Which MOBO would you buy from A7V133, MSI K7T Turbo-R, KT7A Raid, or Iwill KK266?

[Leo V]

I've examined the latest Iwill KK266 review, and noticed that their Memory Bandwidth scores are exactly proportional to my A7V133 bandwidth. (I get 609MB/sec FPU at 133MHz, and they get 705MB/sec at 155MHz, identical bang-per-MHz).

The same holds for HDD scores, my Promise-connected 75GXP (same 30GB model) just about matches theirs, while mine is in the slower "quiet mode".

This means that both mobos have equally perfected memory performance. If you overclock, I can see the appeal of the Iwill. Nonetheless, I'm an underclocker and stability freak more than anything, so I lose nothing with Asus (and I get a Promise controller and no horrible ISA slots )

 

[alkemyst]

Anyone got a link to the IWILL review(s).

I was thinking the latest MSI board, but I haven't seen the specs on this one yet.

Thanks

 

[mercutio13]

Hey alkemyst,
Here are links to Iwill KK266 Review.

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/2955/1/
http://www.fullon3d.com/reports/kk266/kk266.kevin.shtml
http://www.viahardware.com/iwillkk266.shtm
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/iwill/kk266r/kk266rp1.htm
http://www.3drage.com/hardware/systems/933iwill/

 

[Biggs]

Asus for me. There was one bloke who had a modded A7V133 running a tbird@1.5Ghz! Overclockability, performance, and stability.

 

[Leo V]

http://www.hexus.net/review.php?review=145

 

[DaddyG]

Lxi, what are the 'bells and whistles'unique to ABIT. ABIT HAD BIOS options that were not available on the IWILL, but the modded bios for IWILL is now available. IWILL has great 4.1 integrated sound, none of the other mobos have this. ABIT uses the worst RAID controller, Highpoint. The actual stability of the MSI mobo is completely unknown, Anands handpicked sample means nothing. Many review sites have raved about the IWILL for overclockability and stability, and lots of actual users just love 'em. MSI has simply NOT stood behind the known problems with their mobos.

 

[bizkit]

I got an A7V133 very nice board...

 

[Dulanic]

Also the MSI, IWill, and EPoX all use the 100-132 and 133+ jumper which can cause problems when trying to run a 100FSB CPU at 133.... if you dont OC thats not a huge problem.

 

[miniMUNCH]

I've seen 1.2 TB blue cores over 1.6 air cooled on MSI, ASUS, and Abit...haven't seen an Iwill board at all though.

But 11 x 148 FSB shouldn't be too hard for any of the boards to do with the right chip and memmory, IMO.

 

[LXi]

<<what are the 'bells and whistles'unique to ABIT. ABIT HAD BIOS options that were not available on the IWILL, but the modded bios for IWILL is now available. IWILL has great 4.1 integrated sound, none of the other mobos have this. ABIT uses the worst RAID controller, Highpoint.>>

I dont give a crap, neither brand interest me. Iwill is just an Abit ripoff, openly copying their layout design, and due to its beta northbridge(in conjuncture to an elite batch claimed by a previous poster), it's got supreme overclocking. But so what? Are Durons and Tbirds today proven to be able o take 160+Mhz? I highly doubt it, the 150MHz range is about the limit of most processors and the other brands will fair equally well.


<<The actual stability of the MSI mobo is completely unknown, Anands handpicked sample means nothing.>>

Can you apply that to Abit, Epox and Asus as well? Sure you can. The MSI is a preproduction sample, I can only imagine the final product be better.


<<Many review sites have raved about the IWILL for overclockability and stability,and lots of actual users just love 'em. >>

Thats true, but so have they raved about Abit, Asus and MSI.


<<MSI has simply NOT stood behind the known problems with their mobos.>>

I'd like you to provide some sound proofs. Asus has not responded to some of their problems either, every manufacturer has some problems.

 

[DaddyG]

Lxi, the KK266 does not use a beta Northbridge, infact it uses rev A1, which was the only rev available to IWILL since the big guys bought up all the rev A0. MSI NEVER responded with a fix to the overclocking problems that they had with a large batch of Pro 2A's. The symptoms were weired clock speeds when certain speeds were selected or simply no post. 686B problems were also unique to MSI. In case you don't know the history of MSI, they are considered a second tier manufacturer in all Pacific Rim circles.

The point that you are missing is that Anand has one hand picked MSI mobo. IWILLs KK266 are shipping to end users as fast as they can be imported. Actual end user results are fantastic. ABIT, ASUS and EPOX all are shipping in volume, not handpicked samples.

 

[LXi]

<<MSI NEVER responded with a fix to the overclocking problems that they had with a large batch of Pro 2A's. The symptoms were weired clock speeds when certain speeds were selected or simply no post. 686B problems were also unique to MSI.>>

How can you make such generalization on their entire company base on one of their products? It makes no sense. Like I said before the amount of people that are happy outnumber the unhappy by a large ratio, its always the unhappy that yells the loudest. I dont need to mention how many people have perfectly working Pro2As on their hands.


