AMD formally announced their new XP processors today. I've decided to cave into BBS pressure and give AMD a try (see, I listen sometimes). Anyone got any specific MB recommendations? Not just brands....let's hear some model numbers.
Well, it kinda depends on how much of a risk you want to take. Currently the best MOBO out right now uses the Sis735 chipset, the ECS K7S5A. It is pretty cheap (should be around $70) and can use both SDRAM and DDRAM which is nice. It is also very stable. I have heard from many people who bought one and all have been positive about it. If you want to take a chance and get a better MOBO pretty soon the motherboards with the KT266A chipset are all starting to come out in the next week or so. These MOBO's are going to be significantly faster but actual benchmarks/reviews are going to take another month easily. So the upside is higher but there is potential for bugs/bad boards. Models to keep an eye on here include the Gigabyte GA-7VTX-P and the Epox 8KHA+. These MOBO's are all going to be more expensive, probably around $130-$150. So the answer really depends on how much you want a computer now, how much money you want to spend, and how much of a risk you want to take. Hope it helped...
The KT266A-based boards are already out if you can find them because people are snapping them up pretty fast. Both EPOX and MSI have released their models. I know the EPOX 8KHA+ was selling for around $112 or so. I'm awaiting further reviews before buying it, though.
No love for ASUS? The only reason I ask is that I'm thinking of getting the Asus AGP-V7100 graphics card. It's pretty highly rated for a card that's under a 100 bucks. I know I don't need to match brands for my MB and video card, but I would imagine they'd be pretty happy together.
I'm running an ASUS V7700 on this machine and to be honest, I think Asus' support of the board sucks. They haven't had a new driver release in months. I've been using the nVidia Detonator drivers instead which are actually pretty damn good, so I can't really complain. But all they basically do is take the reference board and put their name on it. It's been a stable video card, but I doubt I'll ever buy an Asus video card again. The Asus mobo's are another story. I've never owned one, but they're apparently a good manufacturer. One thing to be wary of is buying cutting-edge stuff from ANY manufacturer. That usually translates to all kinds of glitches initially until mobo revisions or BIOS revisions fix the problems. When it comes to cutting edge stuff, Abit and Asus get bit frequently because they're the ones usually putting out the new hardware that is pushing the envelope in the latest technology. I'm still going to wait for the XP's to drop in price some more simply because I think they're overpriced right now. They should be dropping within the next 1-2 months as new versions of the XP chips come out. But then they're so cheap to begin with who cares... just buy it. lol.
I think Pole was talking about the new Athlon XP processors, not Windows XP. lol. And Windows XP's interface isn't as good as OS X's interface.
I think i need a new motherboard Mine is over 3 yrs old. . . .350 MHz TIME TO JOIN THE NEW CENTURY!!! Rocket River
OK, I am going to be building my own computer and I need some advice. I'd like to build a system with the Athlon XP and was looking for a good MOBO. Any suggestions?
I wouldn't go with the nvidia chipset unless you want the integrated graphics, network and sound. Rather, I'd rather go with the: MSI KT266 Pro2 Asus A7V266-E Soyo SY-K7V Abit KR7A RAID Soltek SL-75DRV2 They all have the KT266A chipset on them, which is Via's latest, and has scores that are faster than the NForce chipset's across the board. Check out: http://www.tomshardware.com http://www.hardocp.com http://www.anandtech.com
Something else I forgot to mention -- don't try using a consumer Windows OS on your new Athlon XP. Go with either Windows 2000 or Windows XP or Linux. From my experiences, Windows 98/ME did not play well with my Athlon XP, although I think it was a motherboard driver issue with the KT266.
I've bought and built 2 systems using the EPoX 8KHA+ and the MSI K7T266 Pro2 motherboards. They both are solid mobos.
Yeah, that Epox is a nice board . . . The MSI is great -- I'd never owned an MSI board before, but I really like my KT266 Pro-RU. If you go with MSI, make sure you get the motherboard with the KT266A chipset, not the regular KT266 . . . The 'A' has better performance. Although I'd sell you my (slightly used) KT266 for 70 bucks
