Which KT133 motherboard to replace my Abit KT7?

[stultus]

Check PCProgress.

 

[VinY]

Seems like the Pro2 only supports up to 1.7volts according to the HardOCP review. If I have my T-Bird 750@1100 1.85volts on my KT7, I can't overclock it this high on the Pro2 then, right?

 

[Narse]

IMO the Asus A7V is the best bet, I have built 5 systems using this board all running Windows 2000, One is my personal server and it has been up and running for almost a month now with no reboots. It is running Advanced Server. Also the A7V can easily be modified with no sodering to support ATA 100 Raid, You get the RAID without the additional cost, I have the instructions at home and would be glad to provide them to anyone here just e-mail or PM me. It is one heck of a board, I used the Abit Kt& one time and nothing but problems. The A7V is a great board. Also FYI the A7V133 can be modded for Raid just like its little brother.

 

[Dulanic]

<< mean? Why wouldn't it run at ATA-100 in Win2k? >>



Win2K does NOT support ATA-100 and that causes a problem. Instead of defaulting back to UDMA4 (ATA-66) it goes all the way back to PIO-4 instead. So you need to use software from your HD maker to set your drive to ATA66 if it is ATA100...... this is not true for Promise or Intel chipsets.... Promise makes Win2K think the Hd is SCSI to bypass it, hence why they recommend not putting CDRW, DVD etc.. on a Promise card.

 

[Dulanic]

<< Also the A7V can easily be modified with no sodering to support ATA 100 Raid, You get the RAID without the additional cost, I have the instructions at home and would be glad to provide them to anyone here just e-mail or PM me. >>




Actually the promise controller on the A7V133 is optional now. If you do get it however they added RAID 0 support already so there is no need to modify it.

 

[Narse]

Well that explains why I have never had a problem running ATA 100 on the A7V, It uses a Promise controller

 

[stultus]

I can't believe it's recommended to buy a 6 month old board (A7V) with so many new boards and chipsets on the way in the next month. Boy, did I ever pick a bad time to upgrade or what? :Q

 

[Noriaki]

Well I'm personally quite un-impressed with the Via 686B southbridge..it seems to be causing some major issues..and yet everyone seems to be using it.

Personally....I'd grab whatever new KT133A board you want, and pop in a promise Ultra100 PCI card and put your hard drives on that. Only use the Via 686B channels for your CD drives and crap...

Of course it's easy enough for me to say this, I already have a Promise Ultra100

 

[PCResources]

<< I built a system for my friend with an Abit KT7 and a 45GB IBM 75GXP that is, for the most part (only an occasional crash because of Windows or his AIW Radeon drivers) quite stable. >>



And how did you come to that conclusion??

Because others had the same problems, with the same board??

The Abit KT7 is a BAD board if there ever was one, and i wouldn't touch it with a nine foot nonoxinol coated pole...

Abit produces crappy boards right now, MSI produces high quality boards, and if i were you i would choose the MSI KT7PRO board..

I have done QC and stability testing (for eight weeks) with thousands of these boards and i can tell you... the drivers from ATI or Microsoft is no prob, the Abit board IS!!

If you are looking for a stable board (maybe you think performance is everything, but if your system crashes just before you had the time to save something, like your quake game, then think otherwise...

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[Moonbeam]

VinY, there's an overclocker's extended voltage range BIOS here, for the PRO 2A. Don't know what new voltages are included.

 

[Dulanic]

<< I can't believe it's recommended to buy a 6 month old board (A7V) with so many new boards and chipsets on the way in the next month. Boy, did I ever pick a bad time to upgrade or what? >>



Id recommend the A7V133 /w Promise RAID controller out of everything right now. I personally wouldnt use the RAID but the Promise ATA100 is nice. My next board will probably be a Asus A7M266, K7 Master, or a 760MP board since I have a spare CPU sitting around.

 

[Narse]

I agree the A7V133 is the best bet right now, I have no idea why so many people like the KT7 I had nothing but problems out of that board, I havn't tried the MSI boards so I cannot comment on those

 

[Dulanic]

<< I agree the A7V133 is the best bet right now, I have no idea why so many people like the KT7 I had nothing but problems out of that board, I havn't tried the MSI boards so I cannot comment on those >>



Thats the problem with Abit... if you get a board that works its a great board! If they ever freakin spent more time on QC they would be a good company. But their RMA rate is too damned high, and I got sick of paying $25 RMA rates whenever I got a DOA board or a board that went bad under warranty back from a customer whos PC I built. I no longer will put Abit boards in PCs I build for customers. Not only did it cost me the RMA fee but I spent alot more times fixing PCs I built on Abit boards... thats time and money, something I cant afford.

 

[Mustanggt]

I dont think all the troubles with these boards Abit/MSI.Etc is 100% the boards I think Human error plays A big part. So dont take all the bad threads on certain boards to heart. If you find a Board your Intrested in Dont come here for Approval Find A handfull of good Review sites and if all the reviews are good then chances are its the right board for you. Good luck

 

[Eminem]

the kt133a is a transition point to the 760, dont get the 760 wait for kt266 or get a kt133a cheap
ddr and ddr 2 will be the future

nvidia3d2000@yahoo.com

 

[Maverick]

get the Pro2 not the Pro2A
the southbridge controller that does the ATA100 on the Pro2A has too many problems.

I'd say get a KT7-RAID or wait for a nice KT133A board.

 

[Dulanic]

<< I dont think all the troubles with these boards Abit/MSI.Etc is 100% the boards I think Human error plays A big part. So dont take all the bad threads on certain boards to heart. If you find a Board your Intrested in Dont come here for Approval Find A handfull of good Review sites and if all the reviews are good then chances are its the right board for you. Good luck >>



I build and sell alot of PCs... I can tell you from my experience with building/selling Abit MBs that they have poor QA and let alot of bad boards through, and then they freakin charge $25 for their damned mistake.

 

[gtd2000]

Having had 2 Abit boards BH6 &amp; BX6 and both having some problems, I am reluctant to get the new K7TA. However normally they work very well. I blame the OS/software most of the time for any problems. I'm stuck between the K7TA and the Epox 8KT3A..I previously owned an Epox and thought it was much better quality that the Abit....but I was only running a K6-2 300 back then.....

 

[Super6]

I have an Epox 8KTA2 with a 30GB IBM GXP75 and have had no problems. Initially had a GeForce MX and switched to a Radeon 32MB DDR...no problems with either. I'm running original Win98 (98Lite) without the MS patch but use a lengthy wave file to slow the shutdown. I suspect the 8KTA3 would be just as stable/reliable.

Super6

 

[johnjk]

My current Pro2A is stable as can be...........so far. My .02 worth.