Need DDR MB Recommendation

[smolensk]

I have cancelled an order I placed yesterday for an IWILL KK266 MB and AMD 1.333 266 CPU. The reason is that friends at work are telling me that I should have gone with a DDR board especially since memory is cheap right now. I am bailing out of an Intel 933 on ASUS CUSL2 board for this upgrade.

I am strongly looking at the EPOX 8K7a board, but also wanted some opinion from others if the move to DDR is worth the extra money for memory - I have 256K of PC133 now that will have to go somewhere.

Also, if I do go with a DDR board, I need opinions on which chipset is the best - the AMD760, the VIAKT266, or the Ali Magik?

Thanks, Steve

 

[Boonesmi]

i would stay away from the ali magik

as for the kt266 it has a new chip revision that should be getting into motherboards soon. from what i hear it should be a nice performer. but the current kt266 is kinda buggy and although it outperforms the ali it still falls behind the amd760

so with the current boards i would go with an amd760 (dont forget the new sis and nvidia will be out soon, and they look to kick butt)

amd760:
epox 8k7a
asus a7m266
gigabyte 7dx
abit kg7

all of the above are good boards, all of them only have ddr slots so you wont be able to use the pc133 ram you have (some ali boards and via boards have both ddr and sdr slots)

www.crucial.com is a good place to get ram, make sure you get unbuffered, non parity. you probably dont want ecc or registered ram.

 

[Coligeon]

<< i would stay away from the ali magik

as for the kt266 it has a new chip revision that should be getting into motherboards soon. from what i hear it should be a nice performer. but the current kt266 is kinda buggy and although it outperforms the ali it still falls behind the amd760

so with the current boards i would go with an amd760 (dont forget the new sis and nvidia will be out soon, and they look to kick butt)

amd760:
epox 8k7a
asus a7m266
gigabyte 7dx
abit kg7

all of the above are good boards, all of them only have ddr slots so you wont be able to use the pc133 ram you have (some ali boards and via boards have both ddr and sdr slots)

www.crucial.com is a good place to get ram, make sure you get unbuffered, non parity. you probably dont want ecc or registered ram. >>


Hmm, well I had no &quot;buggy&quot; problems ith my K7T266pror motherboard, nothing but good performace. I'd definately say go ddr since you're building a new computer, and not just the motherboard right? If you're building from scartch then definately go for it. My Duron 750 is doing good with my ddr memnory lol. ^_^ Have fun.

 

[MetroRider]

if you are going to go DDR, then you should definitely get a AMD760 chipset mobo.

i am currently using the the Asus A7M266 mobo, and really like it a lot! I have my tbird 1333 pushed to 1520 right now, and it is very stable as well.

hope that helps....

 

[Sota1947]

Trust me man, the ABIT KG7 Raid is the best motherboard to have ever hit the market!!!!!!!!!!
Have you checked this motherboard out yet? 4 count it 4 ddr Mem Slots Scchhwwweeetttt
Anyway this board is quite expensive but well worth it. ever heard of the expression &quot;Cheap is deer??&quot;
I have the kg7 raid and it is sweet.
The only reason i have the board is because i own an online website for computer parts.
Sotacomputers Anyway great mobo no headaches at all

 

[bevo]

Sota1947....I have a real, real hard time believing your statement when I know the boards are not out yet. Even your site says you won't have them til late July. And, my distributors can't get the board yet. Got some screenshots of some benchies for us? Besides every thing else, How do you expect to get $250 a pop for these? It is, by far, the most expensive price that i have seen bantered about.


<< I have the kg7 raid and it is sweet. >>

 

[AnimEva]

also, about 16+ bucks for ups ground shipping for this is totally outrageous, if you are trying to advertise your own website, please do it on a forum of idiots, because your prices are totally obsurd, way overpriced.

 

[mitaiwan82]

wow such blantant shameless advertising...

 

[smp]

Ouch.... thanks for the info all, I'm having a similar dillema, I kind of fell out of the loop and wasn't too sure what the best current DDR chipset was. Thanks.. where can I get a Epox board? in Canada preferably.

