Which Motherboard for AMD???

[monocrom]

Thanks for all the replies... I am really grateful for you Murcers!!!

I am thinking of buying either Tyan Tiger or Asus A7V266. At this point, dual-processor seems nice, if I can only figure out which sound card that I have to buy.

I think I will put Duron if I get Tyan for the time being, but since it will be my primary computer, I want to watch DVDs, play MP3s, etc....

From my understanding, SBLive! would still work, right? It seems like all the problems are due to the bad driver for Windows 2000. I am gonna put Windows XP, which will be almost the same as Windows 2000. However, there is MS-Certified driver for SBLive!, and I am wondering if it will be fine.


Another question for you guys,

I don't know if it's possible, but can I share monitor, keyboard, mouse between several computers? Since my desk is small, I don't want to put two keyboards and mouses, not to mention the monitors. Is there any feasible solutions to this? Just a click of a button, you can switch to the second computer with the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Thanks, everyone!!!

[Dilitante1]

hehehehe

Monocrom, the multi keyboard/video/mouse unit is called a KVM switch. Belkin, and a whole slew of companies make them. Check out www.pricewatch.com and you'll find tons of them.


-Dil

[monocrom]

I found an interesting article:

http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/hardware/systems/sagp3xeon500/sagp3xeon500.htm

It says:

For sound, you get the awesome SoundBlaster Live! with all the extra digital ports to play with. The extra ports are installed in front of one of the two spare PCI ports. I would have preferred it in front of an ISA slot, but that's pretty minor. The sound card has plenty of room on either side, so moving the extra port card if you need to is a piece of cake. You also get a set of BenWin BWS-30 speakers with separate subwoofer. The speakers are a bit bulky, but perform decently. At high volumes the bass clips, but not as badly as many other weaker subwoofers. The speakers are respectable.

Is this true?

How come they didn't have problems with SBLive?

[Indiana]

Originally posted by monocrom

How come they didn't have problems with SBLive?

Maybe they were not using Win2K? Most of those live problems occur only in Win2k - and on a very random/seldom base (at least it was this way here) so you might notice no problems during the short period that those reviews use for testing. But having the card in everyday use you WILL notice those problems. Besides most review-sites KNOW about the frequently reported SBLive problems but still don't mention them and give the card great reviews.
And: Be carefull if you want to watch DVDs. Make sure that the Live with the newest drivers CAN output AC3 5.1 sound in Win2k, cause it couldn't when I was scrapping it.

For the Asus: Be sure to get one with the KT266A chipset (that'll mean you have to wait a few weeks). Since the KT266A simply blows every other AMD chipset away performance-wise (the old KT266, the SIS735, the AMD760) it would be really stupid not to get the new revision. There haven't been many reports about bugs with the KT266 up to now so I guess paired with the great performance this is the best AMD chipset - if you're not going DualCPU.
Look e.g. here for RAM performance of the KT266A against the KT266. Or here for a comparision of KT266A, KT266, AMD760 and SiS735.

[The PIT]

I would also say that most reviewers don't have the the hardware long enougth sometimes for the problem to show up. Even then they tend to gloss over it. Today I was reading in pcplus mag about software that crashes when you say your work and tends to lose it. Now for that you would expect a bad mark no it got 9/10. I couldn't believe it. It's poor reviewing like this that helps companies to get away with shit.

[monocrom]

Actually, the OS they tested on was Windows NT 4.0. If Nt 4.0 can handle SBLive!, in my opinion, Windows 2000 can easily handle with it. Isn't it?

I understand that they only test the machine for a short period of time, and it might not be long enough to spot the problems with certain hardware. You are absolutely right.

I am on the virge of ordering the Tyan, but this driver issues drives me crazy. I might just order Asus A7V266. But then, I have had horrible problems with Asus before, with two MOBOs (CUBX, and CUSL2-C). On the other hand, Abit BE6-II ver 1.2 served me well, without any problems.

Maybe I have a curse on me against Asus! CUBX died on the first day, which should be definitely the voltage problem. Another try with CUSL2-C gives me this random reboot and crashes. I used to run my Cereron 700 to 1050 on Abit fine, while the same CPU on Asus gives me all this problem. Probably, Asus is more sensitive to the voltage when it's above the spec.

So, I have no clue of what to do now. Either way, I might have problems with the sound, or I might have to deal with this Asus voltage problems.

Another question, folks!

I was checking out this KVM switches. And, I found out that OmniCube supports the video resolution up to 1600X1200@62MHz! Is this right? Right now, I am running at 1600X1200@85MHz, which is fine. But, I don't want to go down to 62 MHz! Is this true? If I still want to have a good quality video at high-resolution, what should I do?

