What is the best overclocking KT333 board, bar-none?

[i810 Forever]

NewEgg received my dead A7V333 today and I was pretty much set to get a KX7-333 because of fears of another bad board. I've already been PC-less for a month, and if I can wait this long I can deal with another bad board if it happened. The motherboard I am looking for this system (1600+ AGOIA Y, 256MB PC-3200, getting a built by ATI Radeon 9700 for christmas) needs to be the best overclocker out there. After 3 years on a Celeron 600 w/ PCI video card, I want to put together the fastest system for my buck.

Epox 8K3A+ ? Searched the forums and it was proclaimed as the best overclocking board out at the moment. (Epox 8K5A3+ is only $11 more, but could the onboard ethernet hinder overclocking?)

Abit KX7-333 ? A few posts said that even at lower fsbs than the Epox it is still faster.

With whichever board I get I'll be starting out on air cooling, and when I have enough cash, I will go H20.

 

[Serraph]

I've heard good things about the Epox 8K5A2+. Good stable overclocking board plus onboard 6 channel audio, lan, usb 2.0, and raid. Pretty cheap too at $96.00 Also you can check out the 18 customer reviews of it at Newegg. All of them had good things to say about it and each gave 5 stars.

 

[maxima88]

I would say to go with the Abit, Epox and Asus mobos. I've had absolutely no problems w/ my Asus and have had very good success w/ O/Cn.
The only thing I don't like w/ the Epox is I've heard it's the most unstable of the 3 makers I mentioned.

 

[stompah]

Each manufacturer has their pros and cons. You could buy 10 of 'the best overclocking motherboard out there' and have only one give you a decent stable overclock.

Take my KK266r for example. Touted to be the best pre DDR AMD MB out there. Mine? Overclocked my 750 duron and 1.2g Athlons (more than one) like garbage. It treated my 1g Athlon fairly well. But when I slapped on an 1800+ they were mad for eachother. It immediately gave me a few extra MHz over MSI DDR MB.

Take a look at the options you need. Find the chipset which will be compatable with what u intend to do. And dont listen to me when I say a particular MB is the GOD of overclocking because its likely that my one MB is the lucky one of thousands and the one you may get may be the dog out of millions...

Epox had some PSU compatabilty problems allegedly fixed. The 8k3a had video tearing at near or above 200fsb.

Abit HAD issues with component quality

Asus didnt really seem to have the best overclocking gear, good but not the best.

ECS was reported tohave made a nightmare for many people wit its k7s5a. Works for me and others very well and doesnt for just as many.

MSI well... My MB is 100% stable, others have told me theirs are stable even overclocked. But can these MBs squeeze the max out of the CPU... doubt it unless the chip is a dog to begin with.

Soyo is just Soyo... The keep getting better from what I hear/read.

So there you have it MY opinion of how you should choose a MB for your rig. And my opinion of the status the Major O/Cing AMD MB manufacturers. And as always opinions are like.... everyone has one. have fun

 

[Emericana]

the Abit KX7-333 is BY FAR the best kt333 overclocking board bar none. that is assuming you know how to do a voltage mod cause it goes up to 1.9v only (it says 1.85 in the bios but when you put it on it the board overvolts so much it goes to 1.9)

this is true. the abit kx7-333 will get higher mem scores than the epox set of kt333 boards at 200fsb when the epox is at 230fsb. also there is nothing integrated into the mobo which is good for me (may not be for you tho).

 

[Milkman]

Gotta agree with Emericana the Kx7 boards kick @SS, I love mine and it's my second one.

mamer

 

[RnPgrosz]

Each manufacturer has their pros and cons. You could buy 10 of 'the best overclocking motherboard out there' and have only one give you a decent stable overclock.

Take my KK266r for example. Touted to be the best pre DDR AMD MB out there. Mine? Overclocked my 750 duron and 1.2g Athlons (more than one) like garbage. It treated my 1g Athlon fairly well. But when I slapped on an 1800+ they were mad for eachother. It immediately gave me a few extra MHz over MSI DDR MB.

Take a look at the options you need. Find the chipset which will be compatable with what u intend to do. And dont listen to me when I say a particular MB is the GOD of overclocking because its likely that my one MB is the lucky one of thousands and the one you may get may be the dog out of millions...

Epox had some PSU compatabilty problems allegedly fixed. The 8k3a had video tearing at near or above 200fsb.

Abit HAD issues with component quality

Asus didnt really seem to have the best overclocking gear, good but not the best.

ECS was reported tohave made a nightmare for many people wit its k7s5a. Works for me and others very well and doesnt for just as many.

MSI well... My MB is 100% stable, others have told me theirs are stable even overclocked. But can these MBs squeeze the max out of the CPU... doubt it unless the chip is a dog to begin with.

