Abit KT7 Vs MSI K7T Pro2a

[wuyan]

Hi

Which is better in terms of
overclockability, stability,
value, performance?
Thanks

 

[Imaginer]

MSI. Just look at Anand's KT133 Motherboard round up.

 

[Mem]

Definetly MSI.

 

[wuyan]

Thanks for reply.
But I saw Anandtech reviewed Abit with rating of 8.5/10
and MSI K7T pro2 aat 8/10.
I coundnt find review for MSI K7T pro2a though.

 

[Imaginer]

You won't. The reviews you mentioned are individual reviews. The Abit was reviewed before the MSI and so thereby, Abit was Anand's favorite for awhile.

Find the roundup and that is where MSI dethroned Abit as Editor's choice.

The Pro2 is the same as the Pro2a but with the VIA 686B southbridge instead of the 686A southbridge chip enabling ATA100 support natively. That is probably the only difference or the only major significance.

 

[wuyan]

Hi

may I know in what area is MSI better than Abit ?
Other than the fact that Abit is slightly more expensive than
MSI.

 

[John]

stability

 

[compuwiz1]

I can tell you the max overclocked speeds have been running higher on MSI, than on Abit from personal experience given from people who have bought my pretested cpus.

 

[Mem]

MSi is better on quality parts ,lower RMA rate,better BIOS support in stability IMHO, the review you want is this
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1374

 

[LXi]

MSI hands down. Just visit the round up posted above by Mem, MSI K7T Pro2A is the king of KT133.

 

[wuyan]

wow
the response for MSI is overwhelming.
Im convinced.
Thanks

 

[AMB]

Grrrrrrrr... :|

I am going to have to say MSI

 

[Regalk]

After the dust is settled - please note that as more users join the MSI bandwagon there are also lots of complaints floating around these days - most seem to mention multiplier adjustments not working as good as originally thought, some SDRAM and boot up problems.
See TomeHardware and www.overclockers.com

 

[Niege]

I'm looking to upgrade in a couple of months, too. But I need an ISA slot for my HP 5P SCSI scanner. That leaves out the MSI. However, I hate giving up some stability. Is there really a huge stability difference between the two, enough so that I would even think about replacing the scanner?

 

[fir3wir3]

yah, I bought a ABit kt7 2 weeks ago

3 days ago I bought a MSI k7t

End of story

 

[MassMhz]

MSI is good,don't get me wrong,memory bandwidth is better with Abit,stability is the same,overclockability is the same as i have seen both with 1 gig CPU over 1300 mhz.The only thing that i didn't like about the MSI was the hardware monitor and fuzzy logic looks like something out of a comic book. As far as price,the RAID board can be had for $138,non RAID $118,pro 2 a $115.

 

[soulm4tter]

ya, i think the Abit KT7 is just as good. I see everybody talkin about how the MSI is more stable than the Abit, but i'm not sure how they come to this conclusion. Anand has said the K7T Pro series boards are the most stable, but i seriously doubt the Abit KT7 is noticably less stable in a real-world environment. Bill from outsideloop.com said he has seen a few KT7 Pro2 boards that were unable to change the multiplier in the BIOS. He said this was out of more than 100 boards though. How do you support claims such as MSI is better on quality parts, lower RMA rate, and better BIOS support? I would really like to know.

 

[Dameon]

I've had my Abit KT7 for several months now, and I really have enjoyed it. It's been a great system so far, the only thing that gets a little interesting is the installation with the ATA100 RAID controller. I've been using PC100 Server RAM in it @ Fast memory settings, w/ a duron 700@900.

 

[LXi]

soulm4tter:

<<ya, i think the Abit KT7 is just as good. I see everybody talkin about how the MSI is more stable than the Abit, but i'm not sure how they come to this conclusion. Anand has said the K7T Pro series boards are the most stable, but i seriously doubt the Abit KT7 is noticably less stable in a real-world environment. >>

First, the MSI never crashed during their 24 hr test, the Abit crashed 3 times. Second, Anandtech use MSI K7T Pro on 4 of their web servers. Thats enough to show how confident Anandtech is in MSI's reliability and stability.


<<Bill from outsideloop.com said he has seen a few KT7 Pro2 boards that were unable to change the multiplier in the BIOS. He said this was out of more than 100 boards though.>>

I'd like to know the specifics. If you ask Bill whether you should get MSI or Abit, I guarrantee you he'll say MSI. He's one of the Abit opponents, but he says his company has to sell them because of high demand.


<<How do you support claims such as MSI is better on quality parts, lower RMA rate, and better BIOS support? I would really like to know.>>

People who analyze motherboard parts, who builds solutions for tens of thousands of individuals and corporates, technicians who work extensively with different brands of motherboards. All came to the same conclusion that MicroStar makes better motherboard than Abit. Why would they bullshit?

I want to make it clear that Im not trying to put down the Abit KT7-RAID, after all its still the second best KT133 board.

 

[soulm4tter]

How can you know for sure that the motherboard was resonsible for the crashes caused by the stability tests? And where did you read that the Abit crashed 3 times? Anand likes the boards, but do you think he purchased them or given to them? Bill actually said nothing bad about Abit and said its a good board, but didn't ask him which he like better.

How can do support the claim &quot;People who analyze motherboard parts, who builds solutions for tens of thousands of individuals and corporates, technicians who work extensively with different brands of motherboards. All came to the same conclusion that MicroStar makes better motherboard than Abit.&quot;

 

[LXi]

<<How can you know for sure that the motherboard was resonsible for the crashes caused by the stability tests?>>

Uh... I think Anandtech is smart enough to put together a testing methology to put the motherboards to its limits.


<<And where did you read that the Abit crashed 3 times? Anand likes the boards, but do you think he purchased them or given to them?>>

Right here, read the stability test column, Abit 2, MSI 0. I made a mistake, Abit crashed twice.


<<Bill actually said nothing bad about Abit and said its a good board, but didn't ask him which he like better.>>

Ask him that question if you have a chance.


<<How can do support the claim &quot;People who analyze motherboard parts, who builds solutions for tens of thousands of individuals and corporates, technicians who work extensively with different brands of motherboards. All came to the same conclusion that MicroStar makes better motherboard than Abit.&quot;>>

Their experience.

 

[MassMhz]

I've owned both of these boards and there is absolutely no difference,except the fact Abit's board gives higher memory scores/bandwidth and doesn't come with comic book software.Niether of the boards have crashed,so why settle for low performance,if MSI is better why doesn't it show up in scores.After all they do have the same chipset.Who can dispute this?Also Abit has an ISA slot,which is much more useable than a CNR.Abit did have a batch problem a while back causing high RMA,but it should be gone.The MSI servers must be what causes this forum to be slow at times!!!!!LOL
Oh,if memory scores and performance don't concern you,please don't ever upgrade.
KT7 / VIA KT133 also performs better than any Intel 815 based board mhz for mhz!MSI doesn't.

 

[MassMhz]

I'm bored,someone please argue with me!

 

[soulm4tter]

now way doot, Abit owns MSI

 

[John]

No need to argue when the facts are clearly stated a dozen times.