Why not AMD 761/766 motherboards?

[Odeen]

All 761-based boards have those crappy 686B Via southbridges... With their IDE hard drive-killing and Sound Blaster Live-locking features, that is. AMD has their own part available (The 766 south bridge), yet not a single board uses it..

I don't know about you, but I'd pay $185 or so for an Asus with 761/766 chipset combination, 3 or 4 DDR DIMM slots, 3-phase power regulation with nice big heatsinks, a POST reader (like the Epox 761-based board), 6 PCI slots, and no secondary IDE controllers to create problems.

Or $300-$320 for the same board with a built-in Adaptec 7899 chip for U160 SCSI.

As it stands, I should be getting an Epox in an hour or so.. can't go _too_ wrong for $128 + S&H.

 

[TheTeacher]

So you say it sucks then you buy it? I for one hate SCSI with a passion.
MIke

 

[Odeen]

It's the best thing possible, and the only IDE device in this box is a Kenwood 72X, which is ATA-33. I also don't have an SB Live.

However, what I _am_ saying is that if such a board becomes available, I'll cut someone a sweet deal on that EPoX and buy that board.. Incidentally, the only drawback of SCSI is the cost - the drives are built like tanks, the 7200 RPM SCSI units easily beat the best 7200 RPM IDE units, and the latest drives are _very_ quiet and run rather cool. But, this is the wrong board to discuss SCSI..

 

[Mungla]

"With their IDE hard drive-killing"

What do you mean by this? The Epox could have been improved by using a Promise controller and not the Highpoint.

 

[AkulaShark]

One of the problems of the 686B SouthBr.idge is IDE HD data corruption when using a SBLive!.

 

[Mungla]

Ah, ok.

 

[Biggs]

Link.

 

[RaginCajun]

Odeen, I agree with you 100% - VIA sucks big time.

 

[marks70]

I never heard of the 766 southbridge. Where did you hear/read about that?

 

[Odeen]

mandms7: AMD.com, naturally.

 

[Insane3D]

The reason they don't use AMD's southbridge is simple...it is much more expensive.

 

[Odeen]

Yes, but if it's _reliable_ and stable, I'd be willing to pay extra. I think I'm not alone in this, too.

 

[Raspewtin]

i would pay 100 bucks extra to have a good performing Via-less solution.

 

[RaginCajun]

Ditto