Ready to build, but don't know what chipset to go with

[kccarsto]

Well, my girlfriend decided she needs a computer, so I'm going to give her my PII400 system and buils a new one for myself. Here's my story: I use my machine mostly for internet, light number crunching and some image editing (Corel Photopaint and AdobePhotoshop). I don't game much at all, an occasional round of Unreal or Viper Racing. I won't be overclocking as I don't think it's worth the hassle for me. Back in the day of the 366 Celeron it was another story. I'm pretty well decided on an T'bird processor, probably around 1mhz or so. Now the big question...WHat MB/chipset do I get?

The price on the T'bird 'B's is pretty good right now and I can get a decent, proven Via 133 MB at a good price.

The Via 133a MB's are only a little more expensive, but the 266fsb T'bird are still rare and there is a price premium of around $60 on them. I would probablyhave to wait another few months to get a 1mhz at a good price

The AMD MB's are starting to show up, but the price is about $50 highr than the Via boards. Same story as above on the processor. Crucial is offering DDR memory for about what PC133 costs, so memory isn't a factor.

I usually build a machine and runit for 3 years or so, then just build a whole new machine. I don't usually upgrade components, other than peripherals.

So what would you guys go for. Once I decide on the right chipset I can review the different boards out there and find the onethat best fits my needs. Let's here what you all have to say. THanks

 

[overclockedfreakboy]

Kccarsto:

Here are some ideas that I have for your new system.

My recommendation would be to stick with a Via KT133 or KT133A Chipset. Here are some reasons why. The KT133A Chipset and KT133 Chipsets are based off a very similar design of the original KX133 chipset. Bottom line is that they have pretty much matured and the majority of the bugs have been worked out. There has been some issues with the KT133A Chipset and harddisk performance suffering compared to the KT133. My choice would be a motherboard with the KT133 Chipset if I am looking for an inexpensive motherboard. If I was willing to pay say 40 or 50 bucks more I would get a mainboard based on the KT133A Chipset as they have support for both 200 mhz AMD chips and 266 mhz bus chips. The hard disk issues will probably be worked out. You mentioned that you keep a pc for about three years. Go the inexpensive route then, get a KT133 based board. In my opinion, the two most reputable motherboard manufacturers that give you the most bang for the buck are Abit and Asus, in that order.

For the value and longevity from Abit, go for the KT7. From Asus, go for the A7V. Both have great features and rock solid stability. I have the Abit KT7-RAID. The only complaints I have about it are the Plug and Play bios. I can never get anything to use IRQ 9 and I have it free. I can resolve it if I fiddle with the bios settings. Minor annoyance though for all the options that I have. No damn jumpers. No fiddling with the motherboard once everything is plugged in. Soft menu three rocks. No jumpers because of it and simple to upgrade to a new processor. The Asus A7V is said to be a slightly better performer than the KT7 boards. Asus's Plug and Play bios is said to be better as well. I prefer 6 pci slots on the KT7 Series boards compared to the 5 pci on the A7V.

Both boards are excellent choices. Here is an link to an article at tomshardware that talks about the maturity of the KT133 based chipsets and the issues with hard disk performance on the KT133A :
http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010117/index.html

Abit or Asus will be easy to sell when it comes time to upgrade again then a generic motherboard.

Here is an online retailer that has given me excellent service : www.atacom.com. You can get any good board there without overkill on shipping. I got my Duron 650 and KT7-RAID for 210 bucks shipped. That was in December 2000.
Hope this helps..

Abit KT7-RAID
300 Watt power supply
Duron 650@850 can do 900 (need better cooling).
Win98 4.10.1998
128 MB Ram
Diamond Monster MX400 sound card
Obsolete 3dfx Voodoo 2000 AGP oc'd from 143@170mhz
Creative 12x DVD.
POS 2x Free mitsumi burner
Puny 8 gig maxtor hdisk