MSI crowned the new king of KT133

[Leo V]

"I almost purchased a ASUS board but when I read how stable the MSI K7T PRO was & Members having problems with the Bios etc on Asus A7V,I decided to go with MSI(my first MSI board)"

My situation exactly. I was blind, but now I can see! Some awesome MSI features that Anand didn't bring up:
* The K7T Pro2A is available on Pricewatch
* No onboard GayPoint ATA controllers = no more IRQ conflicts = stability on all 6 PCI slots. Keep it pure and simple!

Stability on a KT133 mainboard at last...it's music to my ears!

 

[Mem]

LOL... Leo V What can I say but go for it.

 

[joeryu]

do they have a RAID version of this board??

 

[pugh]

I remember back in August before i bought my MSI k7T pro ,i had my mind set on a asus k7v.but one day i went to this very small computer shop in a garage (no lie). I was talking my case to them to check out because i just bought it.Well he made mention of the board.It (she) was sitting in the case .the only one too..Well upon his urging of the board being a nice board ,i went ahead and bought it.Boy was that the best ever decision i made .This board is solid as a rock.What made me feel even more confident was when (MEM) and others on here really gave it praise too..Iam sold on MSI ..When i build pcs for me and others ,MSI is the first choice on my list!!!!!!

 

[Dilsnik]

According to Henry Kuo, the K7T Master has onboard scsi, onboard firewire,
onboard ATA33/66 , and an extra ATA-100 And RAID controller as well.
I'd love this board, if I could find someone that sells one with all the options listed.
It's a thunderbird/duron socket A board, by the way.
Dils

 

[clumsum]

Well.....................I purchased the Abit KT7-R several months ago, largely due to AnandTech's (and others) review and recomendations/awards.
Especially since most of the recommended Buyers Guide Systems (High End and Value) chose the Abit KT7-R more than any other mb.

Now they give accolades to the MSI K7T Pro2(A) so,......................
I have no doubts that these mb's are very high quality, and indeed could be the "best" VIA socket-A mb's available, (at least for now)............

However, I still feel like the additional Raid features on Abit and Asus boards, has contributed to the slight instabillity/conflict advantage that the MSI appears to have, over the Abit/Asus Raid equipped mb's.

I would really like to see Anand test the MSI K7T Master along with the rest of the raid mb's, as it is even more fully featured than the Abit/Asus mb's, since it's "Scsi" and 1394 (FireWire) equipped.
That would be a very interesting comparison.................?

 

[LXi]

For those of you needing for RAID, you can wait for their board based on the KT133A chipset, called K7T Turbo, ATA100 and RAID.

 

[LXi]

RoboTECH:

BX was an undying dynasty that went on for almost 3 years, the MS-6163 was one of MSI's first motherobards, of course back then they were an obscure brand, until the time they released BX Master.

 

[DeezNtz]

Check my sig. This is my first MSI board and I have to say that it's hand down the best board and system I have ever owned.

 

[Henry Kuo]

Hmm... Seems I did made the right judgement huh? Hope you guys like my review.

We are still planning on the raid controllers for different boards, but I have no definite days on that though.

i guess 12.5 is the highest multiplier settings, at least from all the boards i have seen so far.

 

[timco]

Yes, because the right board won! I got a KT7-RAID at first and the stability was pathetic - random reboots, lock ups, not shutting down correctly, IRQ clashes, etc, etc. I got so fed up that I decided to buy a decent board and there was only one candidate, according to the wise old sages on Anandtech - a MSI K7T Pro2.

I've had it a couple of weeks now and I haven't had a single crash or wierd behaviour since. Windows has been performing perfectly and Linux has too. I got a Promise Ultra 100 to go with it and damn... it's good. I'm not overclocking though, mainly 'cos I have no idea what to do......................... . Might be quite fun though [I've got a Thunderbird 800].

