Abit KT7 Vs MSI K7T Pro2a

[Buddabudda]

I believe everyone here is totally missing the point. MSI offers a better product because they angle that northbridge chip diagnol-like. It impresses the women when I show them my extra large capacitor.

All kidding aside I have a MSI and I've had no problems at all.

 

[miniMUNCH]

I've seen more posts in tech support forums for MSI problems than Abit KT7 problems...but of course that's just what I've seen and could be do to any number of factors for which the motherboard is not responsible (dumb user, etc.). My KT7-RAID runs great...has not crashed once...no problems setting up. One gripe: difficult to install oversized heatsinks because capacitors get in the way.

 

[SuperNoOne]

Acording to the reviews, MSI is the best, more stable, about as fast, etc. Doesn't have RAID support i think, but that shouldn't be too bad. At least it works well on paper. Go to the motherboard forum to look arround, any problems people have with their mb they post it there. If you see too many complaints, better think again.

But as some review i found said, MSI k7t pro2a mobo is great, but it's better to wait for the k7t turbo, with the via kt133A chipset. That's what i'm doing.

 

[PCResources]

<< I've seen more posts in tech support forums for MSI problems than Abit KT7 problems... >>



That's funny, where have you seen that? Certainly not in this forum, or Ace's or Ars Technica's (ars's would sound funny so i did the full name) or Tom's or Firing Squad's forums... So where??

MSI is the more stable product, due to higher quality components, that is it, end of discussion, however, they are not perfect, there will always be problems, but as of today, for the low-medium market, they are the best.

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[jsbush]

MSI K7T Pro 2a hasn't been out for nearly as long as the Abit KT7. Give it some time and there will end up being more and more people have problems with it.

My KT7 server's me well! Stablity is great and performence is great to.

 

[Dexion]

I own both boards. I definately have to say that both boards are very high quality. Although I have read on reviews that the MSI is a much more stable compared to the ABIT, I don't see a huge difference after working with both of them. Honestly the Abit is pretty darn close when it comes to stability. MY current Abit KT7 motherboard hardly needs a reboot nor does it crash in a 2 week period working at 24/7. Even when it does, its most like Windows to blame rather than the board itself.


I don't deny that the MSI produces excellent boards.

 

[ArchAngel777]

First of all, I don't care what the hell anandtech used for their servers. The MSI is the same as KT7 for stability, Perhaps anand set up his KT7 wrong. All I know is that if you don't set it up right then yes of course it will crash on you, however if you play around with the settings the KT7 is ROCK SOLID! You cannot simply compare motherboards from a simple 1-3 day test then come out with the &quot;most stable&quot; statement. It also depends on what board you happen to get. Maybe Anand got a poor revision, who knows. Don't take Anand for everything he says, sure he is intelligent, but perhaps he was lucky and got a GOOD MSI board... and maybe he was unlucky with his Abit and got a poor one. These things you do not know. Also perhaps the MSI likes Muskin and Crucial ram, whereas the Abit likes other brands better! Too many factors play into stability. Both are great boards both are stable, niether one I beleive is hands down better, except for Abit's RAID.


~THE END~

 

[LXi]

Dexion:

According to the Anandtech round up, the main reason they picked the MSI over Abit is its quality and stability, I dont think they're BSing, so lets not deny the obvious.


ArchAngel777:

Ok, so we wont base everything on what Anandtech says, but what if every other web site came to the same conclusion? What if users feedbacks reflect the same thing? Stop denying the truth. Saying Anandtech came to their conclusion base on luck is just laughable.

 

[PCResources]

<< You cannot simply compare motherboards from a simple 1-3 day test then come out with the &quot;most stable&quot; statement >>



I totally agree, that is why i have tested thousands of setups before i came to the conclusion that there is no competition between Abit and MSI boards.... MSI wins hands down...

Just take a look at the components used (NO, i do not mean ONLY the capacitors) and you will find that the componentes used by MSI are very HQ components, and the components used by Abit is not as high quality components, and when it comes to some of the components, not only are they low-end, but rather worst-end...

If you were to use &quot;el cheapo&quot; components in your system and your buddy was using the best, you wouldn't be surprised if his system was more stable now would you... Sooooo, MSI uses better components, MSI has a better QC, and therefore MSI products are better, and they still cost less...

So now you can get the best of the best, for a lower price, and you are still arguing???

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[ArchAngel777]

of course I will still argue, your basis of what is stable is based on your setup. I never said MSI was not a great board, in fact as I said they are both stable. There is no denying that it is a great board, but same can be said for Abit.