Soyo is just Soyo... The keep getting better from what I hear/read.

So there you have it MY opinion of how you should choose a MB for your rig. And my opinion of the status the Major O/Cing AMD MB manufacturers. And as always opinions are like.... everyone has one. have fun

The AGP tearing issue is actually a problem with the KT333 chipset. In other words there will be AGP tearing on any KT333 board. it doesn't matter if its Asus, Epox or Abit. It can start as early as 190 MHz fsb, some people don't encounter it untill about 215 MHz fsb. Its the luck of the draw. The only defficency I can see in the Epox board is that your going to need a good PSU because it has a tendency for a low 5V. The Abit may have better memory bandwith but thats about it.

Each Epox board will perform roughly the same and they are all good overclockers. The only thing that will vary from motherboard to motherboard is when the AGP tearing starts(and like I said that'd be the case with all KT333).

 

[Fever]

Go with either an Asus, Epox, or Abit board, as others have said.

 

[CrackPot]

In regards to the KX7 and the "overvolt", it depends on which rev board you get. I had 2 KX7's and one came with the Rubicon Caps, which are rated lower. With that board, I got about .3-.5 volts more than what I set. The other has a higher capacity nichicon caps which appears to give more acurate and stable voltages.

 

[Tipycol]

...Take my KK266r for example. Touted to be the best pre DDR AMD MB out there. Mine? Overclocked my 750 duron and 1.2g Athlons (more than one) like garbage. It treated my 1g Athlon fairly well. But when I slapped on an 1800+ they were mad for eachother. It immediately gave me a few extra MHz over MSI DDR MB....

I'm looking for a good board that still uses SDRAM, would you recommend this one? I plan to put a XP 1600 on it.


Thanks

Tipycol

 

[Top Hat Theater]

I've gotta plug the 8K3A because it overclocks so well and the BIOS is more OC friendly what with the crazy vcore/vdimm options. This isn't to say the others aren't good but I'll stand by the 8K3A any day!

~THT

 

[stompah]

I'm looking for a good board that still uses SDRAM, would you recommend this one? I plan to put a XP 1600 on it.


Thanks

Tipycol

What do you want to do? Max overclock the CPU? Then u may be better going to a good DDR board.

If a mild overclock is what you want then I would get the ECS k7s5a. It supports both sdr and ddr. With a BIOS flash it becomes an o/c friendly board. And should cost less than $60 from Newegg.

Are you buying new or used? New kt133a MBs are near the same price as DDR MBs and sometimes even more.

I volt modded my kk266r's vcore, one solder point on the MB. Very easy. Is your SDRAM good? My Crucial tops out at 160fsb without voltmods.


I didnt know the KT333 chip was the cause of the video tearing. I hadnt heard any report of video tearing on any other Mbs. I dont frequent the MB forums much and when I do its usually just for the MBs I have. The 8k3a MBs were when the kt333 chipset first came out the most used MB. That may be why I heard of the problem but never for any other MB.

 

[toddalaska]

so far ive got to test the epox, msi and asus

of those the the epox rocks them to shreds,

the abit is killer but you HAVE to vmod it. without a vmod you might as well be ocing a dell 1.9v isnt gonna cut it at all.


for ocing out of the box, the epox is the way bar none.

 

[Tipycol]

stompah
I think your right and I'll just look at the DDR boards. I can get good refurbs of the KT333 chipset for around $60 at Newegg, so I think I might try my luck with one of those later

toddalaska
I think the KX7-333's max vcore without the mod is 1.85 not 1.9

 

[toddalaska]

yeah but it overvolts to 1.9

i believe emericana posted this previously

 

[Talyn]

i used to have an original soyo dragon kt266
i got my 1.4 athlon to 1.67ghz on it no problem

i now have an soyo dragon ultra platinum with the kt333 chipset, and ive been able to get my athlon xp 2100+ from 1733mhz to 2158mhz on it as well as have a 333mhz FSB to the cpu

a few years ago i wouldnt have bought soyo but the last 2 years ive never had a problem with their boards, i recommend them, they just keep getting better and better

stay away from the FIC ATI fusion boards tho, the onboard IGP on those boards will only work correctly with win2k or XP.

 

[youthemandan]

8K3A has the best overclocking features. Get it u won't be disspaointed and u will not have to mod it like these others. Its truly a outta the box overclonking dream.

 

[[OC]Lucifer]

Although

There are better 333 chipsets out there, because the kt333 has poor memory performance.. I know, I have a kt266a board..

 

[EclipseJP]

I like my 8k3a+ mobo. It does the job.

 

[i810 Forever]

Got refunded today.... GRRRRR can't decide, 8K3A+ vs. KX7-333.