8K7A's brother, the 8KTA3

Valid · Jul 9, 2001

I know I love my EPoX 8K7A. I also know that after building my first system from the ground up, I want to try another one. With my 1.4, I feel like a bull in a china shop. I spent so much money on this sucker I'm afraid to "open it up." (Though I have several times anyway) I was thinking of building a system based on the 8KTA3 with a Duron750-ish so I can really experiment. So my question is basically what is the general consensus on the 8KTA3? Is it as solid a performer as the 8K7A? How does it rate as an overclocker? I was thinking of just getting another 8K7A, but I wanted to save a few dollars, and the 8KTA3 is 30-40 dollars cheaper. If the 8KTA3 isn't that great, can anyone suggest a run-of-the-mill board that supports the latest Duron processor and PC133 at the minimum? (Also looking for it to be under 100). Any information would be great, thanks.

dat · Jul 9, 2001

Thats what I am running the 8KTA3 is rock solid. I highly recommend it.

Valid · Jul 10, 2001

Thanks much. I'm liking EPoX more and more. Anyone happen to have any other pertinent information regarding the 8KTA3 or alternatives?

wild_andy_c · Jul 10, 2001

This is the crack. The 8KTA3 is basically an 8K7A with a different Northbridge and different dimm slots.

But some differences do begin to appear in the BIOS where you find that the voltage isn't as tweakable for the VccCore. This is mod-able, but not simple. The 8KTA3 Pro on the other hand is a real overclocking board from the bottom up.

It is however a very capable board that will support Palomino (unlike a lot of its competitors)

Nagorak · Jul 10, 2001

I know this feedback might not sound too constructive or useful, but the 8KTA3 is based on a Via chipset. For that reason alone I'd say you should just avoid the board altogether, speaking from my frustrating experiences with other Via chipsets. The 8K7A is only marginally more expensive than VIA-based motherboards, but it supports DDR memory. Since quality DDR is the same price as quality SDR (not talking generic crap here), I think it only makes sense to go with the 8K7A anyway... Why go for something that's not as good when it costs nearly as much?

Take what I say with a grain of salt, but I think the extra money spent will be time, effort and misery saved.

wild_andy_c · Jul 10, 2001

And there is that point too. It may also be worth looking at the 8KHA, now revised with memory bandwidth nearly equal to that of the 8K7A but $10 cheaper and very overclockable

SickBoy · Jul 10, 2001

Yeah, the 8KHA might be worth a look... it's got all the overclocking options in the BIOS, which is a feature I will be looking for in my next motherboard (probably a DDR board). Ever since I got my Abit KT7A Raid, I have become addicted to not having to crack the case every time I want to tweak something.

If you've got your heart set on a cheap O/C board to use with SDRAM, you can't go wrong with an Abit KT7E or a FIC AZ11EA.

SickBoy

wild_andy_c · Jul 10, 2001

Don't use the KT133e chipset!!!!!! - overclockers nightmare

Valid · Jul 10, 2001

Thanks for the info, all. I'll have to look into the other boards. I'm really trying to keep the whole system under 900 dollars. Price is definitely my limiter, as I just built the system in my signature under a month ago, and I'm a college student. I am leaning towards the 8K7A AGAIN, as was mentioned in one of the comments. Part of me wants to try a different manufacturer though, just to see how everyone else stacks up. Again, thanks for the recommendations - I'll be looking into them.

*Edit - Question for Nagorak. Just on a side note - how does Crucial memory fit into the picture. Quality/Not? I like mine, but I'm not really sure what to think this early in the game.

wild_andy_c · Jul 10, 2001

Crucial DDR is a quality unit, but not as good as my Nanya PC2700 !!!!!

Kicking the 184Mhz FSB vibe !!!!!!

Valid · Jul 10, 2001

Thanks. I'll probably shop with Crucial again in the future, then. I don't think I'll be able to break 150mhz on my fsb. I have my money on the Live! flaking out. Second place would probably be the GeForce3. Nice o/c though!

Nagorak · Jul 11, 2001

Crucial is good quality...it's what I have. Don't expect much beyond 150 MHz out of it though. Mine hit 150 MHz at CAS 2 but I had to increase the DDR voltage. Considering it's only supposed to run at CAS 2.5 even at 133 MHz, I'm happy. Probably if you dropped the CAS and other memory timings back you could make 155-166...no guarantee on that though.

