Lots of IWILL mobo's showing up here...why?

[Aftershock]

I notice that lot of people keep talking about their IWILL mobo's and their great OCing success.

I know that Abit-KT7A is good, but I know nothing about IWILL, how does it stack up? Why do people get it over ABit?

[Murphy]

Aftershock (Mar 17, 2001 03:29 p.m.):
I notice that lot of people keep talking about their IWILL mobo's and their great OCing success.

I know that Abit-KT7A is good, but I know nothing about IWILL, how does it stack up? Why do people get it over ABit?

I think it's because they are palomino ready, but I could be wrong. Guys, help me out! And I believed it was DDR.

[Metaxas]

KK series...based on the KT133A chipset from VIA. The KA series is the ALi Magic-1, and is based on DDR, and should be palamino ready.

[diehrd]

The new palimino I thought only needed a lower voltage seting to run and that is why most mother boards will not support them.

I do not believe ddr is mandatory with the palimino.

The ABIT KT7A has voltage settings from 1.1 to 1.85,And I was under the idea that this board will accept the palimino.

[Bovon]

Guys, I read at so many different forums sometimes I cant remember where I read what. But, at most forums, the Abit is catching hell. Maybe its because there are more Abit mobos out there than anything else, but from what I read...those that are reporting problems, they are quite puzzling...many wind up RMAing the boards...sometimes 2 or 3 times...and Abit charges like $25 bucks to RMA one. Some say Abits tech help is non existant. Company quality control seems to have suffered as well.

The Iwill KK266 has out performed the Abit in several reviews, and on some forums, all you read is praise for them. Many ppl that have had both the K7TA and KK266 say that the Iwill overclocks higher than its Abit counterpart...this is from users. The same reports come from seasonded reviewers. Now, this is surely not to say that all Iwill are without problems...they all are...it just appears that the Iwill has less, as well as does more for the buck.

Here is just one of the reviews by a well known reviewer...

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1424


Also go to this forum, where they have dedicated threads for motherboards. The server is the pits, and sometimes times out before the page loads..but, try again later..I think it is one of the better forums going for mainboards...if they could just fix the server..


http://www.amdmb.com/vb/index.php


And, before some may think I am pushing Iwill because I have one...you are mistaken...I have not even ordered yet...but, I will..once I have decided which one is the most stable, overclocks the best, less problematic, and lastly, is the board supported by the company...at the present time, Iwill meets or exceeds these examples.

[Aftershock]

I noticed it had on-board audio, you can disable it right? I'd rather use my sound blaster live!

[Megahurtz]

Aftershock (Mar 17, 2001 09:08 p.m.):
I noticed it had on-board audio, you can disable it right? I'd rather use my sound blaster live!

Yes, disabling the onboard sound is a simple matter.
The reason that the KK266 (R ) boards are showing up everwhere where AMD is spoken, is that is a an extremely high performing KT133A solution. I have had my KK266 REV.1.1 for a month, and I have had zero issues with it, that could not be attributed to overclocking. I'm using the TurkOC BIOS 02.27.01 which offers a much greater degree of memory tweaking.

It is a fine product, and Iwill was quick to respond with the faulty Rev. 1.2 boards. A great product, with (fingers crossed) great support. This is most likely the best motherboard I have used, and I have been building an embarrassingly long number of years.

I fully expect this board to support Palominos as it has three phase power regulation, multipliers to 15, and voltages to 1.1v.

I'm not selling the product, just happy with mine.

T

[Aftershock]

wait....anandtech gave it 9/10
while they gave the Abit-KT7A 8.5/10

so Iwill doesn't have alot of problems.....I haven't heard alot of problems with Abit's KT7A model though

so I'm not sure why Iwill got a higher score...
-needs jumpers
-no fan on mobo to cool it

is there anything else I've missed?
oh yeah, it has that three stage power thingy or whatever...the thing is, I normaly don't just replace the CPU, and toss the old one. I usually get a whole new one.
I can't decide between Abit or this Iwill.....

KT7A's going for around $130....and its hard to find Iwill on the net too....

[Gibbo205]

Hi there

I have had the ABIT KT7, KT7a and now the IWILL KK266-r.

All I can say is what a worthwile upgrade it was, I have knocked around 30 minutes of my SETI times.

Here is why

Maximum FSB achieved on my motherboards:
KT7-RAID - 119FSB + Host CLK (Ram @ 158Mhz/CAS2) - Sandra mem score 600/705
KT7a-RAID - 145FSB (Ram @ 145Mhz CAS2) - Sandra mem score 630/690
IWILL KK266-r - 170FSB (Ram @ 170Mhz CAS3) - Sandra mem score 694/790

The IWILL gave me a considerably boost in all areas, especially on memory bandwidth, check out my benchmarks on the forum.
The BIOS is better.
I only have to complaints
1. The temperature sensor probe - It is crap as it does not touch the back of the CPU
2. Lack of I/O voltage adjustment in the BIOS.

That is all, the board is of higher quality then ABIT/ASUS and is far faster. :)

Gibbo

[diehrd]

The reviews I have read say it is the most stable but that the ABIT is the one for the highest O/Cing potential.

I have the Abit KT7A with the 1.2 266fsb processor and air cooled run perfect at 1.43 with cheap ram.

I never crash,lock up,or need to reboot.[Unless I play with the bios lol].My opinion is simply most of the boards we use here are generally good quality,and the end results are part luck,part processor,part M/B.
In % Luck 50%,Processor 25%, M/B 25%

[Megahurtz]

What about skill, patience and perserverance?

Everyone's experience is going to vary. I am not going to use the same components as another. My technique will differ. As for review sites, see what Ed has to say about that one the front page.

I am beginning to trust the members here, as your collective product experience closely mirrors my own.

I read far more here than I post. I only joined because Ed, Joe and the others are such straight-up guys.

Cheers,

T

[Aftershock]

170 FSB? Did you have to install a fan for Iwill? Also whats a good vendor to buy Iwill from? I was going to get my CPU and mobo from www.allstarshop.com

it has like a 6.1/7.0 on resellerratings.com

[Yomama]

Aftershock (Mar 18, 2001 05:48 p.m.):
170 FSB? Did you have to install a fan for Iwill? Also whats a good vendor to buy Iwill from? I was going to get my CPU and mobo from www.allstarshop.com

it has like a 6.1/7.0 on resellerratings.com

Read some of the reviews and some of threads here - you'll get the idea. WRT vendors, I got mine from newegg - free shiping at the time, but there are other good dealers as well - just check out pricewatch..

Good luck

Yo

[Gunjaa]

put it simply, they have great performance/stability vs $$$.......... i've got an A7V-133a myself :)

[seabhac]

According to some reviews I have read the "jumperless" board is perhaps a weaker design. The BIOS will default to 100MHz FSB and then change in the boot sequence. With an Iwill jumper preset at 133 this change on the fly is not required. It also requires a less drastic change for O/Cing because your already at 133 if you have your BIOS set for a higher speed. Not such a drastic change to reach say 150 FSB.

I bought the board for the space, and the heavy use of capacitors to clean signal voltage. I liked the review that Joe did on the mainpage of the forum here and followed that up elsewhere. I don't think you would be unhappy with either board. It is simply a matter of tastes. I should mention the Iwill reportedly reached higher FSB than the the Abit.

[el]

I think everyone should read this article and tell us what you think of it.


http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1440