What do you think of this mobo?

[Paddy]

Hiya all!

I've got a mate who is about to buy a new mobo.

His requirements are:

• Athlon T-Bird based
• ATA 100
• DDR RAM slots
• Four IDE channels

This is the one he likes...

I have not had much luck with Iwill and would not recommend their products...

Can anyone suggest of a better board?

btw, he will be running it as a games machine. Performance and O/C ability are paramount.

[ccoltas]

From what I understand, the best MB for DDR are among these:

ASUS A7M266
MSI
ABIT

[Jammrock]

In the DDR arena I would suggest the Asus. It's the only DDR board I know of, from the makers I like. It sports all the standard goodies, but only has 2 DDR slots, so buy big sticks. It also has an AMR slot so there are only 5 PCI slots (I wish Asus would stop putting AMR on overclocker/hardcore boards).

If you can talk him out of DDR (currently there isn't a big performance boost using DDR), you get an Abit KT7-RAID. It's got ATA 100, plus RAID, uses Via's new KT133A chipset so you can use the ultra cheap PC133 SDRAM (512 MB PC133 Crucial for under $200...hell yes!).

No annoying AMR slots, one legacy ISA slot. Plenty of goodies and Abit's SoftMenu III for overclocking ease. It even comes with a fan on the NorthBridge chip

If you prefer Asus get the A7V133. It also has a RAID version, but it comes with a Promise RAID controller instead of a Highpoint like the Abit. Some people dig Promise over Highpoint, you make the call. Unfortunately this one comes with the absolutely useless AMR slot, so there are only 5 PCI slots.

EDIT: There are currently no 4 IDE device DDR boards from the 2 big A's. The KT133A chipset boards are almost as fast as a DDR board, and cheaper. Here's a couple of links to compare at Firing Squad and another one here.

Jammrock

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Athlon 650
256 MB PC133 CAS3 from Crucial
87 GB storage from WD & IBM
Matrox G400 (it's not dead yet!)
SB Live! the original full retail, still going strong
Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400, the PC speakers that goes BOOM!
Hope Matrox releases the G800 before rebuild time, becuase the end is near!

[This message has been edited by Jammrock (edited 05 March 2001).]

[Wombat]

Actually, it seems that this Iwill board is quite good. Go over to www.amdzone.com and lurk around the BBS. People seem to like the KA266 over the competition. And DDR seems to be cheap right now too. Personally, I just LOVE my set-up though.

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Epox 8KTA3 w/ Duron 850@7.5*133 with Alpha 6035, 256MB Crucial 7E, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, IBM 45GB 75gxp, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-final), and Win98 (when I have to).

[Taz]

I've got a couple of Iwill boards and rate them quite highly but I don't think the KA2666 is worth getting. From what I've read the KK266 would be a much better option, this uses the VIA KT133A chipset.

As a matter of interest where was he planning on buying the board from as I don't know of any suppliers who do Iwill, mine were bought through trade distributors.

[Ali]

Just saw this:

TweakTown have posted an Australian Exclusive review of the FIC AD11 motherboard which is based on the AMD 760 DDR Northbridge chipset and VIA 686B Southbridge chipset with support for 1600MHz and 2100MHz DDR SDRAM. The FIC AD11 has both multiplier and FSB overclocking options through dipswitches, the board is a dream to install with no compatibility problems. TweakTown put the board up against the Iwill KK266-R motherboard, and gave it their Editor's Choice Award.

[Paddy]

Cheers all, i will pass on this URL...

Taz, I have no idea where he is intending to purchase the kit from...

Knew i could count on you guys