The A7A266 is 1) based on the Ali chipset which is not as fast as the competition; and 2) not on AMD's recommended list for the 1.4.
The AMD 760 north bridge is by far the best chip for the Athlon (although the upcoming SiS could be a challenger, it's reportedly based on AMD's core). With Crucial's rock-bottom PC2100 DDR prices, there is NO reason to buy a slower KT133A board any more.
Buy a board that is not on AMD's recommended list at your peril... remember what happened with the big power-supply debacle. I've tried boards not on the list and had very poor luck (e.g. MSI 6341 K7 Master, Asus A7M266, both poor boards in my experience, although some claim success using them).
There are 2 AMD 760 boards on the recommended list: the FIC AD11 and the Gigabyte GA-7DX. I have both of these boards, they are both equally, fabulously, stable. I'm typing on the GA-7DX system right now, with an Athlon 1.4; I just ran an Uptime check in Win2K and I've been running for 12 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes and 3 seconds
That's with constant use of not just internet and office apps, but Nero, Counterstrike, Serious Sam, Asheron's Call, Quake3, Unreal Tournament, Anarchy Online Beta4 (with constant client crashes that don't crash the OS), ST Voyager Elite Force, etc. Suffice to say the GA-7DX is one SERIOUSLY STABLE board. Beware of others who use the word "stable" to mean "POSTs and runs the benchmark". Anyone who plays AC, EQ, AO, UO knows that to crash is to lose a week's work... for online RPGing, you need genuine stability.
The one drawback to the GA-7DX, especially for those in this forum? No multiplier selection. It only supports FSB-based overclocking (although it does so with a neat on-the-fly Windows-based soft FSB overclocking utility that works great in Win2K).
My test box uses the FIC AD11, and I have to say, not only is this board equally stable as the GA-7DX, it also overclocks farther, even if compared strictly FSB-to-FSB overclocking-wise. Its power supply is nicely spec'd, with my NC Silverado air cooling, an Athlon 1.33 runs rock solid at 1536. With my Swiftech MCW462-based water cooling setup (no TEC) I can boot Win2K and seem to run fine at up to 1610, although it fails after extended runs of 3DMark 2001.
I have nothing but raves about the FIC AD11, if it has any downside at all, it's that the heatsink fit is a little tighter than some boards, there are a few capacitors around the socket area. Nowhere near as bad as, say, an Epox 8KTA3, and someone I know actually got a Swiftech MC462 to fit an AD11 (with slight Dremel work). The Silverado fits just fine, and that's all that matters to me, especially at that aforementioned rock-solid 1536
So, to summarize:
- FIC AD11, wonderful all-around
- Gigabyte GA-7DX, also wonderful if you plan to only FSB overclock
- Avoid boards not on AMD's list
- Stick to AMD 760 north bridge
- You're still running Win9x? STOP IT. BAD dog.
KC
