Sony DVD-ROM
Alpha 6035 Cooler

 

[compuwiz1]

It won't do 10X 100? Cooling? Beyond that, you just may not have a cpu that will go that high. What's 9x100 do for you?

 

[heng1028]

any idea would a chrome orb fit on Pro2A nicely??

Edit:
what is the best heatsink for MSI Pro2A??

 

[slpaulson]

Does the taisol monster fit on that board?

 

[JimmyZ]

Compuwiz: 9x100 boots just fine...but it locks up in q3 and final reality. It looks like it could be heat, but the temp is 44 under load. Must be a bum chip....oh well

heng and Raz: Yes the Chrome will fit just fine (I've tried it.) I'm not sure about the taisol, but there is a lot of room there...more than any board I have used.

J

 

[timco]

PlunX, I've got a K7T-Pro2 (not the 'A') and there's a jumper on the motherboard (#11 - by one of the PCI slots) which you need to take off which tells the mobo whether to talk to you in English or Chinese. The default position on mine was to have the jumper on, which meant it talked to me in Chinese. Take the jumper off and hey presto - it works. It only says "System available" which irritates the hell out of me...

 

[JimmyZ]

Tim,

I heard that some people are removing the speaker from the Pro2 or Pro2A in order to shut that thing up. Here is how I did it. I really don't need to hear my computer "Beep" on startup (if I see my agp logo, then I know i'm ok.) So with my MSI board, if you have a PC speaker plugged into, then my board uses that to speak out of instead of the cryptic like plastic speaker on the board. So all I did was cut the wires off of the PC speaker and plugged the speaker pin onto the board. In short, the board thinks there is a speaker plugged in, but since I cut the wires, it can't make that "System Avail" squeak. Plus, unlike de-sodering the MSI speaker, the board remains intact and is still Under warranty if need be.

Hope this works on your machine!

Jimmy

 

[OD3]

Glad to see this new thread is up an running. I will have my Pro2A next week and will install it shortly thereafter. Cannot wait to compare notes and help out the newbies with their install/build problems.

Take care guys...

 

[JimmyZ]

you and me both OD

J

 

[bluesky]

Jimmy.
Does this board take Dimms with different sizes(128mb, 64mb, and 256mb)?
Mine is coming from leftcoast, and it's not gonna be here 4th of December.

 

[JimmyZ]

BlueS,

The MSI K7T Pro2 takes PC100 or PC133 SDRAM. There are three ram slots and they will accept chips ranging from 8meg to 512meg...effectivly giving you a max of 1.5gig of ram. I am currently running 256meg(2x128 meg chips) of PC133 at CAS2. It is extremly stable.

Hope this helps.

J

 

[bupkus]

With new products introduced almost weekly it's hard to know if recommendations are current.
AnandTech has in their Value Systems: Buyer's Guide a consistent recommendation for the ABIT KT7. Now that the MIS PRO2-A is here with ATA100 capabilities, does the ABIT still stand out as the preferred budget mobo?

I have no experience with pc assembly, but will soon have my first. I can't wait any longer for DDR. Besides, I don't think I need it for very light gaming, but mostly for internet surfing and java programming.

As for memory, 128 MB Mushkin Budget PC133 @ $80 is recommended. However, right now, 128MB Mushkin High Perf REV1.5 PC133 222 and 128 MB MUSHKIN w/SIEMENS Infineon PC133* SPECIAL* are both for sale at the Mushkin web site for $89 each. Can someone tell me if these are as good as the crucial.com SDRAM, PC133 ? CL=2 ? Unbuffered ? Non-parity ? 7.5ns ? 3.3V ? 16Meg x 64 CT16M64S4D7E at $91.79 ??

Also, I still have my old SoundBlaster Awe 64 PCI sound card. I've read that it's best to use an add in sound card to take the burden of the cpu. I still like to listen to mp3's. Is this card ok, or should I get the Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM for $40 ?

Lastly, all these questions may require my choice of cpu for an informed answer. Likely, I'll use either a Duran 700 or TBird and OC somewhat and in fact enjoy (2) 128MB DIMMS.

Ok, I have another question. Is one stick of 256MB memory faster or better somehow than two sticks of 128MB memory? I don't imagine ever needing more than 256MB of memory with this next system.