 

[heffe734]

Epox 8k7a got me to 1.6 so my vote goes for that
Crucial.com for memory...cheap and stable.

 

[SpeedTrap]

the 760/1 is the best and the epox 8k7a is the master of those boards

 

[bevo]

MSI k7 master and gigabyte dxr are also very good 761 MB's...

 

[Darknyt]

I checked out the motherboards available for using DDR. I agree with all members stating that you should stay away from the Ali chipset based boards. Also agree that the AMD 761 chipset is the way to go. If you are interested in the Abit KG7 RAID, then I reccomend that you check out www.pricewatch.com and resellerratings.com Pricewatch has the Abit KG7 RAID listed for $190 + shipping, but I dont feel that the seller is justified in charging this much for a DDR board. Resellerratings.com will tell you whether or not you should deal with the seller listed on pricewatch.....Me I personally think that you should just go with an Epox DDR board, save yourself some money. And to the person advertising his site...you need to shoot your supplier for getting the KG7 RAID to you so late(Its already available to the public)and lower your price. $250 is WAY TOO MUCH for a board that isnt for servers(built in SCSI and LAN).

 

[Insane3D]

One thing to remember about the Asus board...it does not allow multiplier adjustments, unless you want to solder a dip switch bank to your motherboard and remove and solder on some resistors....


Also, all AMD761 based motherboards are subject to a memory limitation where if you are going to use more than two DIMM slots, you need Registered DDR in all the slots...

 

[bevo]

<< If you are interested in the Abit KG7 RAID, then I reccomend that you check out www.pricewatch.com >>

Pricewatch is a valuable asset, but those are pre-sales, and the same old venders try to lock in prices on every new item that is on the horizon. There is no kg7 available now, they don't have them. If you ever get involved with one of these pre-sellers and change your mind after they lead you on, and on, and on, you will regret it.

 

[Bingo13]

The Gigabyte 7DXR and 7VTX are both great boards, after some tweaking my 7VTX now outperforms the 7DXR. Would also recommend the Epox 8K7A+ at this time. If you can wait there will be an incredible selection of platforms to choose from in the next few months. If not go Gigabyte or Epox at this moment in time.

 

[AkulaShark]

You can only use all 4 of the slots in the KG7 if you use REGISTERED MEMORY. You can use regular memory in only 2 slots, and if you want to use any more, all of the memory must be registered. So its still 2 &quot;regular&quot; slots.

 

[RobsTV]

What is better today?

New DDR motherboards, that currently do not outperform non-DDR boards, and since they are fairly new, would be more prone to bugs and problems?

Or

Your old non-DDR like the Iwill KK266, which performs just as well, and has been around long enough to get the bugs out, and now is virtually problem free? (Contrary to what some may think, most owners of VIA chipsets do NOT have any problems with SB Live). Also, uses SDRAM that everyone is very familiar with as too quality and overclocking ability.

Why take a chance on the newer DDR at this time?? I still remember all the problems that occured when the first KT133 boards first appeared. Not trying to crap on DDR, but from the looks of things, I see no current advantage, and possible headaches. Show me the light.

 

[majewski9]

I have a KK266 and 1.33hz Athlon! It kicks some serious ass! I do think that if you want a DDR board you should wait for Nvidia's nforce chipset or newer revisions of current DDR chipsets. DDR does offer greater performance than SdRAM but with chipsets like the KT133A the performance isn't much better. Wait! Trust me! I would, but I already got a KK266 and a 1.33 so I'm happy!

 

[Digobick]

Sota1947, why don't you follow the mod's advice: Shameless Advertising

 

[jhu]

It's a nice plane. I think Congress was stupid to prevent its sale to our allies.

 

[Wanescotting]

Thread necromancer

 

[jhu]

Oops, typed in the wrong thread number...

 

[Iron Woode]

It's a nice plane. I think Congress was stupid to prevent its sale to our allies.

WTF

there better be a motherboard there somewhere.

 

[dawp]

WTF

there better be a motherboard there somewhere.

and a ddr (not ddr2 or ddr3) motherboard at that.