Kt266a

[Topha]

I know there have been quite a few of these threads in here lately, but Im finally able to afford a new system.

SO: which KT266A mainboard is the best (including raid), ASUS, MSI, ABIT or another one.

or are there any sis 735 mainboards with onboard raid controller out there?

[Dr Mordrid]

Do yourself a favor and avoid onboard RAID controllers, or most other embedded hardware, if you can. If it craps out there's no telling if the mainboard will function properly with it disabled (IF it can be disabled) and a PCI replacement plugged in.

Been burned that way too often...

Dr. Mordrid

[ayoub_ibrahim]

suggest you have a look at Anand's KT266A m/board roundup

[Kosh Naranek]

Epox 8KHA+ is the way to go .. in my opinion !

Personally I don't like RAID either ...
because if you get another RAID controller then you will have to re-format your HDD array because of incompatibillity between different RAID controllers.

[Indiana]

Yes, at that time the EPoX 8 KHA+ is the way to go.

[Technoid]

Integrated versus standalone raid cards:

The integrated wins on one thing:

Better placement of conectors!!!

I only wish that Promise would make a version of ther Tx2 that had the IDE conectors towards the front of the case, so you wont have to twist or bend the cables...

[Pneumatic]

Here is a side by side comparison (a 'Roundup" as they call it) of 3 different KT266A's.

What about the nVidia nForce (aka "Crush") chipset?

Everything I have read has said that it will be better than the KT266A. I waited for the Athlon XP and was about to build when I started hearing about the nForce. Now I am waiting again. It's an endless loop.

Here is a review of the nForce. It is also a comparison to the KT266.

edit: Screwed up one of the links

[Indiana]

In fact until shortly the KT266A beat even the NForce420 in the reviews. Only in the newer ones with new drivers the NVidia chipset is SOMETIMES faster.

I'd really wait until there are actual boards with the NForce out to make a real opinion. And maybe NVidia has pulled a Detonator (or the new 8500 ATI drivers ) kind of thing here. I.e. faster in the most used bechmarks but slower in everything else or unstable as hell....

[Topha]

I will not wait for nforce, for which i have 3 reasons:

1st: i will not buy nvidia products, just like i wouldnt buy intel or mercedes or epson

2nd: i will not wait any more, did that for the past couple of months

3rd: i dont want integrated sound and graphics, because it costs more mony and i will get seperate cards anyway

thanks though, i guess ill go with the epox and one of the promise raid controllers

[ayoub_ibrahim]

one of the promise raid controllers

if you can find a promise ata100 pci controller card(not the TX version) then this mod will save you some bucks on getting a raid card!