 

[PCResources]

<< same can be said for Abit. >>



After testing that many boards.. nope... it cannot, Abit is inferior to MSI... this is my last statement, but i urge you to, CHECK THE COMPONENTS, if you use lower quality components, you will have a less stable board... it is that simple... i state this again and again... no more, just check the components.

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[ArchAngel777]

&quot;I bow to you oh great technician so wise in the ways of troubleshooting.. is thou art a question thouest cannot answer? surely not..&quot; OK now you know what i think of you MR MSI PR directer! ROFL! All i can say bro is my system runs flawless, I can goes weeks without a reboot, I am a hardcore gamer too! I put this workhorse to work. Since motherboard makers make HARDLY any money on the motherboard. How could MSI make money while spending more on the boards? I think you are full of SH!T.


~THE END~

 

[LXi]

ArchAngel777:

You came to that stupid conclusion base on your 1 board Abit ownership, and you have never seen or used an MSI board. Well buddy, base on your background, your statement is just not very convincing, sorry to say, you're the one thats full of sh1t. Tell me why should somebody trust a hobbyist like you over a long time professional like Patrick?

 

[Mem]

I went from Abit owner to now MSI K7T PRO owner in September last year, anyway it`s the most stable board I`ve ever owned,my Abit was not as stable &amp; that was even a Intel chipset, sure it was different type &amp; model but when I looked at the quality of the board(MSI)I knew it was something special &amp; so far (4 months now) it has passed all the tests both software &amp; hardware wise I`ve used on it.

As for Abit KT7 Vs MSI K7T Pro2A well I leave that up to the owners of both boards,but lets just say MSI is at the top of my next motherboard upgrade.
BTW I`m a Hardcore gamer.

 

[LXi]

Red Dawn:

Home run.

 

[fir3wir3]

You can talk about features and such all you want.

but the kt7 wont reach as high cpu speeds as the MSI K7T will

if you dont agree you havent tried it.

 

[LXi]

Just want to run this up and let more people see it.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well LXi, you bumped it, I read it and here I am replying to it.

Abit memory benchmarks ARE BETTER than the MSI.

But, I've found that the overall benchmark is only slightly better thanks to this phenomenom. However, HANDS DOWN the memory benchmark is better on the Abit.

Abit quality control IS GETTING BETTER.

Barring user error, which does have a higher error margin on the Abit board than any other, RMA rates have gone from 6-8% to only 4-5%. This number is still high, but it is still better than it has been. I have had several DOAs and many dead I/O devices (no PS/2, no IDE, etc). All I can suggest to resellers is find a good source for the board that offers good warranty and support so you're not hit with paying for your RMAs after 90 days because some gray market broker won't take the board back.

The MSI does not overclock any better than the Abit, but the Abit doesn't overclock any better than the MSI. The same chip on both boards yields the same overclock.

The MSI has a very low RMA rate. The boards have been flying off the shelf and only three have come back. Two for bad FDD controllers and one was supposedly DOA (I still think that the user did something). After having sold 600 units, this puts the RMA rate at only .5%. That's 10 times better than Abit's.

The MSI is more stable. I run one personally 24/7 and have never lost an IDE device or have had a random reboot nor have I had a customer complain about any of these problems that are TYPICAL of the Abit. Once I complained about these being issues on an Abit forum and was told to shut up because these type of issues were &quot;normal&quot; for the Abit and should be &quot;expected&quot;.

The MSI is more forgiving of a larger range of hardware. I've NEVER had to play this musical chairs crap with the PCI slots and have even run the MSI with every PCI slot occupied. Mind you a lot of this has to do with the fact that the ATA100 on the MSI is native and is not an add on PCI card, but I have never had a problem with devices sharing with the USB either like I have with the Abit. Currently I am using Windows ME and have the NIC, USB and AGP all on IRQ 11. I'm still typing.

This is one of the things that pisses me off about the Biostar. I LOVE the Biostar. It's a good board for little money with a low RMA rate, but if you put a Trident Blade 3D in the board, it freaks out when the drivers are installed. An SiS 6326 works, but all of your PCI slots die. An SiS 6326 PCI works, but don't put it in PCI Slot 1. The ATI Rage Magnum and Xpert 2000 lock up the PC. That's the Biostar M7VKB... Don't even get me STARTED about the freaking A7V!

The Abit is potentially a VERY GOOD BOARD, but overall, I have to put my money on the MSI K7T Pro 2A.

DO IT!

Cause jonnyGURU sez so!

 

[LXi]

Whats with all those Abit fan boys? Care to respond?


jonnyGURU:

<<&quot;Once I complained about these being issues on an Abit forum and was told to shut up because these type of issues were &quot;normal&quot; for the Abit and should be &quot;expected&quot;.&quot;>>

LOL, I love this line.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Lxi, your responce that lashed at me for presuming I have not owned an MSI board was a bit ASS-UMED, And from memory... you never use ABIT or MSI... so shut the FuKK up. As a matter in fact I do work at a place that builds computers.

