Socket A MB, Which one to buy, Looking for ATA/100 and DDR

[CivicSiRider]

I am currently using a KT7A-Raid, and don't really want to do the raid anymore. Plus the chipset is agrivating the heck out of me with all its little conflicting problems. I'm looking for something with ATA/100 IDE's, DDR Memory (would like to have sdram also, I've seen some that accept both, just so I can get it running w/ curent ram until buying more) Also looking for something w/ an agp, 5 or 6 PCI, not really a need for ISA or "AMR" (is that what it is?). What kind of recommendations do you people have.

 

[Mungla]

The only SDR and DDR SDRAM motherboard that I know of is the Asus A7A266. The A7A uses the Ali chipset.

 

[Boonesmi]

i know this is kinda off topic, but just a thought for you....

ddr ram is down to about $70 for 256mb at www.crucial.com
with prices like that it might be worth it not to limit yourself in your motherboard selection to boards with both ddr and sdr

gezzz i just re-read my last paragraph, hehehe hope you understood it. its late. im tired

 

[CivicSiRider]

Well having an option of both types of ram really isn't that much of an issue. What else is there. How is Epox's ddr board, the 8ktA or 8kt7A? Any others. Most concern is with the ATA and no. of pci's.

 

[Bingo13]

Go with the Epox 8K7A or the plus version if you want IDE Raid. So far it has turned out to be an excellent board for a very good price. All of the AMD761 boards are good, just depends on your requirements.

 

[Mungla]

Bingo, I've ditched my A7M266. I think it arrived DOA. I bought an Epox 8K7A and will be installing it today. Since this motherboard has the AMD northbridge, what drivers besides the 4-in-1's are needed for the motherboard?

 

[Bingo13]

Since you are running W2K SP2 you will want the AMD 5.22 AGP driver here- Link and the VIA USB 1.08f files here- Link. The Microsoft IDE files in W2K SP2 offer the same performance as the 4.31 driver set and the INF file is not needed currently although it has been updated in the latest VIA release.
You could load the 4.31 files without the AGP driver Link if you want to go that route. I have done both and really cannot tell the difference now which is really good from VIA's viewpoint considering their previous W2K support. Just be sure to go into the hardware device manager and enable DMA mode on the IDE ports if you do not load the VIA drivers, double check just in case after loading the VIA driver set also.

 

[papadoum]

I would seriously consider waiting for the new 735SIS chipset that coming out with the North and Southbridge incorporated into the one controller. This board gets better results than the current crop of boards, and can use both ddr and sdram. That alone for me would be a major decider in a mb ugrade as you can use your old sdram until ddram becomes a lot cheaper

 

[CivicSiRider]

And when is that to be released? Also what do people think of the Iwill KA266, is the Epox still better?

 

[Bingo13]

The SIS735 boards are expected in the market in late Q3 or early Q4 time period. The Iwill KA266-R board is a good board as is the Asus A7A266 or the Soyo. The ALI chipsets have very good performance and excellent stability at this time. They are still about 3~5% slower than the better AMD761 boards but unless you are one to always get that last fps then you would not be able to tell the difference in day to day operations. If you are going DDR then I would still buy the Epox board at this time if the features work for you.