I need a new motherboard

[agallag]

I have to replace my motherboard, since my MSI K7T266 Pro2 has recently died, and I lost my receipt. I need recommendations for a new home for my AXP 1700+.

Currently the front runner is the Asus A7V333, since it has some nice features (usb2!) and I've always been a big fan of Asus. What else should I be looking at?

[Guru]

The MSI has a 3 year warranty and since the chipset has not been available for 3 years.....

[agallag]

I realize that, but as I said, I lost my receipt, and I don't want to go through the hassle of RMAing it. I may send it back eventually and build a new computer out of it, but I want a new board for now.

[Dr Mordrid]

Consider the ECS K7S5A.

In a beta I'm involved with the SiS 735 chipset in it has so far had higher PCI bus throughput than either the VIA KT266A or the AMD 760. It's also quite stable and VERY inexpensive (the K7S5A runs about $55 online). It supports both PC-133 and DDR266 RAM.

A move up would be the K7S6A, which uses the SiS 745 chipset. This supports both DDR266 and DDR333 memory, but is otherwise similar to the K7S5A.

Dr. Mordrid

[PXR5]

I'd definitely investigate non-VIA solutions--
I got my Iwill because all the reviews said stablest VIA board tested---lol, man, I miss my old Irongate.

---e

[Wombat]

If you don't want to spend money, get the SiS. If you want more, go directly to a 760MB (AMD's latest revision has USB fixed, I've heard).

[Nuno]

Another vote for the ECS K7S5A.

[Claymonkey]

If your going to go for a Sis735 I'd recommend a Leadtek 7350KDA. Lot more options for tweaking and has gotten some good reviews. I'm actually thinking about this board for a system I'm building for a friend. He lives on the other side of the country and I don't want via hassles. I presently use a kt7a-raid and a ka7-100. While I love them both they are finicky at times.

[[GDI]Raptor]

I have to vote for an ASUS A7V333 have this motherboard at work, in one of our test machines!

It's one of the most stable boards we have tested for the SocketA platform

Recomanded!

ASUS QFan, Integrated ATA133 RAID, IEEE-1394 ports, ASUS COP & USB 2.0 is sweet!

[Electric Amish]

I have use one ECS K7S5A. I wasn't too impressed. It was ok, but I had some compatibility problems with power supplies. Again, tho, this was just one shot with one board.

I've also used a couple Epox 8KHA+. They have been very nice. Very tweakable. $91usd at Newegg.

I also currently have a Shuttle AK31A on my system. The only problem I've had with is it that my board has a noisy PCI bus and I have to run my G400 at AGP1x. Again, this might just be this particular board, I don't know.

My 2 cents.

amish

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm using an ANTEC "True430" 430 watt unit. Solid as a rock and running at the Ultra memory settings.

Also note a post I made last week about PCI bus performance. In a beta I'm involved with the engineers found that the SiS 735/K7S5A combo beat out both the AMD 760 and KT266A in PCI <-> memory throughput.

The SiS735's performance is born out on the MSPro vs. Premiere rendering test page where it more than holds it's own in DDR266 systems;

http://www.hyperactivemusic.com/MS%20Pro%206.0.htm

Dr. Mordrid

[bsdgeek]

Iwill XP333-R. It is <b>very</b> tweakable and the overclocking is great. Even while overclocked it is highly stable. I know that the ALi MagiK 1 isn't the most ideal chipset. Maybe I should update my sig now...

edit: It should be noted that I just got the board recently, therefore I can't talk about anything long term.

[az]

My 2 K7s5a's refuse to boot properly at 100/133Mhz FSB/RAM - I have to press the reset button and wait a few seconds, sometimes repeatedly, to get a signal to my monitor.

This is with 1 256MB DDR2100 CL2.0 infineon stick - which is not on the official compatibility list (crucials are, though).

AZ

[Indiana]

I would recommend the EPoX 8K3A. Very stable here, and perhaps the most tweakable board that's around by now. It can give you VCore up to 2.2Volt without any modification needed, FSBs up to 255MHz and it also has the dividers for PCI/AGP you'll need to actually be able to use those high FSBs.

[agallag]

Well, I stuck with my gut instinct, and got the Asus A7V333-R. I'm not using the raid just yet (i may in the future), but the addition of the onboard firewire controller was a nice bonus. It's got USB2 as well, so I'm pretty future proof for a while . Installed like a dream and seems pretty stable so far.