Newbie Motherboard Questions

[TheNewGuy]

Hi folks...

I am considering having either a new computer built for me, or construct one myself. I'm am thinking of going with an AMD system with 1.2 ghz processor. My question is regarding a mb for this processor. I was looking at the Abit kt7, kt7a mb's, and I was curious about the "a" aspect of these motherboards, and also the asus a7v mbs. Basically with of the research I've done, these motherboards (Asus, Abit, etc) will not be able to support more than 1.2 ghz, and if this is the case, is it worth it to get the ultra ata 100 vs the ultra ata 66? Also, considering the price of DDR ram vs SDRAM, is it worth it to get an "a" mb??

I guess I should state that the machine would be used for gaming among other things...

Lastly, anyone have any problems with the kt7 mb's and the AMD processor?? Reason I ask is that it's no longer listed as "recommended" by AMD.

Thanks in advance, and like I stated before, I'm a newbie....

 

[Quad]

ok
the "a" aspect means that these mobo's are using the the kt133a chipset. what THAT means is that you can push yur fsb to 133mhz and beyond. however, with just the regular kt133, yur limit will probably be 110mhz.

so basically, the "a" mobos provide a lot more options and performance in terms of overclocking.

if u want my opinion, u should definitely get a kt133a mobo. not only are they excellent for oc'ing, they support the newer line of tbirds that are being released in the near future. but i also must say: stay away from abit ppl have been saying that abit has a very bad rma history. since yur probably building yur comp for the first time, u should probably go with the asus a7v133, or the msi k7t turbo (if u can get yur hands on it)...or even the Iwill kk266 (which is one of the best overclocking boards available). also, if u don't need raid, then don't get it. also, if u need an isa slot, choose a mobo accordingly.

good luck

 

[rkoenn]

From the previous response, you are probably best off if you get all the latest options you can afford. AMD 133MHz CPUs are not really available yet but will offer a performance improvement when they are. Might want to wait a couple of months if you can hold off that long. By then they should be available and pricing should be in line with the 100MHz cores chips. Initial pricing will probably demand a 30+% premium. The a board would be required to use these CPUs.

Next to consider is the DDR boards. They are just becoming available and pricing will be substantially higher for a while. Also, the DDR memory is about 3 times the PC133 SDRAM pricing. There will be a performance increase on the order of about 5-15% so consider whether it is worth it.

For CPU support, the boards will probably support higher speeds when they become available. They just advertise the current CPUs for now. May require a BIOS upgrade at the time.

Finally, ATA 66 vs. 100 doesn't really make much difference now but, depending on the board you buy, it pretty much doesn't cost any more. Might as well try to get unless you get some special deal without it.

A final note is I build systems and have recently had an incompatability problem with Nvidia GE Force 2 MX cards and Athlon as well as Pentium motherboards. Systems would run with the cards but have spurious crashes which were very frequent. Same system with a original GE Force card had no problems. I believe it is with the motherboard BIOS and should be resolved in the future but be aware if you plan on buying one of those.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Thank you for your responses....and I was planning on purchasing a asus geforce 2 gts 64 mb video card with the new system...

Dave