Socket A/XP with SDR + DDR

[tcsenter]

My mainboard crapped out on me, it was an MSI KM133A Pro v5.0 (MS-6340M). Its actually my parent's computer, but I'm living with them for now. I'm posting from their old computer > Celeron 300a, PC Chips "BX-Pro" motherboard, integrated SIS "8M AGP" video! But heck it works...glad I saved the old junk.

I am looking at new mainboards, and want something that has both SDR and DDR DIMM slots, with or without integrated video/audio/lan/etc, since I have 512MB of PC133 SDRAM and there is no sense in going to DDR right now. The ones I know of are:

ECS K7S5A

BIOSTAR M7VIG

BIOSTAR M7VIG Pro

Any others I should consider?

 

[Peter]

K7S5A is a good choice, and if you want to go the integrated-VGA route, then you might want to look at their K7SEM, K7SOM or L7SOM boards - that'll all be SiS chipsets again, like the one you're currently on And the manufacturer is the same too

 

[tcsenter]

K7S5A is a good choice, and if you want to go the integrated-VGA route, then you might want to look at their K7SEM, K7SOM or L7SOM boards - that'll all be SiS chipsets again, like the one you're currently on And the manufacturer is the same too

Hi Peter, I should have mentioned that any integrated solution boards must have an AGP slot, which eliminates the K7SOM and L7SOM; and also the K7SEM due to it only supports SDR. So I have these requirements:

- Full XP support (up to 2600+)
- SDR + DDR
- AGP slot

 

[AndyHui]

Only other one is the ASUS A7A266-E. I'm running one at the moment and happy with it.

 

[Peter]

There's ECS K7AMA (ALi chipset) and K7VTA2 (VIA KT266A) too.

 

[tcsenter]

Bump for other qualifying boards that may not have received mention.

 

[eplebnista]

Matsonic MS8137C

 

[yodayoda]

Originally posted by: Peter
There's ECS K7AMA (ALi chipset) and K7VTA2 (VIA KT266A) too.

ALi chipset!? Run away, run away!!

 

[tcsenter]

Matsonic MS8137C

That appears to be the ECS K7VTA2, any mention of which is oddly missing from both ECS USA and Taiwan websites, not even in the 'phase-out' section. Just BIOS, manual, and driver downloads, but no product information. Ok, so far I have:

BIOSTAR M7VIG

BIOSTAR M7VIG Pro

ECS K7S5A

ECS K7AMA

ECS K7VMM

K7VTA2 (no product link available from ECS)

Matsonic MS8137C (A.K.A ECS K7VTA2)

ASUS A7A266-E

That M7VIG Pro is looking kinda interesting, but it seems to be so new that nobody has it in stock yet.

 

[AndyHui]

Originally posted by: yodayoda

Originally posted by: Peter
There's ECS K7AMA (ALi chipset) and K7VTA2 (VIA KT266A) too.

ALi chipset!? Run away, run away!!

There's nothing wrong with the b0/c0 stepping of the ALi Magik1 chipset. It's very stable and its performance is on par with the KT266A.

 

[bgatot]

There's also Shuttle AK32A, though it was apparently new and little information is available about it. Uses VIA KT266A chipset. Has integrated audio but no integrated video (good!)

Any info about this one is much appreciated!

Also, I can't seem to find any site that sells Asus A7A266-E. Is this new as well? Or so old no one's selling it anymore?

 

[Vette73]

The BIOSTAR M7VIG Pro looks pretty good. It has the 8235 chipset so you get USB2.0, and it has a 3 phase power so it should support future Athlons. That and the 6ch sound is new for a mAtx board like that, and of course the basic onboard video

 

[tcsenter]

There's also Shuttle AK32A, though it was apparently new and little information is available about it. Uses VIA KT266A chipset. Has integrated audio but no integrated video (good!) Any info about this one is much appreciated!

Hmm, the AK32A does appear to be a 'new' product, odd that Shuttle wouldn't use the VT8233A (ATA133) instead of the VT8233 (ATA100) on a 'new' model. Anyhoo, it fits the requirement. There are several hits on Pricewatch with December list dates.

Also, I can't seem to find any site that sells Asus A7A266-E. Is this new as well? Or so old no one's selling it anymore?

Its not new, so the latter would seem to be the case. Same with the ECS K7VTA2, hard to find anyone who still has them for sale.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go for the A7A266-E over any of those others.

