[Thwei]

What chipset options do I have for a socket A board supporting SDRAM (PC133). Only one I have found so far (and seems to be a problem chipset) is the VIA KT133. Any recommendations that I can look into?

[deadkenny]

The KT133A is much better than the KT133. In fact, that chipset, along with the KT266A started the 'wait for the A version' rule of thumb with Via chipsets. In fact, just about any socket A chipset could in theory be built to use SDRAM, it's just a question of whether a manufacturer implements it that way on their particular m/b. For example, ECS implemented the SiS 735 chipset with both SDRAM and DDR RAM slots (can't use both at the same time though) - the famous (or infamous) K7S5A.

[Gnufsh]

Boards with SDRAM that I have seen are all KT133, KT133A, or SIS735. Unless you have something that eats up a lot of PCI bandwidth, the KT133A is probably your best bet. VIA boards tend to have some odd pci issues when the bus is saturated--that reduce the amount of data you can put through it. Shouldn't be a problem unless you have a RAID 5 array or something.

[Thwei]

I'm thinking of ditching the PC133 and getting some DDR PC2100, and maybe i'll go with the nForce2 chipset. Abit NF7 was recommended to me, any comments on it?

[deadkenny]

You'll be wasting some of the capacity of an nForce2 m/b running PC2100 on it, since it supports PC3200. There are plenty of options out there for socket A. The 'best' option for you depends on the specifics (your budget, intended uses, future upgrade plans).

[Thwei]

Yea, ended up ordering Mushkin PC2700, blue line series ... 2-3-3 clocks, not too shabby. Since i'm still using the 850mhz tbird I don't really need the 3200. This isn't really a high end machine anyway, it's actually the "family" computer.

[deadkenny]

Good choice, you don't really need PC3200, PC2700 should work just fine for you. If you had mentioned that you'd be using a video card as old as the Radeon 7000, I would have suggested that you get an nForce2 m/b with integrated video (GF4MX). It would only have cost about $30 more. In any case, possible future upgrades would include a second stick of memroy to run dual channel. However, the processor is the real bottleneck at the moment. You could get a TbredB (maybe XP1700 or XP1800) and OC it to 333MHz FSB as another future upgrade. Then the 'family' computer's performance would be rivaling that of 'your' machine. Umm, maybe you don't want that afterall.

[Thwei]

Haha, i'd be on that more than this one then. That one has a very old monitor tho, has like a 45hz refresh rate max. But hey, it was free!

I had plans on upgrading the CPU later, thats why I went for a good board and pretty good RAM. But for the time being, as it runs faster than the P133 Compaq ::shudder:: system I switched from, and since I have no money, it will have to stay.

Thanks alot for the help, always appreciate it.

[RoadWarrior]

The SiS 735 chipset is fast with SDRAM and DDR and on the K7S5A motherboard, you get 2 of each slot. It's not as fast as the current crop, but it wasn't far behind the Via KT333 and although limited in overclocking options has been improved with hacked overclocking BIOSes and there are many modifications out there for it, along with socket wire tricks etc, that mean you can do what you want with it, if you're prepared to take a little trouble.

So, if you pick up a K7S5A or K7S5A pro cheap you can run SDRAM on it until you can afford some DDR, and you'll have better performance than one of the rare KT266 or A boards that had 2 of each slot on, and better user support for mods.

I got mine used for like $25 and new they can probably be got for $40 or less, the deals are out there if you look.

regards,

Road Warrior