AMD boards that support both DDR & SDRAM??

[waqasusman]

Which Athlon/Duron boards support both DDR and SDRAM?? Due to high prices of DDR RAM, I would like to keep my SDRAM for the time being and later upgrade to DDR.

I know about ECS k7s5a, but what other options are there? I remember there is at least one KT266A board that support both, but I don't remember which one is it, I saw it on the forums here or perhaps on newegg, but can't recall.

 

[daveshel]

As far as I know the ECS is the only one. Perhaps ypu recall reading that the KT266A itself can support SDRAM, but I do not think any board makers have implimented it.

 

[waqasusman]

No daveshel, I remember the exact words of the person that he chose the board because it was the only KT266A board that supported both DDR and SDR. Or may be it was KT233A?? perhhaps I've forgotten, but I am 99.99% sure that it WAS KT266A. Thanks any ways, may be someone will come up with the name of the board.

 

[gdawson6]

I dont think i ever saw a recent via board that supported both sdram and ddr , and dont expect ddr to go down anytime soon.

 

[jonnyGURU]

There isn't a VIA solution that supports both SDRAM and DDR. The chipset itself simply does not support it.

<EDIT> Guess I'm wrong. Sounds like a support nightmare. Boss, If you're reading this.... STAY AWAY FROM THEM! :Q </EDIT>

This question has come up a number of times and the answer is always the same.

Why get a board with both? Get one or the other. There are really no "good, stable" boards that support both RAM platforms.

 

[Dunjon]

Waqasusman it was the K7VTA2 V2.X by ECS that I posted that was a Via chipset board that supported both types or ram.

 

[Wildmana]

It also has UDMA133/100/66 support.........

 

[DKNG]

The Asus A7A266-E support both sdr and ddr. It uses the Ali Rev C which is almost as fast as the kt266a.

 

[waqasusman]

Why get a board with both? Get one or the other.
coz I don't want to buy DDR til the price drops, I would like to keep using the SDRAM that I currently have, and then later upgrade to DDR.

Thanks to all who replied, esp Dunjon, Wilmana and DKNG for the rescue Have you used the ECS K7vta3 without any problems? Any issues with the SB Live, Voodoo3 or G2 GTS-V?

I am a little skeptical of the K7s5a coz of the bad name it's getting, I don't wanna take any risk. (may be some ppl haven't been able to configure it, but some claim that quality issues are there)
I hope K7vta3 isn't like that, have seen reviews on newegg, all were positive.

oh yes I am concerned about the thread discussing slow storage disk performance of Via Chipset boards posted in this forum (says it's 20% slower than the old BX boards running Celeron 400's!!) Strange thing that ppl haven't been complaining about it.

 

[Macro2]

Shuttle AK32L...new w/ 2 SDRAAM dimm & 2 DDR dimm slots...KT266A chipset...


Asus...A7A-266e an option but I wonder about ali chipsets...I guess they are pretty good...but like to hear more about this

Mac

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< Why get a board with both? Get one or the other.
coz I don't want to buy DDR til the price drops, I would like to keep using the SDRAM that I currently have, and then later upgrade to DDR. >>



Then why not wait to buy the board too when the price of the RAM drops? Since new boards always come out and the prices of the "older" boards drop when the new ones come out, you're going to pay more for a board because it supports something you do not yet have. You're going to pay more for a board will cost less by the time you are able to impliment what it has that you want. See?

 

[Macro2]

RE:"Then why not wait to buy the board too when the price of the RAM drops?"

I have the same problem, I need a new board now and have plenty of SDRAM.
I'll probably order the Shuttle AK32L- for $67 plus shipping...comes with audio and lan.
I paid $15 ar for 256 megs of SDRAM just a few short months ago. I'll be damned if I will ditch it and pay $85 for a DDR stick.

When Intel came out with a P4 DDR chipset all hell broke lose on DRAM pricing...
I guess it will drop but when?

Mac

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< RE:"Then why not wait to buy the board too when the price of the RAM drops?"

I have the same problem, I need a new board now and have plenty of SDRAM.
I'll probably order the Shuttle AK32L- for $67 plus shipping...comes with audio and lan.
I paid $15 ar for 256 megs of SDRAM just a few short months ago. I'll be damned if I will ditch it and pay $85 for a DDR stick.

When Intel came out with a P4 DDR chipset all hell broke lose on DRAM pricing...
I guess it will drop but when?

Mac >>



Then there's the flip side of the scenario. Why not just get a really good SDRAM board. By the time you can afford DDR, the board you get is going to be obsolete and the next best thing is going to be cheaper even still.