 

[Henry Kuo]

ah, maybe you can try it. o/c a tbird is darn easy, and you would be amazed how easy you make your chip running at 1G all you have to do is to make sure your L1 bridge are connected (some of them are already connected, but you gotta check it), put in the chip, go to bios and set the multiplier. boom, you are all set!

 

[Taylorm]

anyone want to trade their MSI for my kt7-raid !!!

 

[poorStudent]

Does this board comes with ata100 ide cable?

 

[bonkers325]

msi is awesome i like them over asus anyday

go abit

 

[ZoSo]

I just got the MSI K7T Pro2-A, it's an AWESOME board!! I was using the Abit KT7-Raid, it's not a bad board, if you get a good one. I've been seeing alot about Abit's low QC, if they improved on that I'm sure there product would be much better or should I say more consistant. Anyhoo, my Abit was working like a charm for the first month or so, then all of a sudden it started getting real unstable, lock ups at anytime doing anything, slow downs and thats about it. I had to basically set the BIOS settings well below the safe limit so it wouldn't lock up as fast, needless to say performance was piss poor. Other people have even worse stories, but there are alot of people using it that praise it. If you have the extra dough, even if your Abit board is good, and your not worried about Raid, give the MSI K7T Pro2-A a shot, you won't regret it. I work as a tech for one of the "big" companies (HINT: Cows) and they use MSI boards and I rarely see any coming in due to M/B failure. They use a down graded 6330(which is the K7T series) board less caps. but still very high quality and also very stable.

resinboy, guess your one of thelucky ones that got a stable KT7

snow patrol, the MSI K7T Pro2-A can go up to 12.5, and as far as what I've seen that's what all the rest of the boards are doing,,,for now.

RGN, you can get up to 1.85v on it with out modifying the board. There's 2 ways, you can get the OC BIOS, or you can lock the L7 bridges on the CPU which will default it at 1.85 and the BIOS will show all voltages, and then you can select whatever you want.

poorStudent, yes

 

[S0me1X]

Does this board have any issues with large heatsinks?
I wanted to put an agilent cooler (the best orb out there) in my Abit KT7, but I read that the KT7 might get damaged in the installation.

 

[ZoSo]

The Agilent will fit with no problems at all, with room to spare. The problem with it, no matter what board you use it on, is the funky hold down clip it uses, thats what causes the damage. They made it so it can be used on AMD and intel CPU's. Good idea, but causes problems with AMD CPU's. What I've read, they are working on another clip design to resolve this problem.

I have an Arcticooler, and am currently working on a couple different modification ideas using various clips. But for now I'm using an Alpha PAL6035, with a 38cfm fan on it, and it's doing an awesome job.

 

[clumsum]

Henry Kuo,

So...............why not test/review non-Raid mb's against non-Raid mb's, especially the top rated boards, as they all are available w/o on-board Raid (I think).

You know apples/apples, oranges/oranges, the age old addage.

While I'm asking, why not go buy the boards used for testing/reviews "off the shelf" just in case the mfg's want to add/upgrade a few extra capacitors, or other componets, to test versions???

Just a few random thoughts as I fight back the nausea I get from reading this (objective) thread................................?

 

[novice]

clumsum wrote: "While I'm asking, why not go buy the boards used for testing/reviews "off the shelf" just in case the mfg's want to add/upgrade a few extra capacitors, or other componets, to test versions???
Just a few random thoughts as I fight back the nausea I get from reading this (objective) thread................................?"

I am not sure I understand what you are saying. Are you suggesting that all the people sharing their personal experiences with MSI products must have received "special test versions"? Or are you just an abit/asus zealot sharing a few sour grapes over the realization that you could have had a better board, and cheaper, too! If anything this so called nauseating thread lends credence to the referenced review since it is almost universal in agreement that MSI motherboards are of very high quality and surprisingly reasonably priced. As far as I am concerned, my next board will also be an MSI, and if it is anywhere near as nice as the two I have now, I would have to say it looks like I will be an MSI zealot for a while to come. At least I won't be the only one
chuck

 

[compuwiz1]

It's flat out the best board I have EVER used. It's pathetic to see the trolling going on in this thread. The product is high quality and MSI has earned every ounce of the praise they are getting. **sigh** Some people just can't handle the truth. :Q

 

[Subversal]

I have two K7T pro2-a boards and love them both.

