Soyo Dragon+ or Epox 8hka+

[snoopdoug1]

Which motherboard should I get? This will be my first attempt at putting a system together. I am going to get a gainward geforce3 ti200, xp 1800+, lite-on 32x10x40, lite 16x dvd, 256 ddr ram(which I already have), and am planning on using the onboard sound with which ever I buy, and I would use the onboard LAn card on the dragon, but would just install one on the epox. I would probably not be using the raid for a while.

I just want things to go smoothly, so that I won't be hesitant to build another computer when the time comes

Oh yeah, the Epox board costs 89 bucks + shipping. The soyo dragon is 135 +shipping, but it also has a 15 dollar mail in rebate.

Thanks for the suggestions!
Doug

 

[Mem]

<< I just want things to go smoothly, so that I won't be hesitant to build another computer when the time comes >>



It`s down to features between both boards however the Epox 8KHA+ is very easy to setup with only one jumper on the board(100/133fsb) to worry about,I`m using one at the moment so can only give you my experience with the Epox 8HKA+ and to be honest it was very simple to setup and is rock stable.

Remember the Soyo has better onboard sound, RAID etc so this may be the deciding factor for you.

 

[DT4K]

I can only comment on the Epox, since that is what I have. I love mine. I had an ECS K7s5a which sucked. I had all kinds of minor problems with it. I replaced the ECS with the Epox 8kha+ and have not had a single problem since.

The Soyo boards are also very popular here. Most people with them seem to really like them. The onboard sound on the Soyo is supposed to be quite a bit better than the Epox. Although I'm using the onboard sound on the Epox with some Altec Lansing speakers and I think it sounds really good. I think it depends on what quality of sound you are used to. I had a crappy compaq with tiny speakers before I built my current system, so the Epox sounds great to me.

I also have that Gainward Ti200. I really like it. But if you have a little extra money, the Geforce 4 Ti4200's just came out. They perform quite a bit faster than the Geforce 3 cards. I think you can get one for under $200.

 

[snoopdoug1]

Thanks for the replies!

Anyone else out there wanna help me out?

 

[jandaman]

I went with the Soyo and love it. Built in sound and lan plus the sigma box ( for the usb front ports rather than the smartcard reader) were features that made me get the soyo, not to mention all the accolades from users and website reviews.

 

[DaiShan]

I have the 8kha+, and have nothing but good things to say about it, it was very easy to set up, the diagnostic LCD could come in handy, it has many features, the board is well laid out (I wish the primary and secondary ide controllers were a little closer to the socket tho) everything is labled on the board, as well as the manual, it has a system diagnostic (temp, voltage, fan rpm etc.) showing after the POST operation is completed. It is stable, and has onboard sound (I only used for a few days because I was too lazy to put in my gtxp) which sounds ok, it comes with norton ghost as well.

 

[Penchie]

If you're looking at spending that kind of $$ on the Soyo, might
be a much better move with the processor to eyeball the
Epox 8k3a+ for less money with the 333 chipset

If it's between those two boards tho, then my nod would definetely
go to the Epox, I've had almost all the brands out there and I'm
on my 5th Epox board now, with not so much as a hiccup out of
any of the 5

Installation is effortless and they're value packed solid boards

If bells and whistles blow yer dress up tho, then get the Soyo and knock
yerself out..............

 

[Nestle]

Here you can find comparison among all KT333 motherboards.

It seems that the Gigabyte came first, but the Epox and Asus were also high.
The soyo didn't perform as good, but has the best features by far.

 

[gil11542]

Both are good boards, The dragon is full of features but will you use them , if not the EPOX maybe the way to go.

 

[TheWart]

another vote for the Epox, been rock solid and super fast for about two months.

 

[DeepSix]

I'm currently using Iwill's KK266+, it's an SDRAM board with Via's KT133A. For SDRAM this is a killer board, but when I upgrade to DDR later this year it will be to the Epox 8KHA+. I only considered 2 possible mobo mfgr's: Epox and Soyo. Soyo has the best features by far but Epox generally outscores it slightly and is arguably the most rock-solid KT266A board around. And for nearly $50 less I'd be remiss not to give it a spin.

DDR333 won't be certified for awhile, or 400 for that matter. Plus, Clawhammer won't come out for another year. Tom's Hardware and other sites site many "bugs" that still need to be worked out with the new tech; until they are the 8KHA+ and PC-2100 are still very safe bets. Unless you want to wait for USB 2.0 or AGP 8x support (not available on 333's yet accd'g to Tom's H-ware) I'd go for the 8KHA+ and upgrade to a PC-3000 board after they've been battle-tested, a year or so from now.

 

[Maki]

My Soyo has been interesting. It is a complete bitch to get working right. Once it is it is great.

Having said that it should be noted that most of the setup "fun" went away when I installed windows Xp.

Right now I'm trying to determine if the Soyo has issues with using all three memory slots or if I have a bad stick of memory. That could have acounted for alot of its issues.

 

[colindale]

Read the manual regarding filling 3 memory slots,
if you want more memory use bigger RAM chips
in two slots!.

An apparent problem, but no problem.

 

[Maki]

You mentioned that in the last thread. I just went through my manual for the 3rd time since I read your. It states in several places that what I'm trying to do should work just fine. (Tho at one point it mentions a max per stick of memory of 256/512MB which doesn't quite add up to the 3GB max memory it claims. However, in another spot it mentions 1G DIMMs. Do they even exist?)

I have seen nothing indicating that 3 sticks of 256MB PC2100 will not work.

I have the Dragon Plus. You aren't thinking of a Dragon Ultra, are you?

 

[MangoX]

It should also state that you should be using Registered DDR to be filling up 3 slots i think... but not sure

 

[Maki]

I'm beginning to think that they revised their manual.

 

[EC99SS]

The EPOX 8kHA+ is an awesome mobo. I did a lot of research before buying one and it consistantly ranked in the top. I just built my first system and used this mobo...no problems!! Good luck