How does the RMA return rate coincide with stability? please explain... I seriously don't follow on that one (It just means perhaps abit's assembly line makes more mistakes).... so what if more of abits boards are bad... does that mean the good ones are &quot;UNSTABLE&quot;? LOL, listen to yourself. Even if ABIT had a 30% RMA, that still does not prove anything, as some people are FAST to RMA with the slightest of problem even if there is not a problem that exists. Perhaps MSI has better instructions, so that is why they have less RMAs. Perhaps your % is all wrong, maybe his computer place got a bad shipment (not posseble? i suppose as posseble as you getting laid, take that one for what its worth) and maybe that is why his #'s seemed to favor MSI. I dont know who has more RMAs unless I had the entire list of RMAs from both company (which no one does).. i would not make such a quick statement that one has more RMAs that the other.. because you do not know.

To deny these points I have brought up, makes you worse than a bleeding liberal, which should burn at the stake, or be publicly hung.

I aint gonna argue anymore, Buy whatever board you wan't to, and please dont comment if you dont own either (That would be you LXi).

Have a good day, you can flame all you wan't because that is all you know how to do. Some of you have nothing better to do then surf the forums 24/7 waiting to flame someone.


~THE END~

 

[LXi]

Your response to me not having used either Abit and MSI is also a little bit ASS-UMED. I've built quite a few machines based on these two boards, and I came to the same conclusion as PCResrouces, Red Dawn and jonnyGURU. You mind telling us where you work? I can call up your place and check for the exact RMA rates and stuff, even though you lied doesnt mean that your superiors will.

Perhaps you didnt listen to a word PCResrouces said, Abit uses low quality components, that can result high RMA rate, AS WELL AS instability.

Your entire post is full of assumptions, making an ass out of you, there is no merit or credibility whatsoever in your words, you just made them up, you simply denied the obvious facts these veterans have stated. I feel sorry for you.


P.S. I dont surf the web 24/7, my time is much better spent than flaming somebody like you.

 

[GT1999]

I've used the following VIA KT133 based motherboards:

(1) MSI K7T Pro (setup for a friend)
(3) MSI K7T Pro2-A's (one of which was for a friend)
(1) MSI K7T Pro2 (setup for a friend)
(1) Abit KT7-RAID (my current motherboard)

Out of the above, I prefer the Abit hands down. The MSI's were nothing but problematic, especially as far as getting the Pro2-A based motherboard's 686B Southbridge chipset to be properly configured and running by Windows 2000. The Abit's benchmarks are better - period, even with MSI's latest BIOS for the Pro2-A. Abit's quality control still isn't as good as MSI's in my opinion, the Highpoint controller on the KT7-RAID I currently am using in my home system is showing up in Windows (drivers were easy to install), but won't allow me to boot Windows off of it or run any IDE devices off of it. The 686A based IDE controller works fine. So yes, I'd recommend the Abit KT7-RAID despite the Highpoint problem I am having, or wait for the KT133A version - just make sure you have a fully functional one

2 of the 3 MSI Pro2-A's I went through had problems with my SB Live! card, even through I was using the latest drivers and tried almost all PCI slots. The system would freeze in a game and the sound would repeat/and or make a loud high pitched whine. Not very friendly

 

[LXi]

<<The MSI's were nothing but problematic, especially as far as getting the Pro2-A based motherboard's 686B Southbridge chipset to be properly configured and running by Windows 2000>>

You need the 4.26 beta or above to run 686B properly on Win2K, every board with 686B bridge is the same, not unique to the Pro2A.

 

[GT1999]

LXi-

I tried all of the VIA patches (4.25a, 4.26, as well as 4.27) as well as Microsoft's Windows Win2000 patch. I eventually had to install the Soltek 10/100 drivers, and if I did not know about this forum, I wouldn't have even know of such as driver if I didn't browse to these forums. It would've been nice if a driver was supplied by MSI or some sort of warning that the chipset would not work properly in Windows 2000.

 

[LXi]

I dont know why, I've personally solved this Win2K problem many times by simply installing the new 4-in-1s, and that busmaster driver from the Soltek web site. The HDD performance is very slow without the proper drivers.

SB Live!s dont like sharing with any other device, especially network cards and modems.


<<It would've been nice if a driver was supplied by MSI or some sort of warning that the chipset would not work properly in Windows 2000.>>

The 4.26 and above are all beta, it wouldnt make sense for them to supply beta drivers. Like I said any board with 686B southbridge suffer the same problem. Why blame it on MSI when its VIA's fault?