I want to buy my SDRAM soon before the prices start to edge up. Any recommendations are very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[bluesky]

bupkus.
Just one thing.
If you decide buy any crucial chips, you can get 15% off through crucial.com/webpromo/ page.

 

[OD3]

<< . Now that the MIS PRO2-A is here with ATA100 capabilities, does the ABIT still stand out as the preferred budget mobo? >>


-That will probably change in the near future


<< As for memory, 128 MB Mushkin Budget PC133 @ $80 is recommended. However, right now, 128MB Mushkin High Perf REV1.5 PC133 222 and 128 MB MUSHKIN w/SIEMENS Infineon PC133* SPECIAL* are both for sale at the Mushkin web site for $89 each. Can someone tell me if these are as good as the crucial.com SDRAM, PC133 ? CL=2 ? Unbuffered ? Non-parity ? 7.5ns ? 3.3V ? 16Meg x 64 CT16M64S4D7E at $91.79 ?? >>


-Get Mushkin PC133 w/ Siemens unless you can afford the Rev2 stuff. It runs fine at 2-2-2 (at least mine does).


<< Ok, I have another question. Is one stick of 256MB memory faster or better somehow than two sticks of 128MB memory? I don't imagine ever needing more than 256MB of memory with this next system. >>


-No difference performance wise. You will just pay more for one stick of 256 vs. 2 of 128. One last thing, if you have two sticks and one goesd bad, you still run the other until you get a replacement. Not so with one stick of 256.

HTH

 

[JimmyZ]

I agree with OD completly. You can bet money that the Pro2-A will nudge into the budget slot within the next month....it's price vs performance is unbeatable.

On the ram Brand issue, I went with Crucial, but that's becuase it was soooo cheap and it has a good rep. Right now my two sticks of PC133 are hummin along at 222 just fine...plus my FSB is at 105. I do hear that the Mushkin is a better stick, but again, no complaints form crucial here.

Finally, two sticks vs. one....well, I had the exact same idea as OD...the only reason you would really go for the higher ram chips is if you wanted a high max limit like 1.5gig or so. The highest I can get now is my two 128's + a 512mb stick (I know it sounds like over kill, but for web server apps and mission critial machines, it is a serious consideration.)

well, good luck on your purchases.

J

 

[heng1028]

can yo utell me where is the best place to get the Pro2A??

i am in canada.

 

[JimmyZ]

Heng,

I would wait a little bit (about a week or two.) There are a few places(atacom and openlinx.com) but they are mostly small time. I would wait for more reputiable places to start to stock them. Keep an eye on pricewatch.com or Ibuyer.net. These places will help you find all the shops that carry the board. As a bonus, they will also sort by price and list extra costs for you (shipping).

Good luck on the board purchase.

Check this thread out to see the exploits of all of us trying to find the board! (funny stuff)

Jimmy

 

[w9design]

How does overclocking on the Pro2/Pro2A compare to that of the ABIT KT7?
I've got a Duron tested to 1100MHz @ 1.75v with 3.5V I/O voltage and the source recommended the ABIT board. Can I expect that the MSI will offer similar overclocking? I understand that IO voltage only goes to 3.45 on the MSI, but I figure that won't make a difference.

Thanks

 

[heng1028]

edit:

peace

 

[etech]

New bios for the K7T Pro 2-A

AWARD(R) BIOS REVISION HISTORY:
1. This is the AWARD(r) BIOS version 1.8 release.
2. This BIOS fixes the following problems of the previous version:
-Fixed ASKEY modem card plug WOR Fail (W98ME).
-Fixed cannot turn off CRT on MS-DOS mode after press sleep button,when install Microsoft Power Manager Version 1.0 utility.
-Fixed L2 CACHE SIZE DETECT ERROR.

bios download

 

[Adul]

Where are you guys getting your Pro2 boards?

 

[OD3]

Adul, In the US try the following:

-www.openlinx.com
-www.atacom.com

ALso seach ibuyer.net and pricewatch.com

HTH

 

[w9design]

Heng:
I edited because I didn't want to start a conflict.
And to answer your question, yes, I am worried you'll get my mobo! They only have a few left and the minute I post they'll all be gone.



PS -- how could I &quot;know i was wrong&quot;? as far as I know, that statement is neither correct or incorrect. Can't be. I'm not stating a fact so I can't be wrong OK Now I'm getting carried away. Apologies to those who were offended.