Questions about super 7 boards

[AamirQ]

I know this isn't exactly up-to-the-minute technology for you folks, but...

1. Can super 7 boards be used with PC133 CAS2 SDRAM, or must one stick to
PC100 SDRAM? Can CAS2 be used, or will only CAS3 work?

2. I've read about compatibility issues between super 7 boards and certain
AGP cards. Will an ATi XPert98 work well with most super 7 boards?

3. I am considering the following super 7 boards... please provide reasons
as to why I should (not) consider any them:

- Asus P5A
- Soyo 5EMA+
- Tyan S1598

The Asus is still going for $85-90, whereas the Soyo and Tyan can be
found for around $70 or less. TigerDirect (I know, I've read the bad
stories) has the Soyo for only $55. I'm particularly concerned about
ease of setup and stability, especially in regards to the VIA chipset
boards.

I'm on a student budget... if I had more dough to spend, I'd go for a
Duron CPU and socket A board (plus a new PCI sound card & PCI modem,
since I currently have an ISA sound card & ISA modem), but for now I'll
stick with my K6-2 400 and I'll get a stick of 128 MB SDRAM since it's
so cheap right now. I currently have a Tekram socket 7 board (Intel
430TX chipset) and 64 MB in SIMMS, and I'd like to move to DIMMS since
the price is right and I can use them again in the near future.

 

[DZip]

Check out the DFI K6BV3+66 board. I built one up last year and have had very good service from it. It has AGP 2x and support's UDMA 66 devices. My rig is DFI K6BV3+66, AMD K6-2 450, 192 Mg PC100, Maxtor DM40 20 gig HD, S3 Savage 4 16Mg AGP video, and SB sound card. Very reliable and much faster than the P120 on a Socket 7 MB.

 

[Peter]

Use the DFI board K6XV3+/66-2. This gives you all the modern features, UDMA66, 2 MB L2 cache, powerful CPU and AGP voltage feeds, fan/temperature monitors. Also, it's cheaper than all the others.

As for the RAM, yes you may use RAM that is specified to be allowed to run faster than the mainboard can (which is all the PCxxx rating means). It'll run at the speed the mainboard feeds into it.

AGP - all depends on 3.3V voltage supply strength. This is a mainboard design issue, the newer the mainboard design, the more likely it is that they're powerful enough for todays cards. I've had good results with DFI's boards here. (btw, ATI's Xpert 98 doesn't even use AGP transfer methods - it's a PCI chip on an AGP card.)

Regards, Peter

 

[holdencommodore]

As I have learnt, keep the VIA AGP driver at the latest version possible, then there shouldn't be any trouble.
Try to keep away from the VIA Busmaster drivers, I have had many hard disk problems because of them. I can't really recomend the m/b that I have got, it is very stable, but not that fast. Other then that the trusty Socket 7 has been going strong in my computer for the past 3 years. I would recomend a Soyo m/b or the DFI board mentioned above.
The K6-2 should have a *little* life in it yet...

 

[Moving Target]

You might want to consider the Epox MVP3G2/5. IMO the best SS7 mobo made. I was running may GeForce on it at one time, and a Rage Fury with no AGP issues.