The unofficial "Official A7V266-E Thread" !

[XCrodo]

I just went and ordered my board tonight from a local retailer and I should hopefully have it by the end of the week. I will be building the system myself, so I'll keep you posted how it goes as soon as I have it. Here's an exhaustive description of my future kick ass rig:

Athlon XP 1800+ w/ Vantec CCK-6027D Cooler (that sale goes to HardOCP)
Asus A7V266-E w/ RAID, Audio 5.1 & Ethernet 10/100
512 MB PC2100 Micron
Asus V8200 Deluxe
D-Link DFE-530TX (for ICS)
40 GB Maxtor DX740X
20 GB Maxtor 7200 (it's a miracle that one is still working! it makes some weird noises from time to time!)
30 GB Samsung
HP CD-RW 4x/4x/24x
Asus CD-ROM 50x
Sony DVD-ROM 4x
Hitachi Super Scan Elite 802 21" Monitor
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer, Internet Keyboard
Altec Lansing ACS-54 (disturbing the neighbors on a daily basis!)

Hmmm I guess that's about it... Can't wait to enter the DDR era!

PS: If you're getting an A7V266-E too, feel free to share your experience with us!

Peace

[edit]Fixed the HardOCP link...[/edit]

 

[Assimilator1]

I will probably get the non raid version ,unless the Abit turns up soon & gets good reviews.

Anyone know when Anand is going to review these boards?

 

[jaeger66]

<< Anyone know when Anand is going to review these boards? >>


At the rate he's going, there should be a McReview up no later than Easter. Gotta get those XBox articles out.:disgust:

 

[Heinrich]

For many months I was convinced to go nForce. Now I'm changing my mind and am considering one of these.

How do I tell on Pricewatch if the version is with or without Raid? Also on pricewatch they list the KT266 chipset for THIS board. Was there an A7V266-E with the first Via KT266 chipset or do the listings really mean KT266A?

 

[XCrodo]

Heinrich - Just give them a call to make sure, or find a board that mentions it in the description.

 

[chizow]

Heinrich,

As far as I know, the non-RAID KT266A has not been announced. On pricewatch, type in A7V266 E and you'll find what you want. The standard KT266 chipset board goes by A7V266, so be very careful when looking at listings, but as XCrodo said, call to make sure. I'm curious to see how these boards turn out as well, I really enjoyed my A7V133, but I didn't want to pay more for the features I didn't use this time around and I needed something to plop this XP 1800+ into.

Chiz

 

[tazdevl]

Might want to wait a couple of days for another Abit KR7A RAID review or two. It's a bit cheaper, has ATA133 and I'd imagine will perform about the same as the Asus board if not slightly better. I just wish they included the overclocking strips on the board like the TH7II and DLED's.

I also have given up on the nForce. No audio API's other than DirectSound doesn't help in CS a bit. The BIOS issues are scaring a lot of people away with the MSI board and I could care less about DD 5.1 since I have Klipsch Promedia 4.1's. I would like to see a review of the A7N266E just to see if the overclocking issues are part of the nForce design or just specific to the MSI board. Who knows at this point.

I'm torn between the A7V266E and KR7A. Don't have any experience with Abit boards, so holding off on a preorder.

 

[Assimilator1]

chizow
The non raid version is already out ,Overclockers UK are selling them now ,that's probably what I'll end up with

Heinrich
Yes Asus did do a kt266 version ,it is called the A7V 266 ,the kt266a model has an 'E' on the end

Btw guys Anand has stated in his comdex thread that he'll be reviewing the Abit KR7A next week

 

[jaeger66]

He said the board would be arriving next week. It's a long leap from "in-hand" to "reviewed". Unless it's like the other KT266A review, in which case it's 5 minutes from "in-hand" to "reviewed".

 

[KayleeDog]

I was just curious as to what kind of case/psu you had for all that. I myself am looking to buy a new full tower case to hold all my stuff more efficiently and provide better cooling, its way to hot right now, even with 3 case fans.

 

[chizow]

You could fit all that in a medium atx case, just need a 5 1/4 bay cooler or converter for the extra HD. You could spend tons of loot on a new case, or you could use some elbow grease and make some blowholes Put a 90-120mm near the pci slots, an 80mm near your HSF/CPU, and if thats not enough, toss a blowhole up top as well.

Chiz

 

[XCrodo]

Well I just got my board and I'm about to install it, let's just hope I don't "chip" my 1800+!

*** UPDATE ***

Everything is set to go, I have a class to attend so I'll plug it later tonight for her first ride...
Now if I can just locate that damn WinXP cd... :|

 

[bluesky]

Are all the A7V266-E boards have onboard nic?
I'm sure they're coming w/Promise and audio, but can't find about nic sure.
Well, waited 1 week and the price came down 20 bucks, now ready to order on Saturday or Sunday.

 

[Swanny]

Hey, does anyone know if the Alpha PAL 8035 will fit on this board? Asus's most recent board's haven't fit it, but a review said that this one had lots of room around the socket and should fit the biggest heatsinks.

But the board isn't listed on Aplha's site on way or the other yet.

 

[Assimilator1]

KayleeDog
I'm sticking with my Midi tower Enlight ,gonna put a juicier PSU in it though.
Btw a friend of mine has built a rig with the Asus board & reports no problems

 

[XCrodo]

Ok I've just installed WinXP, the whole thing went without a hitch. This is one nice mobo I tell ya that!

bluesky - I thought I'd be getting NIC on board, but it's not there. It doesn't turn out so bad for me, now I won't have to carve a hole in my case for the connector ! :Q Make sure to specify it if you want it.

Swanny - Does the Alpha need the 4 holes around the socket to be able to fit it? Anyhow the board has them and there's relatively a lot of space around the CPU compared to my older KT7-RAID who was fitted with a Golden Orb.

Physically setting the part in the case and on the board went great, but I find that having to clip that damn heatsink has to be the most stressful part of the experience After that I plugged it in and TADAM! Here I am !

Got to bow down in front of the marvellous engineering skills of our friends at Asus. Now I've got a couple of things to setup so you'll have to excuse me!

 

[Assimilator1]

I've ordered the Asus A7V 266-E

 

[XCrodo]

My only problem right now is that most of my friends are asleep so I can't brag about it

 

[lenjack]

Xcrodo....You should have installed the hs before putting the board in the case...much simpler.

 

[rmd2001]

Just installed A7V266-E. Wow, it was simple. Just put CPU, connect all cables and boot. Installed WinXP and that's all.
System perfectly stable. I'm completely satisfied.

 

[Assimilator1]

I'll be installing Win 98SE lite ,don't like XP with its performance hit

lenjack
good point ,noted for future reference

 

[XCrodo]

Well I did install the HSF before putting it in the case, but you still need to apply a lot of pressure to clip it and that always makes me nervous.

As for the OS, WinXP is the way to go, the stability surely makes up for the performance, unless you have to pay for it!

 

[Assimilator1]

I'm gonna do dual boot at some point ,win2k for surfing & running SETI with its stabilty & 98se for games ,

 

[jaeger66]

Win2k and XP are fine for games. With an nVidia card, they're better.

 

[Swanny]

Yes, the Alpha does need the 4 holes around the socket to mount.