The Safest Way To Shop.

[j@cko]

From my experience, as probably all of yours too, the safest way is purchasing after a couple of re-versions of the product.
For example, Abit KT7A/KT7A-RAID, AMD Athlon.
For KT7A, the first problem I later found is that the later re-reversion overclocks way better (the batch that uses the plastic packaging), the second problem is that the later version support Athlon XP (even though XP is a waste when used with SDRAM)
For Athlon, (I have Duron), later batch overclockes well as well, due to the better stepping.
Now, I want to buy a Epox 8KHA+ and Radeon8500, but I am thinking it's better to wait for the new re-versioned, if there's any, and it's also better to wait for more boards (motherboards), which there will be more choice.

 

[LintMan]

Well, you can look at it like the KT266A chipset is a revision on the KT266, and the 8KHA+ is a revision of the 8KHA. There really weren't many changes to the KT266A chipset (it's a drop-in replacement for the KT266 I believe), so I think for most KT266A MB's, any changes are mostly just tweaks and improvements.

If you wait, there will be a bigger selection of MB's out there, but most likely by then we'll also be hearing about/seeing newer chipset MB's, like the nForce or SIS 745, which will then be the 1st-revision hardware.

 

[j@cko]

I was actually referring to the BOARD design rather than the use of CHIPSET.
KT7A ver. 1.1 does not support XP, where as 1.3 does.
Maybe the NEW stepping of KT266A will overclock better.