old mobo crapped out. need a new one.

[dokster]

Hey all,

I have a AMD TBird 1.2 GHz processor. I was using an Abit KT7A-Raid motherboard, running PC133 SDRAM Kingston ValueRAM. Last night after work, I got home and found that my computer had just died -- black screen. I rebooted it, and couldn't even get the system to post. I systematically removed all my PCI cards and eventually found the problem to be in the AGP port. I put in an old PCI card, and the system runs fine.

So, now I'm looking at replacing my motherboard. I haven't done much computer research since I bought the computer...around 3-4 years ago. I'm wondering what kind of motherboard I should be replacing it with. Of course, I want to use the same processor and hopefully even the same RAM. Its getting hard to find the KT133A motherboards, so I've looked at a few KT266A motherboards. As I remember, these motherboards are meant for DDR RAM -- can I put PC133 SDRAM into a DDR motherboard??

Alternatively, Newegg still has the MSI K7T Turbo2 (KT133A/VT82C686B) which should work just fine with my system, right?

Thanks a lot guys,
Dokster

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: dokster
Hey all,

I have a AMD TBird 1.2 GHz processor. I was using an Abit KT7A-Raid motherboard, running PC133 SDRAM Kingston ValueRAM. Last night after work, I got home and found that my computer had just died -- black screen. I rebooted it, and couldn't even get the system to post. I systematically removed all my PCI cards and eventually found the problem to be in the AGP port. I put in an old PCI card, and the system runs fine.

So, now I'm looking at replacing my motherboard. I haven't done much computer research since I bought the computer...around 3-4 years ago. I'm wondering what kind of motherboard I should be replacing it with. Of course, I want to use the same processor and hopefully even the same RAM. Its getting hard to find the KT133A motherboards, so I've looked at a few KT266A motherboards. As I remember, these motherboards are meant for DDR RAM -- can I put PC133 SDRAM into a DDR motherboard??

Alternatively, Newegg still has the MSI K7T Turbo2 (KT133A/VT82C686B) which should work just fine with my system, right?

Thanks a lot guys,
Dokster

Turbo 2 board is a great board, with support for XP2400 and XP2600 (133mghz bus version).

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: dokster
Hey all,

I have a AMD TBird 1.2 GHz processor. I was using an Abit KT7A-Raid motherboard, running PC133 SDRAM Kingston ValueRAM. Last night after work, I got home and found that my computer had just died -- black screen. I rebooted it, and couldn't even get the system to post. I systematically removed all my PCI cards and eventually found the problem to be in the AGP port. I put in an old PCI card, and the system runs fine.

So, now I'm looking at replacing my motherboard. I haven't done much computer research since I bought the computer...around 3-4 years ago. I'm wondering what kind of motherboard I should be replacing it with. Of course, I want to use the same processor and hopefully even the same RAM. Its getting hard to find the KT133A motherboards, so I've looked at a few KT266A motherboards. As I remember, these motherboards are meant for DDR RAM -- can I put PC133 SDRAM into a DDR motherboard??

Alternatively, Newegg still has the MSI K7T Turbo2 (KT133A/VT82C686B) which should work just fine with my system, right?

Thanks a lot guys,
Dokster

Turbo 2 board is a great board, with support for XP2400 and XP2600 (133mghz bus version).

it is a good board, I have a regular K7T Turbo, that thing is a CHAMP!
the K7T Turbo2 is also one of the few SDR boards still somewhat readily available.. either that or you can attempt the ECS K7S5A and upgrade to DDR later (it has both SDR and DDR slots)

but if you are just gonna go SDR, the K7T rocks.

 

[tcsenter]

I was maintaining a list of Socket A/XP boards which offer both SDR + DDR RAM slots and an AGP slot (with and without integrated video and other hardware). Some new ones may have been released since I last updated, some older ones may be discontinued:


Amptron M825LU (a.k.a. ECS K7VMM+)

ASRock K7VT2 Distributed in U.S.A. by Amptron - Also see ASRock Website

ASRock K7VM2 Distributed in U.S.A. by Amptron - Also see ASRock Website

ASUS A7A266-E

BIOSTAR M7VIG

BIOSTAR M7VIG Pro

BIOSTAR M7VIW

ECS K7S5A

ECS K7S5A Pro

ECS K7AMA

ECS K7VMM

ECS K7VMM+

ECS K7VTA2 (no product link available from ECS)

Matsonic MS8137C (A.K.A ECS K7VTA2)

MSI KM2M Combo-L

MSI KT2 Combo-L

Shuttle AK32A KT266A/8233

Shuttle AK32E KT266A/8235

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
I was maintaining a list of Socket A/XP boards which offer both SDR + DDR RAM slots and an AGP slot (with and without integrated video and other hardware). Some new ones may have been released since I last updated, some older ones may be discontinued:


Amptron M825LU (a.k.a. ECS K7VMM+)

ASRock K7VT2 Distributed in U.S.A. by Amptron - Also see ASRock Website

ASRock K7VM2 Distributed in U.S.A. by Amptron - Also see ASRock Website

ASUS A7A266-E

BIOSTAR M7VIG

BIOSTAR M7VIG Pro

BIOSTAR M7VIW

ECS K7S5A

ECS K7S5A Pro

ECS K7AMA

ECS K7VMM

ECS K7VMM+

ECS K7VTA2 (no product link available from ECS)

Matsonic MS8137C (A.K.A ECS K7VTA2)

MSI KM2M Combo-L

MSI KT2 Combo-L

Shuttle AK32A KT266A/8233

Shuttle AK32E KT266A/8235

There are some good ones there, like the Shuttle AK32E KT266A/8235. Try and get a KT266a board with the 8235 southbridge. It will make the system faster and more stable, as the old 686 chips had some problems in them. The 8235 is a great upgrade, and the KT266a can do both DDR and SDRAM (not at the same time though)

 

[billyjak]

I just put a MSI K7T Turbo2 together a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed with it.
It runs great, stable and fast for an older board.

 

[Peter]

New entry to that list: Syntax SV266A. KT266A+8235 chipset.