Stupid is as Stupid Does.. KT266a, KT333, Thoroughbred?

[Southpaw]

hey All,

pretty basic questions here...
Currently have an IWill kk266 (KT133a) mobo with 512MB CAS 2Crucial SDRAM and a Tbird 1Ghz
perfectly fine for all my needs right now...but...I have the urge to upgrade and have some questions...

1) on any feasible upgrade, can I use my current SDRam??
2) Will KT266a's take normal SDram??
3) should I go the cheaper KT266a route or wait on the Thoroughbred??
4) Any ideas on motherboards supporting the thoroughbred??
5) are the alternatives any brighter..(Northwood, SiS,Nforce??)

seems no matter which way I go that I will have to upgrade to DDR PC2100 or higher.....

all tips appreciated....

thx
Southpaw

 

[nichomach]

1) Errrr...depends, but unlikely, because
2) KT266As take DDR, which is a different kettle of fish and
3) It depends on whether you want to replace your CPU as well. I'd wait on Thoroughbred, myself, since if you're going to a board that supports DDR, you might as well seriously bump the CPU speed as well. I personally run a 1.2GHz 266MHz FSB Athlon C and frankly, the Athlon XP is a great CPU, and my board would support it, but I don't feel that pressured to upgrade at the mo. The performance leap just isn't high enough yet. Thoroughbred may raise the bar sufficiently, although that'll occasion a new CPU, board and memory in all likelihood.
4) Haven't looked into it yet
5) NForce is getting some seriously good reviews for performance and stability, but I wouldn't jump at any of them yet - I'd seriously stick on your 1GHz Athlon until thoroughbred arrives.

"seems no matter which way I go that I will have to upgrade to DDR PC2100 or higher....."

I'd have to agree there.

As always, YMMV.🙂

 

[AA0]

KT133A chipsets are the highest performing PC133 chipset there is, and Iwill made one of the best boards for it. Don't upgrade unless you get DDR.

 

[CoDerEd]

1. on some mobo you can use sdram

2. no but i heard some kt266 can take sdram

3. kt266a is good & stable but if you really want to have Thoroughbred
i suggest you either wait or buy ECS K7S5A, 'cause
it's a inexpenssive upgrade you still can use your SDRAM and upgrade to
DDR later if you don't want to have the Thoroughbred( though there is a possibility)

4. ECS K7S5A and IWIL XP333 i heard those two can take Thoroughbred
eventhough it's not officially confirmed yet

5. I personally would like to try the Northwood since the price is seem reasonable
SiS can push the price really low like on the ECS K7S5A,
Nforce 415 seem pretty stable but lack on overclockability
There is one more, AliMagik 1, I heard Iwill XP333-R is good in fact it's has more
overclock feature than KT266A like the PCI divider(5 & 6 i believe) and support PC 2700 DDR.

So if you want inexpenssive upgrade got the ECS, if you want to buy faster RAM(PC 2100, PC2700)
I suggest you get the IWILL, since you have a great mobo and there is a chance that it can
use Thoroughbred, if you want something new, totally different get the Northwood, I heard ASUS is good.

well good luck on your upgrade

peace

 

[CoDerEd]

ECS K7S6A (SIS 745) also support PC 2700

 

[Pabster]

AA0 wrote:

"KT133A chipsets are the highest performing PC133 chipset there is..."

Wrong. SiS 735 is the highest performing PC133 Socket A chipset, period. Not by a whole lot, but you can only squeeze so much out of SDRAM. It outperforms KT133A across the board, significantly in certain areas.