Which MB, ABIT KG7DDRRAID or ASUS A7M266

[WAdam]

I'm looking to buy my parts tomorrow, so I'm finalizing everything now. I am hearing problems with the the ABIT, but I'd love the 4 DIMM Slots. I'm not too into overclocking, so that's not a main concern. I'm going to be running an AMD 1.4. Basically, I'm wanting something that's going to work (don't we all), rather than something I can tweak to an ungodly speed. Anyway, any suggestions or experiences would be great. Has ABIT fixed the AGP problem yet??

Wadam

 

[mchammer187]

my pics would be:

1. ECSK7S5A

2. Epox 8k7a

3. Wait for Nforce/KT266A

performancewise the ECS is top performing motherboard right now and supports FSB overclocking

IMO the epox is a better 760 board but with the ECSK7S5A performing better than the rest andl for only $65 that is the only board i would consider today.

out of your 2 choices i would go with the KG7 over the A7M since i remember you previously had no option for the multiplier (i dont know what the case is now)

my roomate has a kg7 so i've seen it in action : its not all that IMO

 

[Didou]

The KG7 is definitly better then the A7M266 (which is till based on the first KT266). But I have to agree with mchammer187, the ECS board is dirt cheap & performs really well. It also supports SDRam as well as DDRam. It works on 133 fsb & is Palomino/Morgan ready. It's true you can overclock on the FSB but you don't have a load of options there (it even used to be just 100/100, 100/133 & 133/133 options) but with a new BIOS & it gets a little bit better.

It's very stable & has good performance.

Man, what am I waiting for ? I should get this board myself !!!

 

[JackBurton]

<< my roomate has a kg7 so i've seen it in action : its not all that IMO >>


I've got a KG7 and it IS all that. I don't know what else you can put on a board to make it better.

 

[Athlon4all]

Wait for KT266A. I'd take KG7-RAID anyday over anything.

P.S. IMHO Abit KR7A-RAID (KT266A) will be the board to have once it comes out

 

[novon]

when is it coming out>?

 

[Athlon4all]

Early October

 

[mchammer187]

I've got a KG7 and it IS all that. I don't know what else you can put on a board to make it better.

it has a lot of options but for i would not recommend it for the non-overclocker especially priced at $160

base performance the SiS has a significant peformance increase over ALL AMD 760 boards. I believe the Epox is a much better overclocker than the abit since it supports a wider range of VCORE (goes to 2.15 if i remember correctly) and heard of FSB at the 150 up to 180 @ cas 3

the only advantage of the ABIT is softmenu for multiplier and 4 DIMM slots and 512 MB of ram is fine with me sure a gig would be nice but i just need it and by the time you will need a gig 512 DIMMS will probably be cheap or you will have a new motherboard

ECS $65
Abit $141 from newegg

for an xtra $80 you get more mem timing options SOFTMENU FSB, multiplier, voltages 2 xtra Dimm slots

but ECS supports FSB o/c , integrated nic (very useful), integrated sound(u prolly wont use that) and the BEST performing chipset out right now, SDRAM support

so i guess it is a matter of if $80 is worth it for those options to you but the only thing you probably will use is the DIMM slots but since you are NOT overclocking

abit is for tweakers/ overclockers

also SiS has no VIA 686B if you have any qualms about that

 

[ukDave]

if you need a board right now, the n the Gigabyte GA-7DXR is good. Its very stable, it has raid, dual BIOS, onboard sound etc. dont get the 7DX because its missing more than just the raid. also, IMO the Abit KG7 would be ideal also.

dav

 

[Transistor]

<< A7M266 (which is till based on the first KT266). >>



Sorry bro, but you are wrong. The A7M266 uses the same chipset the KG7 uses. AMD 761 northbridge and a VIA 686B southbridge. The A7V266 uses the KT266 chipset.

Between the Abit KG7 and the ASUS A7M266, I would go with the ASUS for stability (since that's the issue being discussed here). The A7M266 has been on the market for a really long time. It was one of the first AMD 761 chipset motherboards on the market and any problems it's had have all been worked out. Plus, ASUS is a pretty good company when it comes to making stable products. It's not the fastest or the most feature rich, but it's a good stable board.

 

[Didou]

My mistake the A7M266 is with AMD-760 but I don't think people think of ASUS when they need stability. MSI comes out more often when talking about stability. ASUS was usually for overclockers & people wanting the max performance out of their system.

As for the KG7, I believe it's the only motherboard with 4 DIMM sockets for DDRam. It still gets beaten by the SiS 735 based ECSK7S5A.

 

[JackBurton]

<< My mistake the A7M266 is with AMD-760 but I don't think people think of ASUS when they need stability. MSI comes out more often when talking about stability. ASUS was usually for overclockers & people wanting the max performance out of their system. >>


Uh...NO. Asus has a reputation for quality and stability. Asus do have some nice overclocking features but they are definitely known for their stability.

 

[gogetax]

Its priced at 160 for the RAID version, which is worth it considering you get a good RAID controller without using a PCI slot. If you aren't intersted in RAID There is a cheaper KG7 without it. As for waiting for a newer board...you could be doing that for eternity. There is never NOT going to be a newer better board on the horizon. Besides, even Anand pointed out that the performance difference is not noticable (assuming it's stable). I would reccomend the KG7, but to be honest as long as your getting a stable mobo (which the KG7 is btw) then go for the cheaper one (which it is not).

 

[smp]

Out of your two choices I'de prefer the Asus board.. I would like to second the emotion for the gigabyte GA-7DXr though.. that is a nice board.. probably better than the Asus, more features, less money, good stability..

and yeah.. Asus was always knows for stability, reliability etc... lately they have been catering to the overclockers too though.. but I think that Abit started the whole overclocker board trend.

 

[LintMan]

Can you hold off the purchase a few weeks? The KT266A MB's are just around the corner and offer better performance than either of the boards you mentioned. nForce is also due next month, also with high perf and with good integration.

The Asus A7M266 is on the lower end of the 761-chipset boards, performance-wise, I think.

I like the KG7 feature-set also, but besides the AGP burnout issue with the KG7-RAID, I've read about inability to use PC2400 memory. But if you're not OC'ing, that may not matter. I don't know if either issue is fixed yet or not.

If you can't wait, you can buy the ECSK7S5A now for cheap and upgrade to a next-gen MB later when they've all arrived and you've gotten a chance to read all the reviews on them and pick the best one.

 

[WAdam]

Thanks for all the responses. I have to say, I'm still not sure what I'm going to go with as my final choice....I'm holding off till monday. I'd wait longer, but this has been several months coming and I'm anxious to buy. Thanks again people.

A