It is the computer industry, after all. Planned obsolsence is a nuance of the industry rivaled only by General Motors practices in the auto industry.

 

[Dunjon]

Waqasusman, I haven't tried the K7S5A yet but I think thats is what I'm gonna get. Its only $52 so if it turns out horrible it wont be that big of a loss. Hell its cheaper than the memory I'm gonna put in it. From what I have seen its gets avarage to pretty good reviews which it not bad for such an inexpensive board and its definitely the best of the SIS735 boards. I'd like to consider the K7VTA2 2.x but I can't find it for sale anywhere on the net.

Yep I think I'm gonna hit Newegg in the late morning and get me the K7S5A and a Duron Morgan 1Ghz. My next real board is gonna be a Nvidia chipset board. Maximum PC said the the Xbox chipset is faster than the KT266.

 

[Dunjon]

Waqasusman What motherboard do you have now that you are wanting to replace?

 

[johndoe52]

ECS K7S5A is a good board and a great buy for the price.

 

[waqasusman]

Dunjon, I currently have the good old Intel SE440BX2 with PIII 450Mhz, have been thinking about upgrade since the first K7's came out around two years back, but I decided to buy other stuff like CD writer, voodoo, hard disk and stuff like that. Recently I again decided to sacrifice the upgrade for a digital camera (Oly C2100, 10x optical zoom, great camera!)

Hey, you must have been typing K7vta2 rev2.0 instead of K7vta3 rev 2.0!! The one you've told me about, ie the one with k5266a and sd+ddr support is k7vta3 rev 2.0!! It's available on newegg, it's item number 13-135-111 <<<---------- NO THAT's Wrong
Just looked at newegg's item description as I was typing this, to find out that the one you were talking about (sd+ddr) was NOT k7vta3 rev2.0 :Q:| This review at techwatch.com.au actually reviewed k7vta3, but mentioned in the specs/features that it supports SDRAM as well as DDR, and messed up my ideas, confusing names as well.... k7vta3 rev1 rev2 k7vta2 rev1 rev2.....

 

[waqasusman]

Then why not wait to buy the board too when the price of the RAM drops?
JohnnyGuru, I have been waiting and waiting for long times, and now I want to upgrade this thing, coz I have been bearing it for over 2.5 years now, this 450Mhz.... don't know when do the RAM prices go down... I'll wait for another month though

Why not just get a really good SDRAM board
If I had got enuff money to buy two mobo's, I would have liked to buy DDR RAM straightaway!!

Shuttle AK32L...new w/ 2 SDRAAM dimm & 2 DDR dimm slots...KT266A chipset...
Macro2, Have you seen any reviews of this board or any feedback from it's users? I couldn't find it at newegg, even google didn't return a single result!!

 

[waqasusman]

Interesting stuff: error on ECS's home page as well
http://www.ecsusa.com/K7VTA3.cfm K7VTA3 V2.X V1.X
http://www.ecsusa.com/K7VTA2_2x.cfm K7VTA2 V2.X

BOTH show the same Page Title: "K7VTA3", it took me a while to understand which is which and which is not which, and the one which I thought wasn't that which I had opened...............

 

[MiklosMillora]

I would say the K7s5a. I have built 10 systems using this low cost board with no issues using DDR or SDRAM.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"Shuttle AK32L...new w/ 2 SDRAAM dimm & 2 DDR dimm slots...KT266A chipset...
Macro2, Have you seen any reviews of this board or any feedback from it's users? I couldn't find it at newegg, even google didn't return a single result!!"


Try www.spacewalker.com and pricewatch.com

The AK32L is new but the AK32 is about a year old.

 

[Dunjon]

Waqasusman See! I was right about the board model. Have you thought about just getting a better cpu for your board. I don't know much about Intel stuff but I thought some BX boards maxed out kinda high. Don't be like me and spend more time thinking about what I wanted my system to be like and upgrading it that I don't even get to enjoy it. Ordered the K7S5A yesterday, and found out the one bad thing about newegg. It takes up to two days for them to process and ship. It could be week after next before I get my board if they don't ship it by this evening.

 

[waqasusman]

Thanks Macro2, the link lead me to shuttle's homepage, I am wondering why google didn't have find the page when I searched for "ak32l"

 

[waqasusman]

Dunjon, you're right, I've also been looking for the stuff I'd like to get rather than looking for stuff that I actually CAN get right now.

The hot deal post about the k7s5a + Duron950 for $89 has made me thinking...

 

[Dunjon]

You can buy those seperately at newegg for $93. I got the MB and the 1Gig retail version.