Best KT133A mobo??

[fergus]

geist3, where did you order it from? Direct from soltek?

 

[tran1981]

The epox from a site I purchases sold out quickly. Mine is coming on thursday.

 

[Geist3]

Fergus:

Yes, Soltek has a distributor in Michigan:

http://soltekusa.safeshopper.com/8/19.htm?836

@ $149, gotta wait a week and seeing the Epox reviews on ard OCP and
http://www.mrpcpro.com/reviews/epox8kta3-features.htm
it's tempting to jump ship. But I think I'll hang in there and wait for the Soltek board to arrive.

 

[fergus]

My first choice is the Epox --because they were nice enough to reply to my emails inquiring when they would be available (Soltek and MSI did not). But, the Soltek with the Red Storm auto-oc'ing and the SL-75KAV-X with voice diagnostics looks reallllly attractive to a newbie like me. The "X" model is not available on that site yet. I emailed them, again, to see when it will be out. We'll see. I still have to buy a case and a cd rw anyway.
I'm really interested in how you all are doing with your new Epox and Soltek boards (issues, bugs, likes, dislikes) so keep posting.

 

[Geist3]

And don't forget you have four-way memory interleaving on the Soltek (as well as Abit). Not sure about the Epox.

 

[fergus]

Soltek replied regarding the SL-75KAV-X with voice diagnostics:

"The voice chip is being redesigned so no "-X" models of any type are
available currently. The factory tells us about two months or so. Note
that this chip must be added during manufacture and cannot be added
later.
-----
Best regards, Sales"

So, only the SL-75KAV will be available for awhile.
I downloaded the manual to check it out. The Epox manual does not seem to be available on their site. The link takes you to the 100fsb board. Anyone find it online somewhere else? I'd like to read it first.

 

[vm]

Geist, the epox does have 4 way interleave..

check this screenshot from a board's review

 

[hydrobum]

what does "4 way interleave" do?

 

[CHHASmatroxuser]

Got my Soltek SL-75KAV today, I must say that I had expected more tweaking options in the BIOS, no multiplier settings and only the option of adding up to 28 MHz to the FSB in 1 MHz steps.
Still, seems like a really good board, no problems so far, and overclocking is a one-time job ...

 

[Geist3]

According to either the BX Boards or HardOCP Epox review, the manual is available ONLY in a print book that comes in the box. That review says the manual is not on the CD and not on the website.

 

[Geist3]

Fergus:

You're not missing much by not having the voice diagnostics. On page 3 of PC Review's take on the Soltek is a link to the .wav of a sample message:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/Reviews/Motherboards/Soltek-75KAV-X/index3.php3
I had to play it over and over before I got the meaning.

If you haven't seen the whole review, try:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/Reviews/Motherboards/Soltek-75KAV-X/index.php3

My order is in the Soltek queue. Now, I don't really mind jumpers and dipswitches, do I?

The Epox sounds so sweet, but now the IWILL KK266R is making news FSB OCed to 166 MHz. See:
http://www.ocworkbench.com/

 

[sitka]

Any Soltek purchasers, I will be real interested in your mem benches. Running at 108fsb on 75KV2 I hit 600's in Sandra. and drive bench peaked at 33000. This thing smokes. But realize I've had to wait a while, Soltekusa were nice to deal with but I did have to wait for a long time. They had hurricanes in TW at the time so I can't speculate on what deliveries will be like.

I love how enthusiastic these companies are but it sure makes shopping stressful.

 

[Darius]

Come on guys, Abit is a proven manufacturer and with the success they have with the KT7-RAID, we can expect the same from the KT7A-RAID. I got mine coming. And yes, you can run your 1000@133 (7.5x133=1000)

 

[DaddyG]

Darius, Not to turn this into an ABIT pissing contest but ABIT is also PROVEN to have the highest RMA rates in the business !!

Gigabytes KT133A mobo will probably be my choice for overclockers. No BIOS overclocking but if your Hard, you do it with dips

MSI has still not resolved the issues with OC failures on K7T PRO 2A's. They know they have a problem and have failed to respond.

 

[whalen]

Yes, but if you are ]H[ard (wrong brackets, but it mofo's up the rest of the post), then you don't care about RMA's.....heh

 

[fergus]

CHHASmatroxuser, no multiplier settings? At all or not in the bios? I'm interested in knowing if you tried the Red Storm auto-oc'ing and how it worked and what it's results were. What CPU r you using? I don't think the 266fsb units are out yet so you probably have a 200fsb. If your CPU is unlocked I'd like to know what it came up with as the best solution. In another thread some folks are having problems with their Epox 8KTA3's so I'm now leaning more towards the Soltek or maybe the Abit.
Thanks

 

[CHHASmatroxuser]

fergus:

There are multiplier settings in the form of dipswitches on the board, but none in the bios.

