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| Thread ID: 32865 | 2003-04-30 05:29:00 | nForce II chipsets or Via KT series chipsets... | forrest44 (754) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 140233 | 2003-04-30 05:29:00 | Just out of interest: Say I'm building an Athlon XP computer with the help of pricespy. The Asus A7V8X motherboard sells for about $195, I searched for the Asus A7N8X on pricespy and it is quite a bit more expensive, like other nForce motherboards I searched for. Should I go for a motherboard with a Via KT333 or 400 chipset, or a nForce II chipset, being on a budget of not more than $250 or so? Anyway, what motherbard brands are known for quality, performance, reliability, etc? Epox? Soltek? Abit? Gigabyte? MSI? |
forrest44 (754) | ||
| 140234 | 2003-04-30 05:49:00 | have a read at www.tomshardware.com I run a kt333 chipset from soltek and have had no problems. |
robsonde (120) | ||
| 140235 | 2003-04-30 06:50:00 | If you have the money go for an nForce chipset they have been proven in tests to be faster that the VIA chipset. The KT400 Chipset has been found to be no faster than the KT333 chipset and in somecases even slower! However the KT400 chipset has AGP8x and USB2 The KT400A has just been released which fixes up the performance issues of the KT400, however i dont think you will find it on boards just yet. I have a Gigabyte GA-7VA which runs on the KT400 chipset, I have had to replace it twice within 2 months. However the place i bought it from reckons it must be a bad batch as they are usually reliable boards. |
roofus (483) | ||
| 140236 | 2003-04-30 06:51:00 | IMHO, in order of preference nforce II , KT400 , KT333. As for the motherboards they are all OK, with slight reservations on the Epox as they don't seem to be as good as they used to be. They were THE one to get for overclocking, so I've been told. It's really up to you and your budget eh. Choice to consider is RAM 2700 DDR,2100 DDR and PC133 SD. (in order of pref) You can get higher speeds, but rise in price is significant. Also good advice from robsonde...go to tomshardware and look at reviews. | Pheonix (280) | ||
| 140237 | 2003-04-30 07:37:00 | Well I like my Soltek KT400 board with 8x AGP support. As far as Motherboards are concerned I don't think you will go wrong with Soltek, Gigabyte or Asus manufactured boards. I don't use anything but and haven't had a problem with any of them. As to which board you choose.... Some have on board graphics and sound and I tend to shy away from these as I alway put in a "proper" video and sound card separate. Why??? You can then upgrade them easily without tossing the whole Motherboard. Mind you, you can normally change the on-board sound by disabling it but make sure you get a board with an ACTUAL AGP slot available so you can upgrade the graphic card later if you wish. You might like to check out the Soltek SL-75MRN series which is what I would be thinking about buying if I needed a new board today. I hope this helps. |
Elephant (599) | ||
| 140238 | 2003-05-01 04:19:00 | And whats the difference between an 'A7N8X' and an 'A7N8X deluxe' motherboard? | forrest44 (754) | ||
| 140239 | 2003-05-01 06:37:00 | Argh, I have one of those boards. What went wrong with them? I think the chipset fan is starting to die in mine after 3 weeks, but I can't afford the down time to get it replaced currently (and I'm not in a hurry to install the volcano11 again). I went with a KT400 because its cheaper than an nforce2 & there are opensource linux drivers for everything. And chose gigabyte because I wanted something stable/conservative but couldn't afford an asus. |
bmason (508) | ||
| 140240 | 2003-05-01 07:09:00 | Hi I have an Asus A7N266-VM Nforce and an older Soltek KT133a based board (both socket A). Ihaven't had any problems with either but have been very impressed by the Asus. I'm running with the onboard gfx at the mo (something I thought I wouldn't put up with for very long) and have found it very able for the apps I'm running (office/business apps on w2k pro). Don't expect it to be a great gamer but it is better than most boards and a card from not so long ago. If you run with the Nforce chipset and onboard choose one with an AGP slot for upgrade options. DDR is the way to go IMO. Asus, Gigabyte or Soltek are all good brands. Bad boards would be the exception rather than the rule. Cheers Murray P |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 140241 | 2003-05-01 07:36:00 | >>And whats the difference between an 'A7N8X' and an 'A7N8X deluxe' motherboard? I answered this in the other thread. I'd definately go for the nForce2 over any current VIA solution |
whetu (237) | ||
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