<<While I'm asking, why not go buy the boards used for testing/reviews &quot;off the shelf&quot; just in case the mfg's want to add/upgrade a few extra capacitors, or other componets, to test versions???

Just a few random thoughts as I fight back the nausea I get from reading this (objective) thread................................?>>

I think Mr. Kuo would know if he was being duped. Also I guess if soo many people are satisfied with a product something must be amiss.

 

[clumsum]

chuck,
Actually I was addressing Henry Kuo, that's why I wrote his name at the top!

If you will re-read my sentence, my comment stated &quot;buy boards used for testing/reviews off the shelf&quot; (That means ALL BRANDS of mbs) used for testing/reviews!
These mainboard mfgs' post links from their international web sites to the reviews and use them as advertisments. I have read more that once about suspected &quot;perfect&quot; or &quot;enhanced&quot; mb samples being shipped to reviewers, again Im talking (ALL BRANDS).

I'm not &quot;an Abit/Asus zelot&quot;, but I am a zelot for fair and equal product comparisons.
The on-board Raid equipped mb's are a bit quirky, I think thats common knowledge.
So, why not test Raid boards against Raid boards, and non Raid against non Raid mbs.
I really don't think the on-board Raid mb's tested did that bad, all things being equal, I would just like to see it proven.

I am not in love w/my mb, nor do I get off bragging about it, actually the one I'm using was cheaper than the RAM I needed to operate it! (I still haven't figured that one out?)
So, if MSI mb's are all that much better, everything from my KT7-R will easily fit into a new K7T-Pro 2A.............not a problem, what's another hundred bucks or so now?

I am not suggesting that MSI mb's are not just as good as you think they are, fact is I've been hearing good things from the local pc tech's I talk to while browsing.

I guess I'm just naturally a bit skeptical, and all the sugar coated comments got to me, I do apologize................................................................?

 

[compuwiz1]

I'd gladly take the board I ordered and received. It has the big caps.

 

[Henry Kuo]

God, now somehow my article's thread has moved from the AnandTech Articles Forum to the Motherboard Forum oh well... heee...

clumsum - Thanks for you input. We definitely try our best to get boards from manufacturers. However due to manpower, sometimes we just lack the time to do all testing on all the boards we can possibly get. And sometimes it's not entirely possible for us to get whatever boards we want. But again, we definitely try to test everything we can fit in.

It's true that most of the time RAID and non-RAID board may be a bit different, performanace, stability, etc... But from what we have seen, in general they are still about the same. Take the K7T and K7T RAID for example. The RAID version is still extremely stable (highly rated). However, if you look at the forum, hear from people, together with some of our experiences, the quality is just not as good for both of them.

I can't say for sure if companies really hand-pick a good board for us to test. But for example, A LOT OF the boards we have tested are engineering sample. I have only joined the team for a bit more than 2 months, and you won't believe how many boards I have seen with actual wires solded on them. They are just engineering beta sample. But companies do want us to review them. Moreover, there had been numerous times that the boards just don't work because they are still in beta. Ended up we had to work with the manufacturers several times to just get the board working (don't even talk about the performance for now).

Moreover, except the engineering sample boards, definitely all other boards we have tested are something you guys can get from the shelves. We are not that different from you guys. One good example is to look at our 1.13GHz P3 recall article. Notice that only the chip Anand got was working right. Both chips received by Tom (Tom's Hardware) and Kyle (Hard OCP) were not working right. If Intel were to send us some better stuff, they really did something wrong in choosing.