which KT266A not to get thread

[Hoo]

There has been a lot of threads about which kt266a boards to get, from epox to asus, msi, soltek, abit etc., but after reading most of them, none of them seems to help much.

At the end of the day, the list of choices is still the same. There is no winner. They are all good..

msi with usb2.0
epox is stable and cheap
most have on-board raid
some with 6 channel sound and lan

But how do you ask a question about product quality. So here are the conditions upon which you may reply:

1. Tell me which KT266A boards that you have bad experience with, have compatibility problems, instability, poor customer supports, etc.
2. To avoid a flame war, you may not praise any of the boards. Yes, I know they are all good. Just say bad things only.
3. Please ignore any post that praise/defend any of the mobos. Don't replay to them and i don't want to hear about it.
4. Please limit your comments on KT266A only because that is the chipset i want.
5. Issues i am interested in also include raid performances, pci latency, memory problems (ecc/registered), ACPI (sleep mode crash), psu problems, bios, and drivers issues.

Thank you. I hope this works.

 

[PUNKtotalled]

Toms hardware guide have had problems of compatibility between the MSI K7T266pro and a d-link card. This board performs a little less than the leaders (Epox 8KHA+ and Soltek75DRV2). USB2 is not very usefull at this time, and not supported natively by XP.

 

[AZGamer]

I have heard and seen a few issues with the Shuttle AK31A.

 

[KGB1]

I got the Gigabyte GA-7VXTE... it is filled with trouble(and I got Rid of it).
I would advise you towards the Epox (NO AMR and CNR slot ) or the Soyo SY-K7V Dragon PLUS+(really good sound and LAN). Best Motherboard for your buck, plus has Smartcard reader, and a load of stuff included. Stable also.
You can ADD USB 2.0 later (with PCI expansion card)

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

My Shuttle AK31 came pretty much DOA, first board I'd ever recieved that didn't work for me...really though, every board has it's issues and occasional duds, just gotta try and find the one with the least that works for you and go for it

 

[CraigRT]

<< I got the Gigabyte GA-7VXTE... it is filled with trouble(and I got Rid of it >>



What's the deal? what problems were you having? my friend has the 7VTXE and he has sporatic shutdown problems, he says roughly every hour or so the computer powers off by itself, he thinks it's a heat issue, but he has a Tt 6CU+ with a 7K RPM delta and it's only 50C, it's an XP1600+ with win2k installed, and 256 of DDR memory. can you advise of what your troubles were and how to fix?

 

[bulldawg]

<< I got the Gigabyte GA-7VXTE... it is filled with trouble(and I got Rid of it >>



And I have nothing but praise for that board. Mine is stable as can be!

 

[Wind]

There is no fast rules in choosing a mobo. Personal preference, previous experience, peer recommendation & etc affect the buying decision. The selection will most likely based on budget (how much $ u wanna spend), usage(O/Cing?), technical support (things like RMA, bios support), design (u wanna ur huge HSF to fit)...& so forth.

If u wanna only the VIA KT266A chipset mobo, probs like...the latest debate of the PCI latency probs will affect all mobo using the same SB.

Every mobo have probs...either design or user inherited. If u ask me wht is good...I use Epox 8KHA+ & its been stable & fast...but just look around....there is still ppl who just dunmake it right.