TIA

[KvHagedorn]

There's a thread about KVM switches here somewhere. I always had a problem with ghosting in the video with mine, so I used my OmniProSE (which is a step up from the OmniCube anyhow) to switch only keyboard and mouse, and used the second input on my monitor to switch video. If you have more than one computer, I'd look into monitors that do this for you. even if you have more than two machines, you can keep your primary one on the direct BNC connection for best video quality.

Since the KT266A simply blows every other AMD chipset away performance-wise (the old KT266, the SIS735, the AMD760)

Could you cite some sources on this, Indiana? The 760 and 760MP have generally blown everything away thus far, and I would not trust a VIA chipset until their poor reputation has been thoroughly redeemed. They've show no signs so far that that has happened. The 760MP board is just the most enticing piece of hardware I've seen in a LONG time, and a lot of the guys here would agree. I would still spend the small premium and get that board, monocrom. Tyan has given me excellent results, and if yours happens to be the one board in a million that goes bad, you can rest assured that you have a 3 year warranty and helpful tech support people at Tyan to help you. I don't know of any other motherboard company that even HAS a tech line with real people to talk to.

[monocrom]

KvHagedorn, I took your advice, and ordered Tyan Tiger MP!!!
Since I am in Canada, it will take about a week... I will let you guys know... Hope it will be a good one...

First, I will still gonna try with SBLive!, and go from there...

Sigh, I believe that AMD is a great CPU manufacturer, but it seems like it was a bad move for them to work with VIA. Some people don't have any problems with it, and some really do. That is really interesting...

Anyways, I thank every one of you for all the help. I will post the update ASAP, and hope it will be delicious update.

Now, I need to get some sleep...

[Indiana]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
There's a thread about KVM switches here somewhere. I always had a problem with ghosting in the video with mine, so I used my OmniProSE (which is a step up from the OmniCube anyhow) to switch only keyboard and mouse, and used the second input on my monitor to switch video. If you have more than one computer, I'd look into monitors that do this for you. even if you have more than two machines, you can keep your primary one on the direct BNC connection for best video quality.

ALL those switches I have seen so far, even the electronic ones DO deteriorate the signal quality to a IMHO unacceptable amount. If you have a good monitor it'll come with two inputs anyway, so use those switches ONLY for keyboard/mouse and have both computers connected to the monitor and simply change the input directly there as well when you're using the other computer - this is having to switch two buttons instead of one, but it's sure worth the quality.

Could you cite some sources on this, Indiana? The 760 and 760MP have generally blown everything away thus far, and I would not trust a VIA chipset until their poor reputation has been thoroughly redeemed. They've show no signs so far that that has happened.

If you look at my post there are actually two sources quoted (I'm sure you can dig the other ones up yourselves, but they're painting the EXACT same picture). And with the VIA KT266 there haven't been any problems reported (except some people claiming USB problems over 140-145 FSB and this is only relevant to the overclocker), it was jsut the performance that was missing. The A revision really puts those concerns to the ground, putting the SiS, and especially the AMD760 to pieces in both, synthetic AND realworld performance. Just follow the links: AMD760, VIA KT266 and SIS perform on a level with the SIS standing a bit above the competition, but the KT266a is leaps ahead.

[Indiana]

Originally posted by monocrom
KvHagedorn, I took your advice, and ordered Tyan Tiger MP!!!

Good choice.

Sigh, I believe that AMD is a great CPU manufacturer, but it seems like it was a bad move for them to work with VIA. Some people don't have any problems with it, and some really do. That is really interesting...

If you follow those threads again, you'll notice it's a certain VIA chipset that tends to create problems: the KT133A. The KT133 usually don't have problems, the KT266 user don't have problems as well - except for lower performance than the AMD760, which is more than cured by the new revision.

[Six Of One]

"hard" facts.... duh

Could you cite some sources on this, Indiana? The 760 and 760MP have generally blown everything away thus far, and I would not trust a VIA chipset until their poor reputation has been thoroughly redeemed.

E.g.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/via-kt266a/

but you can do a search on the KT266A on any hardware site and all are rating this piece good. For a single chip solution it seems to be best. Not my problem anyhow...


Regards

EDIT: Oops, just saw Indiana's post. Damn mousewheel scroll...

[KvHagedorn]

Yes, the KT266A looks very fast indeed.. but is it as stable as a 760? It surely would be the choice if it is. I'd like to see more long term testing done here, and see what problems might crop up. Personally, I would still get the dual board (good luck monocrom.. turning green with envy here) just because it's so inexpensive and the dual platform will be faster under Windows 2000, XP, or any Unix variant. With prices for dual systems dropping so drastically and XP on the horizon, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot more software being written to take advantage of multithreading. Wouldn't have thought it a few years back, but dual CPU systems just might make it to mainstream.