Help.. I need stability in a AMD MOBO. Please recommend!

[BenCJedi]

I am about ready to obliterate my wife's Tyan Trinity KT - S2390 (VIA Chipset). This board worked fine for a year and then went to hell for no reason. I sent it to Tyan for repair 3 weeks ago and got it back yesterday. They did not fix a damn thing with it. I am really pissed and ready to just throw the piece of sh1t out into the parking lot and drive my truck over it a few times. Then I am going to smash what is left with the sharp edge of a masonry hammer. I've replaced everything in it.. new ram, new video, new sound, new network, new power supply, new harddrive. I have ruled out everything. The piece-o-crap board locks up at any given time. Having replaced all the components with new things and having reinstalled windows98 from scratch at least 8 times with varying configs has proved useless. The result is always the same. 24 total man-hours of my life wasted (at least). Tyan is NO HELP on the phone. They blamed all my new components and components I borrowed from a computer that has worked for 2 years now. Idiots!

So... I need help for the components I am going to pull out.. I need a new motherboard for them to call home. I don't want to spend alot of money (around $99 would be nice) and am almost tempted to try to just get a new combo board, but it must be stable (I mean SOLID) and meet these requirements:

Accept 512MB PC100 SDRAM
Accept (possibly) existing socket Duron 600

I don't have the money to throw out to buy that new fandled DDR RAM, which is why I want to make use of the existing ram. If It costs a few bucks more to get a MOBO with an Athlon or faster Duron.. I'll shell it out. The computer must be able to run Win98 since the company my wife contracts for uses software that only runs in 98. We're tired of blue screens and random lockups.. what are the chances all those new components I bought are causing these problems? Newest updates, newest BIOS - the Tyan board is destined for destruction. I am tired of dealing with it and tired of my wife complaining.

So what can your recommend for a stable board? Know any good deals? I missed the $89 ECS +900duron board at Outpost, but am not sure that would meet the stability I requre anyway.

 

[Boonesmi]

alot of people might tell you to get an ecs k7s5a (and it might work good for you, its got both sdr and ddr slots for ram) but sometimes that board can be a night mare, and it may also require a new $70 power supply

for the most part the newer boards dont have sdr ram slot

about the only choice if you want a new board would be the Shuttle AK32L, it has both ddr and sdr ram slots (based on the kt266 chipset) www.jazztechnology.com has the board for $66 + shipping


otherwise you can get an older kt133a based motherboard... some good choices on that chipset asus a7v133, iwill kk266, epox 8kta3

 

[gmarcus2001]

I think the VIA kt266a chipset is alot more stable than
the older kt133a chipsets. For stability you should look
at the AMD750/760 m/bs.

 

[Gene396]

I agree with gmarcos2001; The Amd 760/761 chip set is very stable. The Epox 8K7A+ is a good example, however it is a DDR only on memory. Should also remind you that there are later and faster boards now on the market. If you want stability, pay the extra cost for memory and upgrade to this board.

Gene

 

[Bingo13]

Asus A7A-266. Very stable and decent performance with SDR.

 

[AGodspeed]

There are two things you need to know if you want a stable board:

1. Your chances of getting a solid board go up if you purchase a quality one, like ASUS, MSI, Tyan (sorry if your experience with Tyan was bad ) etc. etc.

2. A quality chipset. Currently, AMD, SiS, VIA, ALi, and nVidia make Socket A chipsets.

IMO, ASUS and MSI make the highest quality boards on the market. IMO, nVidia makes the highest quality chipsets on the market (i.e. the most stable). VIA also does a great job making high-performance chipsets, but if I could get an nVidia nForce board with similar features for the same price as a VIA based board, I'd go with the nForce in a heartbeat if you know what I mean.

So IMO, an ASUS A7N266-C (nForce 415-D) motherboard is the way to go. If comes with LAN, nForce sound, and all the other standard features for $110. Search pricewatch.

Good luck.

 

[Skitzer]

If you need an inexpensive mainboard to replace the Tyan, one that is extremely stable and will run all your current stuff, (including your Duron):
First go here and read this review Abit KT7
Then contact me because I have one for sale................cheap.
It was removed from sevice a few weeks ago but I have run Win 98 on it with 512 megs of Crucial PC100, a Duron 750 and then a TBird 1.2, a Sound Blaster Live, and a GeForce 2 Ultra in it with zero problems. This is quite possibly the best mainboard I have ever owned and I would like to see it get a good home. LMK

 

[Wasert]

I'll take it.

YGPM

 

[BenCJedi]

Skitzer That sounds great! I read the review and am interested.. especially in a good deal. Please mail me at x-files@qx.net and let me know much you want for it. I appreciate it.