New system, KT333 or nForce 415D? Or something else?

[Rainsford]

I've finally decided that my old, reliable Tbird 800 needs to migrate over into server land to make way for a new "main" machine. I've already purchased (or kept from my old computer) various parts including an SBLive, 2 Maxtor HDs, a Plextor CD burner, Creative DVD player, Linksys NIC and Gainward GeForce 4 Ti 4200 (128 meg version). I'm going to get somewhere between an Athlon XP 1800 and 2000, price is mostly the factor. I'm also looking at getting 512 (512x1) megs of Samsung PC2700 DDR.

Now, that's the easy part The hard part is the fact that there seem to be a ton of choices out there for motherboards, and none of them just jump out at me as being "THE BEST".

The new KT333 boards don't seem to have anything special about any of them. I like the Epox 8K3A+ features and price, but it's reported (by Anandtech) to have stability problems with all 3 slots of memory populated. I'm only buying one stick, but I have all 3 on my current board filled so who knows how I'll upgrade in the future. Plus stability problems with any part of the process scares me.

I also like the Asus board (A7V333), but the layout as described by Anand seems a little annoying and it carries quite a price premium over other KT333 boards. None of the other KT333 boards really seemed any better.

Now my other option is an nForce 415D based board, and that is looking better all the time. So far I've only heard about the PCI issue, and that has been fixed by most manufacturers (but not MSI for some reason). The Asus A7N266-C seems like a good board, and it's price is great for an Asus board. But I've heard some people say that the nForce is getting a little long in the tooth (already?). I don't really want to buy a new computer based on out of date stuff. And since I'm only getting 1 stick of memory, will I take a performance hit using an nForce board?

Any advise would be helpful. Just to make it a little clearer, I use my computer mostly for games and office type stuff and I'm not a huge overclocking fan (which is why this isn't an Intel 1.6A system). But I like the idea of 166/166 FSB/mem on the KT333, but does this really help any? All in all, I'd like a stable board that will last me a while (around 2 years) and not give me a bunch of issues I have to mess with. Even if you just think I should just pick a board and run with it because it doesn't really matter too much, any help would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

[Rainsford]

Bump?

 

[Vette73]

Since you still have a pretty good system why not wait another 2-3 weeks and get a KT400 or a nForce2.

The KT400 should be faster and overclock better, if like the KT266a vs. nForce1.
The nForce2 should have good on-board sound.

I would wait foer the KT400. You already have a sound card and the nForce2 will probable cost more.

 

[flawedexistence]

Why not check out the Abit NV7133-R? About $90.00 at Newegg and Mwave. The board is loaded and very stable from my understanding. I can't think of a better board at that price; of course the overclocking options are quite limited. Another point to consider is that even though AMD procs are great valuewise, they don't scale as well as the P4. Lots of posts around here about guys running their 1.6 P4s at 2.4Ghz and above with good memory. I was all set to replace my Plll system with an AMD setup but now Im thinking maybe a 2.0 P4 on a SIS 645DX board (ASUS P4S533). So many choices...........ain't capitalism great?

 

[Athlon4all]

nForce is a solid solution, and I personally find that for most I am recommending it to people. The A7N266-C is a solid board, but it doesnt have the LAN only the audio. However, the NV7-133R is an amazing value for the price. USB2, ATA/133 RAID, nForce APU, LAN, all for $90. I find it very difficult to pass that up. The only con is that most of the nForce boards are poor oc'ers (exception A7N266-E, and supposedly the C because they are both essentuailly the same board), but it seems that doesn't matter to you. You dont need to wlorry about taking a performance hit with nForce by using only 1 DIMM. The other channel is meant mostly for integrated video (which the 415D doesnt have), but the thing to keep in mind is that the 3rd slot is useless because if ui use it, the ram down clocks to PC1600:Q and also the 2nd and 1st slots must be populated with identically size and make DIMMs so yyou don't have a lot of flexibility when upgrading the ram. But nForce is a great solution, and I wouldn't hesistate to recommend the NV7-133R. LMK if u can use some advice Id be happy to help

 

[dannybin1742]

i heard the nforce is the only amd board to us pci locking. definately a plus

 

[GraveJoKer]

MSI KT3 Ultra...
But I think you would be better off waiting for KT400 or nforce2 boards...

I heard, nforce2 kicks real A$$...

 

[Rainsford]

Hmm, I guess waiting might be a good idea, especially since nothing out there right now is "lighting my fire" so to speak. What about maybe buying something like an Athlon XP 1800+ to tide me over until something really good (like Hammer) comes out? Sound like a good idea?

Edit: And the P4 does seem pretty sweet, but huge overclocks are not really my bag.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

8k3a+ is tizight

 

[Athlon4all]

Well looking at your rig rainsford, your PC133 isn't helping the performance of the GF4 Ti 4200, but a XP 1800+ should give you a very good performance improvement in games. It seems to me it would be a gfood tide me over for a new syste, later this year. LMK if u want some more advice