Which KT133A mobo with 6 PCI slots should I get?

[teiresias]

I'm so terribly conflicted. I cannot decide which motherboard to get. I want one with 6 PCI slots though so that eliminates the ASUS, but that leaves the ABIT, the MSI (without RAID), and the IWILL.

I've had great success with my ABIT BH6 but I've definately heard about their flakey reliability reputation recently so I'm a little hesitant there. The MSI and ABIT both look very nice with the MSI being a little cheaper. Is there really much difference between the two boards as the anand reviews don't seem to point out many at all.

I've overclocked all my recent Intel CPUs but I'm not sure how much overclocking I'll do with the AMD chips since they're cheaper anyway, but I still think overclocking should be a concern.

Anyway, I'd really like some suggestions from people. Thanks.

 

[noxipoo]

why do you need 6? anyway, if not asus then iwill. thats it. abit isn't good.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Epox 8KTA3.
check motherboard forum, and you'll be surprise how many people appraise this mobo..

one of the post

Of course, it really all depends on personal preference.
I once got disappointed by the "editor's choice" - MSI 6903,
And I also got burn because I don't listen to advice - WinME.

Anyhow, I have (full house) w/ Epox 8KTA3 for a while now,

Video card,
TV card,
SCSI,
NIC,
Modem,
iLink,
Sound

If you tell me you going to exchange a DDR mobo + DDR RAM w/ my 8KTA3, I will gladly to turn down your offer.

 

[gerryf]

Epox 8KTA3 ... I give five out of five stars to this mobo. I have had one now for a month and it is rock solid. I liked the 6 PCI slots and the ISA slot for a legacy 56K modem (I use cable for the internet). There are lots of reviews on this board out there and most are very good... price is right as well. It was a no brainer for me.

 

[sd]

I love my kk266-r

 

[Soccerman]

I concur, 6 PCI slots, KT133A, even 1 ISA slot, the Epox is the best if you don't want ABIT, but need that ISA slot.

 

[LeoE]

Indeed, are you sure you *need* 6 PCI slots? My experience with VIA chipsets suggests that only 3-4 PCI slots are actually usable without conflicts. I'll be stunned if all 6 work simultaneously. My reason for wanting a 6-PCI mobo is to install the soundcard far away from others, to reduce RFI/EMI interference and improve sound quality. However, I ended up being fine with the 5-PCI A7V133. (Also, I avoid ISA slots like the plague )

 

[NforSa]

Iwill KK266-R all the way...
i have used 5 slots (using 5 atm actually) no probs, and used to use 6 in my old Epox 8KTA+

some cards dont like sharing with other cards, (ex my Promise Ultra66 wont share with ACARD SCSI adapter) but just move it around and it will work in the end

 

[Insane3D]

I would suggest the KK266-R from Iwill. It performs the best of the KT133A mobo's and has the 6 PCI slots you require. These motherboards use different NB that allow FSB's of 160+ to be run reliably...

 

[formulav8]

I also love my Epox board.

 

[Splork]

Another vote for the Epox here!

-sp

 

[SammyBoy]

a7v133 all the way

 

[Soccerman]

6 PCI slots are useful to space out your devices for better cooling.

IE, often the AGP and 1st PCI slot shares resources, but if you want cooling you won't use that slot anyway!

BTW, conflicts don't always happen even when cards share resources.

 

[LXi]

Iwill KK266-R is the best board with that kind of criteria, since want no RAID it further eliminates the A7V133. And since you want overclocking, you eliminate MSI and Epox. You're left with Abit and Iwill, and Iwill is by far the better board.

 

[kreno]

I disagree, the MSI & the EPoX are not eliminated by any means. They both support overclocking, in fact that's one of the greatest reasons that the EPoX board is so popular. But as far as stability at higher FSB's and speed go... IWILL ALL THE WAY

get the KK266 if you don't want RAID! Just get the non raid version and you're set. Right now I'm running a 1GHz AKBA Athlon @ 1350 (9x150MHz) I'm getting memory speeds close in sandra to DDR! Plus, Iwill just released their new bios and my CPU temperature actually went down! Plus, new memory settings are now available and rival those of the Abit KT7A/KT7A-RAID. And the new bios also includes lower voltage settings for later processors so the upgrade path on this board is simply amazing. Overall a great motherboard for both the hardware enthusiast and the beginner.

Last but not least, you can put just about any heatsink on this sucker because of there being just about no obstruction whatsoever.

 

[Mill]

Iwill for occing. For extreme stability get the MSI.

 

[formulav8]

I can get a 150mhz bus on my Epox. Thats not to bad I don't think. I also have multipliers to choose from up to 15x when at a 200 bus. I think MSI is the only other board that I know of that has multipliers that high.

 

[LXi]

<<I disagree, the MSI &amp; the EPoX are not eliminated by any means. They both support overclocking, in fact that's one of the greatest reasons that the EPoX board is so popular.>>

They sure both support overclocking, but both suffer the multiplier issue, hindering the greatest OC advantage - multipliers. But they're totally fine with FSB OC.


<<But as far as stability at higher FSB's and speed go... IWILL ALL THE WAY>>

I concur.

 

[zzzz]

<< a7v133 all the way >>


I think it doesn't have 6 PCI slots!

 

[dennilfloss]

Correct. The A7V133 has 5 pci slots.

 

[skriefal]

<< They (MSI &amp; Epox) sure both support overclocking, but both suffer the multiplier issue, hindering the greatest OC advantage - multipliers. But they're totally fine with FSB OC. >>



I've heard about this problem with the MSI board, but never with the
Epox 8KTA3. I certainly didn't notice any multipler problems with mine...

 

[LXi]

Hm...

&quot;This theory perfectly explains the issues we have experienced with KT133A motherboards that use a 100/133MHz jumper and multiplier controls in the BIOS. And from the list of KT133A motherboards we have reviewed so far, the affected motherboards are EPoX 8KTA3, MSI K7T Turbo, Iwill KK266, and AOpen AK73 ProA.&quot;

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1440&amp;p=3

Iwill fixed their problem with a BIOS update I think, didnt hear about the Epox, did they fix it?

 

[noxipoo]

i like the a7v133 because its the same price as kk266 no raid. i don't use the raid feature but i use the controller as extra IDE channels. i have everything on their own channel now.