Just wondering your opinions, I have Alot of money to spend on new system, and I am going to build a DDR Machine, I currently have an AMD 1333 CPU and 256 Megs of Corsair CL2 DDR non ECC memory, now I am thinking about an ASUS A7M266 MOBO, any opinions on it?, I have also heard that the MSi DDR board is an awesome board, any Input would be appreciated.....Thank you all
-
Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!
Asus A7M266 MOBO
- Thread starter Dutch
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2001
- Location
- Minneapolis, MN
The MSI board is a good board, a better one than the Asus in my opinion. There has been a lot of hubbub recently regarding the K7T Pro 266 but they're talking mostly about small differences in memory performance. The Asus and the MSI probably perform about the same now, but I think the MSI, since it's based on the Via KT266, is going to mature a lot better than the AMD 760-based Asus will. Drivers and BIOSes change only when the company sees need - I doubt AMD and Asus are going to come out with much new driver and BIOS support, so pretty much, what you see now is what you get. I think ithe MSI has more potential and as such it would be my choice if I were going DDR right now.
SickBoy
SickBoy
I would wait for the VIA to iron out the bugs and fine tune the KT266 chipset b4 committing my $$. As for 760-based mobos, they seem to be the fastest boards nowI heard that the MSI K7 Master (MS-6341)is a excellant board and it supports multiplier adjustments which the A7M266 lacks.
I have the MSI K7T266 Raid board now and when compared to benchmarks from other KT266 boards from Soltek and Gigabyte, it's performance seems to be sub par. Moreover there is the issue of the `faulty' resistor. Altho MSI has issued an official staement about it, a lot of ppl feel that MSI are just trying to cover their a$$. The BIOS updates does improve the memory scores but my system is becomes unstable after flashing the new BIOS. Another problem that a lot of K7T266 owners discovered is that USB devices fail to function at 138fsb and above!
The preview of Asus' KT266 board (A7V266-C)looks very promising. Abit is coming out with mobos based on the KT266 and AMD 760 chipsets too(KG7 raid and KR7 raid).
I have the MSI K7T266 Raid board now and when compared to benchmarks from other KT266 boards from Soltek and Gigabyte, it's performance seems to be sub par. Moreover there is the issue of the `faulty' resistor. Altho MSI has issued an official staement about it, a lot of ppl feel that MSI are just trying to cover their a$$. The BIOS updates does improve the memory scores but my system is becomes unstable after flashing the new BIOS. Another problem that a lot of K7T266 owners discovered is that USB devices fail to function at 138fsb and above!
The preview of Asus' KT266 board (A7V266-C)looks very promising. Abit is coming out with mobos based on the KT266 and AMD 760 chipsets too(KG7 raid and KR7 raid).
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2001
- Location
- Bellingham, WA
I built a system for a friend with an A7M266. It ran great, rock stabe. I loved it and didn't want to send it to my friend... But I did. UPS smashed it... I just got the insurance check (nearly 4 weeks later, what a pain in the a$$!) and will be building him another one, and one for myself! The only thing I can see wrong with it is the lack of multiplier adjustments, which can be fixed if you are handy with a soldering iron. The other system did overclock nicely using the FSB. I took it up 25% to 1250mhz (10x125) without even trying. I think the pc1600 RAM choked when I tried 130Mhz FSB.
Corax
Corax
I have the exact same issue, i.e., 1.33/266 chip and want to stick w/ DDR. I have seen several options (using Asus):
1. A7A266: Magic chipset
2. A7M266: AMD chipset
3. A7V266 (I think): Via KT266 chipset
I've read that *technically*, due to the V-Link architecture of the KT266, that it is the best chipset to use. I agree that AMD probably won't update their BIOS very often. It's really not their ballywig. My biggest ***** is that all of these boards only have TWO DDR slots!!!! What's up with that? Are there any 266 boards with more DDR slots? I have no need for SDRAM, so this is more than a small issue. How can one justify only 2 slots? They say support for 2GB of DDR, but then that means you have to throw away 2 DIMMs (say, at 128MB a pop) and get (non-existent) 1GB DIMMs? Or am I confused? Please advise...thanks
1. A7A266: Magic chipset
2. A7M266: AMD chipset
3. A7V266 (I think): Via KT266 chipset
I've read that *technically*, due to the V-Link architecture of the KT266, that it is the best chipset to use. I agree that AMD probably won't update their BIOS very often. It's really not their ballywig. My biggest ***** is that all of these boards only have TWO DDR slots!!!! What's up with that? Are there any 266 boards with more DDR slots? I have no need for SDRAM, so this is more than a small issue. How can one justify only 2 slots? They say support for 2GB of DDR, but then that means you have to throw away 2 DIMMs (say, at 128MB a pop) and get (non-existent) 1GB DIMMs? Or am I confused? Please advise...thanks
available slots
I don't know about the Ali, but the AMD760 chipset supports only 2 underegistered DIMM slots, 4 registered. The Via KT266 supports 3, and I think that the MSI KT266 board has 3. But I haven't seen any tests with all of the DIMM slots filled.
I'm concerned about using up slots like you, so I'm initally going to buy a 256MB module for one DIMM slot and add a 1GB stick in a few years when they are more reasonable. 1GB DIMMS are available, but not cheap.
Just my $.02,
Kyle "BlackHole"
I don't know about the Ali, but the AMD760 chipset supports only 2 underegistered DIMM slots, 4 registered. The Via KT266 supports 3, and I think that the MSI KT266 board has 3. But I haven't seen any tests with all of the DIMM slots filled.
I'm concerned about using up slots like you, so I'm initally going to buy a 256MB module for one DIMM slot and add a 1GB stick in a few years when they are more reasonable. 1GB DIMMS are available, but not cheap.
Just my $.02,
Kyle "BlackHole"
Be careful...I bought a A7M266 and upon first boot, I smelled something burning. I turned off the computer, turned it back on and the none of the fans would work. After looking around at different message boards, there were other people that experienced this issue, but not as quick as I did. One forum I read said that it happened a few weeks after so be careful.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
I'd wait for the A7V266 motherboard. Because it supports both SDRAM and DDR SDRAM, you can't go wrong with it (even if you don't want to go DDR yet). Also, Asus always makes quality products, so you'll know that all of the serious bugs are worked out before you buy the board (unlike MSI and their recent board which requires soldering resistors and all kinds of nonsense).
I'm almost tempted to buy an A7V266 when it is released, and just continue to use my SDRAM, but I figure it's not worth the bother. I'll just stick with my A7V133 and PC133 SDRAM for the time being. And, considering the underwhelming performance of DDR in general and its utter uselessness to me (doesn't matter in games because my video card will only hold me back anyway) that will probably be for quite a while.
I'm almost tempted to buy an A7V266 when it is released, and just continue to use my SDRAM, but I figure it's not worth the bother. I'll just stick with my A7V133 and PC133 SDRAM for the time being. And, considering the underwhelming performance of DDR in general and its utter uselessness to me (doesn't matter in games because my video card will only hold me back anyway) that will probably be for quite a while.
