Still good motherboards w/ support for PC 133 Ram & USB 2.0

[JJFlash]

Are there still any good motherboards which will support PC 133 Ram and which would also have USB 2.0 (and preferably also firewire, but not necessarily). I am considering new models that would also support the PC 133 ram in sometimes dual ram configurations.

At this point there is something to be said for putting the cost of a USB 2/ firewire card towards simply getting a motherboard with such support.

I post this as an answer to this question would entail a re-study of the area but for many of you brethren it would be a relatively instant answer.

 

[Vette73]

What CPU?

You can get 512mg of DDR ram for around $50 after rebate right now, so best bet is to juts get a good board and sell the SDRAM

Now if you are juts stuck in your ways, and you have a Athlon CPU, then look at some KT266a boards. They will have SDRAM support, and if it has the 8236 southbridge then it will also support USB2.0

 

[tcsenter]

Sure, lots of them that are still fairly current, except none support the use of SDRAM and DDR-RAM at the same time. Also, none support CPU FSB higher than 133/266 so you're limited to those processor FSB. In the case of P4 BUS, that would include 533MHz FSB processors, since its still derived from a 133MHz base. All are AGP2.0 (4x/2x AGP) chipsets.

Please see the following discussions:

Need a good mobo that'll take.... (for Intel P4/Celeron platforms)

Looking for a motherboard that supports sdram and ddr ram (for AMD Athlon/Duron platforms)

 

[Mem]

AMD wise the ECS K7S5A Pro has USB 2.0 and onboard LAN but no firewire,supports both DDR and SDRAM(PC 100/133) memory(can use 2 sticks),I`m using one in my backup PC since my old motherboard died and I needed a replacement that supported PC133 ram.

 

[JJFlash]

I have an AMD CPU 1.2 gig in one box and AMD CPU 1.3 gig in the other system. Both are presently using PC 133 ram, the #1 system has 3 x 512MB = 1.5 gig pc133 ram. The #2 system has only 256 MB ram, or so. Both could use a USB 2.0 upgrade. The system #1 clogs and freezes on USB 1.1 transfers of very large files to printer. The second system is used as a dedicated scanner and printer (of nearly 30 MB file size) images.

You guys are present time PHd.?s in Motherboard awareness, and I duly bow. Thus, although people consult with me for things computeresque, I can?t hold a candle to the MB knowledge. Thus I inquire.

Other than the fact that the main system (#1) is worse than unreliable with USB 1.1 activities ( to the point where I simply use LPT1 for text printing from system #1), they both run fine, now. 'Just that I need USB 2 and possibly Firewire.

I suppose I could pop in a stand alone USB 2.0 card into one system (they are networked) and share back and forth. But it seems wasted money to do so.

That is the info. Your help is appreciated.

 

[zeroidea]

Unless your printer is USB2.0, I don't much see how the upgrade will affect it..

Newegg has two suitable boards: the ECS K7S5A Pro (Sis 735, $40) and the ASRock K7VT2 (KT266A, $46).

I'd also recommend ditching the PC133 - the longer you hold on to it, the less it's worth. I think name-brand 512MB sticks are still worth maybe $40/ea? Take a peek at Shuttle's MN31N - only $70 at newegg, with USB2, 1394, and three memory slots (NForce2-based)

 

[Steven the Leech]

The last time I looked the pc 133 name brand cost was roughly the same as ddr, and does not appear to be getting any cheaper. I want to buy some but danged if i am going to spend top dollar for old technology. The reason being is that there are a number of good motherboards out that support pc133 at very reasonable prices.

 

[SaigonK]

go ddr youngman!

 

[zeroidea]

I was referring to how much a person might expect to recoup on selling their current PC133 modules. While new parts might seem to have pricing parity with DDR, I don't think there are many people interested in paying top dollar for used PC133, considering the deals available on DDR. Smaller PC133 sticks are already practically worthless, in terms of resale value.

Which is why people thinking of offsetting a memory upgrade by selling their old SDRAM ought to sell sooner rather than later, I'd think. It's also why the used market is the obvious choice if you're in need of PC133.

 

[Jhhnn]

If all you want is usb 2.0, and have an open pci slot, get a usb 2.0 expansion card. Even a combo card with firewire is only ~$25, plus shipping. Helluva lot easier than rebuilding the whole system, too.

I'm terribly prejudiced against ECS/PCChips boards, from the old days, still wouldn't touch one with a pole... they may have improved, just don't say that nobody warned you...