I'm using a Duron 650, going to unlock it today and crank up the multiplier.

I had to flash to the newest BIOS to get Red Storm, but I did and gave it a go.
Red Storm works by raising the multiplier in 1 MHz steps to where it detects unstability,
you then reboot and it automatically sets the FSB a few MHz lower than the limit found.
My limit was at 113 MHz, which I contribute to my PC100 memory, and it rebooted at 110 MHz FSB at which it ran flawlessly.

 

[zision]

I've had an Epox board for a year now, and it's been a good board. Not the best overclocker, but the blame was mostly on my CPU. Epox has had great tech support, I had the cold boot problem with my GF2 and emailed Epox, and had a reply in 30 minutes! I've emailed a couple other times, and had replies in no time. Their KT133A board is very tempting, and only $139 now for RAID vs. $155 for ABIT. I'm going to watch for a few more days, and if I see good reviews, It's in the mail.

 

[jimmygates]

Abit's KT7A is a great board....if you know what your doing There is a slight learning curve to the board but once you get all the tweaks in, the board sure hauls ass


MSI would be the best overall board IMHO. MSI will really give Abit a tough competition if they can fix the supposed "multiplier" problems and maybe increase their memory benchmarks a bit. If MSI can get these things right, the MSI K7T Turbo-R should blow all the other boards out of the water. Waiting til the end of Jan. is hard.... Expect to see my in the FS board with these boards when they are released...


For some reason, I'm not that overly excited about Asus's A7V-133. Rumor has it that there are some layout design problems in the board but like I said..it's only a rumor so far.


I've have no experiences with Soltek or Epox so I can't really comment on their boards.




I feel the KT133A is a good upgrade (Not so good I guess if you already own a KT133 board) since I feel DDR needs time to mature. Thus far, DDR shows only a minimal performance increase which doesn't justify the extra cost in comparison to PC-133. Also, DDR might undergo changes once Palmino is released...


my $.02


-Jimbo

 

[The Grim Reaper]

CHHASmatroxuser-

It is not your PC100 ram, which set the limit(AT least that is my guess). Most PC100 ram go way higher. The reason is that the Red Storm overclocking doesn't do any voltage tweaks. It just runs the cpu at default voltage. If you have to run at higher FSB's then you should up the voltage and choose the FSB by yourself.
The Redstorm Overclocking is meant for newbies, who doesn't know so much about overclocking.

 

[Geist3]

Looks like VIA KT133A chipsets manufactured after week 50 are the bomb, capable of 160 MHz FSB, whereas earlier chipsets max out at 145 MHz FSB. See:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/

 

[DavidTigerFan]

Even though the ABIT KT7A RAID is a bit much to setup, there is an awesome guide for it here. Anything any everything you wanted to know about tweaking it.

-M

 

[UNCjigga]

No, DDR memory and the KT133A chipset do not combine. The main purpose of the KT133A chipset is to provide a platform allowing for a 266MHz DDR FSB (133MHz) while the memory still runs at 133MHz. This is to provide compatability for the new 133MHz FSB Thunderbirds out there (i.e. the "new" 1.2GHz chip.) Previously, all Athlons, Durons and Thunderbirds ran with a native 100MHz/200MHz DDR FSB. The KT133 chipset allowed the memory to run independently of the FSB at 133MHz--this was the only component running at 133MHz. The KT133A allows the entire FSB to run at 133MHz/266MHz DDR while the memory remains at 133MHz. The forthcoming KT266-DDR chipset (final silicon is shipping to mobo manufacturers now) will allow the entire FSB and memory bus to run at 266MHz DDR. The KT133A is a stepping stone between the KT133 and KT266-DDR. It merely allows one to upgrade to one of the newer 133MHz FSB Thunderbirds without having to buy DDR memory (or you can buy one to have more fun overclocking!)

Edit: This was in response to someone else's message on the previous page. Notice the "Junior Member" status--yes I'm new to UBB posting and I forgot that I'm not set to auto-quote the message I'm replying to. Most of you will read this and laugh cuz you already know this stuff! Sorry!

 

[fergus]

CHHASmatroxuser, too bad you only have PC100 memory- It could keep you from getting to 133fsb. Keep playing with it and let us know.

 

[bupkus]

uncJIGGA,

Maybe most of us know this, but you expressed it very well and clearly. I feel I understand it better as a result.
Thanks.