 

[Peter]

... with the lowest performing chipset of them all (ALi Magik-1 as on the K7AMA)? Nah. There's a reason why K7S5A is all over the place and the others are not.

 

[AndyHui]

I disagree. The later steppings of the ALi chipset are very good.

The reason why the ECS K7S5A is all over the place is because it costs half the price of the ASUS board.

 

[Peter]

Well yes, the C step is better, yet still, its memory controller is slower than anyone else's (original KT266 aside), and the south bridge still connects on the same PCI bus as everything else, which pretty much screws up available bandwidth when you use the southbridge IDE channels. Everyone else's DDR chipsets have the southbridge on a much faster, proprietary bus, with the PCI bus being a function of the south bridge - with enough total bandwidth to let PCI and southbridge traffic not stall each other.

EDIT: I got one more ... ASRock K7VT2, using VIA KT266A chipset.

 

[bgatot]

Regarding the AK32A, while the Shuttle website has info for it, if you look at their download page, there's no manual specifically for AK32A for download. Nor there is any drivers or BIOS update for it. It's just not listed. So is this board any good? It does use the presumably good VIA KT266A chipset...

I take it that since the A7A266-E is an Asus, it's the best bet among this choices? i.e. most reliable, most stable, less finicky (important since we're going to reuse a lot of components from current computer here), etc.? Possibly inferior chipset notwithstanding? Will the alleged slower memory controller, smaller bus bandwith etc. of the ALi chipset matter if we're going to use PC133 memory anyway? Or will it only matter if we're using DDR memory? The Asus does cost the most of all others though.

 

[tcsenter]

I want to say thank for all the input and suggestions. I will report on my selection after I know more about what Newegg intends to do about my dead mobo.

 

[Peter]

The board being an ASUS just means it's the most expensive. And it might have overclocking toys you may or may not find to be fun for you. As I elaborated above, the ALi chipset in itself isn't quite the choice of the day. The memory controller is slower than the competition with either type of RAM, and the PCI-ness of the southbridge will harm performance for anyone who uses PCI cards and something from IDE, USB and sound from the south bridge.

 

[Calin]

Originally posted by: Peter
K7S5A is a good choice, and if you want to go the integrated-VGA route, then you might want to look at their K7SEM, K7SOM or L7SOM boards - that'll all be SiS chipsets again, like the one you're currently on And the manufacturer is the same too

Hey Peter, You're wrong - PC-chips "BX-Pro" has ALI chipset and not SIS. I know as I searched like hell for drivers for one of these boards.

Calin

 

[Peter]

http://www.wimsbios.com/index.htm?/HTML1/xpro.html

(much of the data collected by guess-who ) says BXpro is SiS 5600 plus 5595 south bridge, most prominently used on their rather popular M747 board which also sported an onboard SiS 6326 AGP graphics chip. ALi chipset would have been monikered BXcel, and did not appear on an onboard-VGA mainboard as far as I know.

 

[tcsenter]

(much of the data collected by guess-who ) says BXpro is SiS 5600 plus 5595 south bridge, most prominently used on their rather popular M747 board which also sported an onboard SiS 6326 AGP graphics chip. ALi chipset would have been monikered BXcel, and did not appear on an onboard-VGA mainboard as far as I know.

Yep, this is an M747 v1.5 sporting an SIS chipset with integrated SIS6326 AGP.

The ALI chipset I believe he is mistaking for this board is either the "TX PRO" (PC Chips M575) or "TX TWO" (Amptron PM9600). As I stated earlier, the M747 was my parent's 'old' mainboard before I upgraded everything.

Oddly enough, I just upgraded my sister's computer, which formerly housed a PC Chips M575 v1.1 (TX PRO), and now finds the new Soltek VIA694x based mainboard and PIII 733EB@825 (150MHz FSB) to its liking.

 

[tcsenter]

Finally heard back from Newegg. They're giving me a Biostar M7VIG as a replacement. We'll see how that goes...

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Finally heard back from Newegg. They're giving me a Biostar M7VIG as a replacement. We'll see how that goes...

Cool, I've been considering one of those for a HTPC box I keep contemplating on building since it allows me to reuse my Crucial 512mb PC133 SDRAM, Radeon 8500LE, and my venerable Aureal SQ1500 w/ digital coax output. Are you using it in a Micro-ATX case or a standard ATX case? Also curious as to whether it has any overclocking features at all (FSB/voltage/multiplier adjustments). Keep us updated!