Wa11y · Jul 11, 2001

I'd like to thank everyone for this thread too. Kinda what I needed, since I'm looking into a new machine before too long, and my Gigabyte GA-7ZX I currently have is not overclockable for crap, at least as far as I can tell.

From what I read, the best board to go with would be the 8KHA. Does it come in RAID flavor? I really wanna try a RAID array for my next machine, and I want to overclock it (which I haven't done with the one I currently use). Any suggestions on that?

AKDUDE · Jul 11, 2001

I use the 8KTA3 and I love it, its rock stable at 150fsb cas2. However, seeing all the rave reviews on the EPOX DDR boards, I would go that route instead if I were you. The cost differance is not worth even worrying about.
AKDUDE

SickBoy · Jul 12, 2001

wild_andy_c (Jul 10, 2001 12:39 p.m.):
Don't use the KT133e chipset!!!!!! - overclockers nightmare

Well, I admit, it cant do ultra-high FSB (which apparently seems to be your thing), but it can do 133-140 MHz FSB which is plenty...... what's your reasoning other than the FSB issue? Personally, I think it's a great board for running a Duron over spec, if you're on a budget. I say set the FSB to 133, unlock the multiplier and go for it....

SickBoy

Len · Jul 12, 2001

My Crucial PC2100 does 150-153 Mhz no problem with fastest 8-8-6-2-2-2-2 memory timings. It will go much higher if you let it use 'auto' memory timings. Now that there is a new BIOS for the Epox 8K7A which enables a 1/5 PCI divisor, people are hitting 180+ Mhz with Crucial PC2100. But realistically, even overvolted from 2.5v to 2.9v, I wouldn't expect much more than 185-190 Mhz out of it. That's certainly nothing to be ashamed of considering its only rated at Cas 2.5 at 133 Mhz. Crucial DDR is a steal at its current prices.

Valid · Jul 13, 2001

I have a feeling then that if my memory is lucky enough to survive the hike to 167 mhz fsb on conservative settings, then with the kick-down provided by the 1/5 divisor, my SBLive! should indeed be happier (I'm not sure if I should expect it to make the hike). Maybe that'll solve my problems, but I still have a feeling I'll have to up the voltage on the processor to get it stable. I'm a little wary of upping the voltage on the RAM, as I don't have any cooling positioned over it.

Quick question - If I do hike the fsb to 167 to force the 1/5 divisor to kick in - will my "auto" memory timings take this into account and slow down the memory accordingly, or will it still try to operate at it's standard 2.5?

Nagorak · Jul 13, 2001

Len (Jul 12, 2001 02:21 p.m.):
My Crucial PC2100 does 150-153 Mhz no problem with fastest 8-8-6-2-2-2-2 memory timings. It will go much higher if you let it use 'auto' memory timings. Now that there is a new BIOS for the Epox 8K7A which enables a 1/5 PCI divisor, people are hitting 180+ Mhz with Crucial PC2100. But realistically, even overvolted from 2.5v to 2.9v, I wouldn't expect much more than 185-190 Mhz out of it. That's certainly nothing to be ashamed of considering its only rated at Cas 2.5 at 133 Mhz. Crucial DDR is a steal at its current prices.

Maybe mine is just a dud, but I've had extreme problems getting my DDR to run at 150 MHz or higher. I'm wondering if it might be something else like my NorthBridge chip causing the problem. Hmm...

Nagorak · Jul 13, 2001

Ok, I just tried again. My Crucial PC2100 memory is going nowhere near 160 MHz, let alone 180-190 MHz... Even with the DDR voltage maxed my system will not boot Windows at much over 150 MHz FSB, and it seems to now be unstable at 150 MHz (not sure why, it was rock solid before...).

Where can you buy PC2700 memory? Also, is it necessary to add cooling to my motherboard's NorthBridge chip? It really doesn't seem to be the chip that is causing the problem, but then again I guess I can't be sure...

Also is there also a built in AGP divider for 1/3 when running at 200 MHz FSB, or does your AGP slot just continue to run farther and farther out of spec?

Valid · Jul 18, 2001

Another quick question. Can the Duron processor take advantage of DDR memory?

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