New Mobo...Which one?

[oceaneer]

MSI K7266 Pro 2 or Epox 8KHA+ ?

All reviews seem positive for both boards, and a cruise of the relevant message boards indicates issues with both of them. I know that forums tend to attract people with problems rather than those without, so just trying here for any input to help with my dilemma.

The new asus looks nice, but is $150 vs $105 for either of the others, which seems a bit much.

Thanks for any input

[Indiana]

I have the EPoX 8KHA (non+) and am very happy with it. Only "issue" is that the USB only works up to 140~142MHz FSB - but this is said to be better with the KT266A, that you'll get in the 8KHA+.

[oceaneer]

Thanks Indiana.
I believe the boards are almost identical, so your feedback would be positive.
I had read on overclockers that there seemed to be a problem with the bios chips on some of the boards, and Epox would replace them as required..

[The PIT]

Epox 8kha and this worked striaght out of the box. Needed a bios flash to work at fastest memory timings and has been solid since.
I've now got a Epox 8kha+ which will be running a 1800+ after Xmas and hopefully this will be more stable.

[RedRed]

I just bought an MSI nforce motherboard, for a 'new box on a budget'.

I must say I am impressed, I must have built 400 PC's in my time (back to 386 clones), but this was one of the smoothest.

The boxed drivers are a bit raw (though the new ones I downloaded after setting her up seem fine) (MSI can do BIOS and driver UPDATES online!!!)

There are reviews all over, but its hard to beat getting 6 USB (2 front mountable), a video card (not great, but 'intresting'), a 100/10 network card, and a dolby 5.1 sound card...

Currently there are NO cards in this PC.... I have only done some mild OC (I do have an excessive heatsink, but the delta fan was too much as its a new board, I havent pushed it yet (an 1800 XP athlon is better than a 466X2 Celeron rig!)

I was nervous at first, but I think I made the right decision!