<<In case you don't know the history of MSI, they are considered a second tier manufacturer in all Pacific Rim circles.>>

Thats before everybody knew them, currently they're one of the top 5s in the world.


<<The point that you are missing is that Anand has one hand picked MSI mobo.>>

The point is that Abit, Epox, and Asus are all hand picked and sent to Anand.


<<IWILLs KK266 are shipping to end users as fast as they can be imported. Actual end user results are fantastic. ABIT, ASUS and EPOX all are shipping in volume, not handpicked samples.>>

The MSI has just recently be available, I dont expect much user feedbacks, but it's futile if you're trying to convince people that the MSI final products are just a bunch of sh1te.

 

[zippy]

Iwill KK266

It's a sweet board from what I've read!

 

[formulav8]

I'm very happy with my Epox. Most stable board I have had so far. Great performance, features, and price. Only $126 shipped. Also has 6 PCI and 1 ISA slots. There is a Raid version is also available.

 

[snuggy]

Iwill KK266!

 

[PCResources]

<< . 686B problems were also unique to MSI >>



Yeah... this tells me that you do not know anything about this issue...

And a second rate tier... MSI, well, MSI sells more motherboards than any other company right now (ASUS is second, then first, then second).....

Get this, MSI is the most stable motherboard manufacturer i have tested in general, and i have tested thousands of KT133(A) boards...

Patrick Palm

PC Resources

 

[novon]

I can't believe you guys are supporting ASUS so blindly. I admit they have done well in the past but their A7Vs were plagued with bugs and stability problems. Just do a search on these forums or on the net. There are whole website dedicated to fixing problems with the A7V. They screwed up, I know first hand. I'm trading mine in for a MSi Turbo

 

[heng1028]

turbo has the same multiplier problem as pro2-a as well

you have to becareful NovoN

 

[DaddyG]

Patrick, nobody doubts that MSI is stable, they have FAILED to address the multiplier issue which is still present on the Turbo. For an overclocker, MSI is not the best choice. BTW do you actually talk to anybody in the Pacific RIM, I do, I have spent lots of time in Japan and some in China, MSI is NOT considered a first tier manufacturer.
As far as actually 'testing thousands', pure BS. You would have no time to run a business if you 'tested' thousands, get real.

BTW, I think Gigabyte is the stability champ.

 

[Davegod75]

how do the memory benches compare on the iwill and asus?

 

[LXi]

<<BTW do you actually talk to anybody in the Pacific RIM, I do, I have spent lots of time in Japan and some in China, MSI is NOT considered a first tier manufacturer.>>

How much time did you spend in China? I spent 13 yrs. Who have you talked with to get such information that MSI is second tier? I talked with VIA's executives.

The one who needs to get real is you, big Daddy.

 

[blammo22]

I just upgraded from a K7T-Pro2A to a K7T Turbo-R... my Pro2A seemed to have problems with the multiplier - maybe I needed to connect the L7 bridges (this was on my Tbird 850 that I had at 1Gig on my old A7V). When I upgraded to the Turbo-R, I swapped in my Tbird 700 (put the 850 in a different machine), set it to 133MHz (at 1.8V), and voila - instant 933MHz gratification. Changing the multiplier has no effect (first boot gives blank screen, after resetting it always runs at default multiplier), but maybe I just didn't unlock the 700 well... will try again when I get something better to use...

BTW, the CPU voltage settings seem pretty strong (for lack of a better word) on the Turbo-R. I first set the voltage to 1.85V, and in the PC Health in the BIOS it reported 2.0V!!! I'm currently running at 1.8V setting which reports as 1.95V... My PSU is brand new (Enermax 330W), so maybe the K7T Turbo gives extra voltage?

 

[Mustanggt]

I would and I did get the KT7A Raid This board runs flawless. I cant understand how some people will continue to urgue that MSI turbo is the best I dont see these people to much in the trouble threads on this board. Makes me mad how some people are just so closed minded.

 

[billyjak]

I have the KT7 Raid also and it is a very good board. Beats benchmarks on almost all of them, but the Iwill does look good.
Memory benchmarks are 554, 684 in SCI Soft with pc 133 muskin on a 1 gig T-Bird
People keep bashing Abit but I find it extremely stable and oc/ing features second to none.
The Highpoint chipset beats my promise in all benchmarks, I have both and score a 24442 in Sci Soft and HD Tach is 38866 with an average of 34862
These aren't bad numbers.
I would get the Iwill though if I were buying now.

 

[LXi]

<<I would and I did get the KT7A Raid This board runs flawless. I cant understand how some people will continue to urgue that MSI turbo is the best I dont see these people to much in the trouble threads on this board. Makes me mad how some people are just so closed minded.>>

So its right to call Abit the best and not MSI? Only if you agree that Abit is the best qualifies you as open minded, right? And it makes you mad that Abit isn't the best?