Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Greetings,

I am a little behind on my PC reading, my knowledge is sort of stuck
in 2001, which is the last time I built a PC. I am looking for a ABIT
motherboard because I like them and I have used them before. I have a
new Antec 550W powersupply, 80GB IDE Hardrive (7200rpm), Nvidia Dual
Monitor PCI Video Card, ATX barebones case, and about 512MB of PC133
RAM. All of the parts are NIB, with the exception of the RAM, which I
salvaged from a PC that was being upgraded at work.

Soooooooooo....I need a good ABIT motherboard to host all this nice
hardware. I am not a speed freak. I still surf with a dial-up, cause
its free (VPN). Don't do hardly any gaming, but I want to install
Windoze XP PRO and Office Pro. I am sorta interested in playing with
RAID technology, since I link the redundancy. I am not against buying
another 80GB drive to make a simple RAID PC. Last but not least, I
like stability, I MAY overclock, but at a later date when the board
gets old. I like AMD processors cause they are good value. I may
watch movies, so 5.1 sound built in would be super nice, but not a
deal breaker.

I would appreciate a good tip on where to buy a good ABIT
motherboard/CPU combo that can use my PC133 RAM, >$50-$100 would be
great.

Thanks in advance.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

OK, I understood the following words in your post:

....salt...purchased...eBay...adapter...eBay...and...Final...else...is...to
....Other...soft boot...why

Just kidding. What is the capacitor problem you describe with the BX
boards? Is it endemic to ALL Abit BX boards?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Abit KT7A, officially will work with up to 1400/133 MHz cpu
Some people have been able to work with even faster AMD XP cpus.
A ECS K7S5A PRO, will work up to AMD PR 2600/266
and has two PC133 memory slots

"Tom Dugas" <tdugas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:10cab28b.0404141135.1f5e76ec@posting.google.com...
> Greetings,
>
> I am a little behind on my PC reading, my knowledge is sort of stuck
> in 2001, which is the last time I built a PC. I am looking for a ABIT
> motherboard because I like them and I have used them before. I have a
> new Antec 550W powersupply, 80GB IDE Hardrive (7200rpm), Nvidia Dual
> Monitor PCI Video Card, ATX barebones case, and about 512MB of PC133
> RAM. All of the parts are NIB, with the exception of the RAM, which I
> salvaged from a PC that was being upgraded at work.
>
> Soooooooooo....I need a good ABIT motherboard to host all this nice
> hardware. I am not a speed freak. I still surf with a dial-up, cause
> its free (VPN). Don't do hardly any gaming, but I want to install
> Windoze XP PRO and Office Pro. I am sorta interested in playing with
> RAID technology, since I link the redundancy. I am not against buying
> another 80GB drive to make a simple RAID PC. Last but not least, I
> like stability, I MAY overclock, but at a later date when the board
> gets old. I like AMD processors cause they are good value. I may
> watch movies, so 5.1 sound built in would be super nice, but not a
> deal breaker.
>
> I would appreciate a good tip on where to buy a good ABIT
> motherboard/CPU combo that can use my PC133 RAM, >$50-$100 would be
> great.
>
> Thanks in advance.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

That PC133 is a real drag on the system. Most any modern mobo that still
supports PC133 is going to be in the "value" market, something from ECS,
perhaps, who is still selling hybrid boards (SDR-RAM and DDR-RAM). You night
get these pretty cheap, maybe $40-60. But you're not going to
find anything *new* and *modern* in the PC133 arena among the enthusiasts
market, like Abit, Asus, etc.

And while I suppose you could pick up an older PC133 model, such as a Abit
KT7A-RAID, and save some money, compatibility always becomes an issue. You
don't have to step too far back anymore to find "quirks", things that don't
work just right, lack of support for the current high-end Athlon
processors, etc. Plus so many of the modern mobo's have integrated
components, you'd spend MORE money replacing them on an older board than
simply buying a new, modern board. So I'd strongly advise against it.

My recommendation would be to *dump* the PC133 on eBay. There are many
people who are trying to upgrade older systems, who would be happy to have
it. Some of it is hard to find, esp. the older low-density stuff (if you
have that, it's worth even more). Because supply and demand dictates
prices, not "age" (up to a point), with any luck, you can probably sell it
for a decent price and use the profits to get DDR, or at least a good start
on DDR. Until the DDR prices went insane over the past 8 weeks or so, it
was almost an even trade!

Among AMD mobo's, and Abit specifically, the choice among DDR solutions is
either the NF7-S v2, or AN7 (there are NO PC133 solutions!). Although the
AN7 is supposed to be the follow-up to the NF7, it's not been getting
particularly good reviews (
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTU3 ), to be fair, expectations may
have been too high. The NF7-S v2 is still extremely popular, very mature
(nearing the end of its life cycle), and stable. People just rave about it.
Has just about everything, including on-board sound from NVIDIA (5.1 channel
SoundStorm w/ digital OUT), USB 2.0,
firewire, SATA, LAN, SoftMenu (still the best), for about $105 shipped (
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProd [...] 166&depa=0 ).
Since you already have an 80GB IDE, you can use the included SATA adapter,
then purchase another SATA drive, and use the RAID features. It's either
that, or pick up another IDE HD and a Promise FastTrak100 TX2 RAID
controller off eBay for about $35.

The NF7-S is definitely targeted at gamers, but frankly, all AMD models are,
that's its strength. So I see nothing wrong with using it for lighter
duties, bound to be even more stable than it already is. Overclocks easily,
so if you just want to dabble, shouldn't be a problem.

The only Abit alternative is the AN7, newer w/ newer chipset, only $5 more,
but I'm less confident about this model. Many people do swear by it, and it
is the latest and greatest, so that's something to consider. There's really
not that much difference, primarily the AN7 has the new NForce2 Ultra400
chipset, plus Abit has added the uGuru features, which are overclocking
facilities. It's really a matter of deciding whether it makes more sense to
go for the the maturity and stability of the older NF7-S v2, or take a
chance on the newest improvements as expressed in the AN7 (pricing is
basically the same). If it were me, I'd read a few reviews on each, then
decide.

But that old strategy of trying to revive older technology, leverage old
hardware, etc., it just doesn't work anymore, just not worth it. In the
end, it will cost you more in terms of actual $$$ *and* aggravation. Trust
me, I've been there, I dumped *all* my old stuff on eBay, and w/ the profits
paid for at least %50 or more of my new system. Happy to be rid of it.
JMTC.

As far as processor, that's really just a matter of finding the sweet spot,
might be a Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton" 333MHz (
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProd [...] 417&depa=1 )
right now. Pick up some PC2700 to go w/ it, over PC3200 if you want to give
yourself some overclocking headroom.

HTH

Jim


"Tom Dugas" <tdugas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:10cab28b.0404141135.1f5e76ec@posting.google.com...
> Greetings,
>
> I am a little behind on my PC reading, my knowledge is sort of stuck
> in 2001, which is the last time I built a PC. I am looking for a ABIT
> motherboard because I like them and I have used them before. I have a
> new Antec 550W powersupply, 80GB IDE Hardrive (7200rpm), Nvidia Dual
> Monitor PCI Video Card, ATX barebones case, and about 512MB of PC133
> RAM. All of the parts are NIB, with the exception of the RAM, which I
> salvaged from a PC that was being upgraded at work.
>
> Soooooooooo....I need a good ABIT motherboard to host all this nice
> hardware. I am not a speed freak. I still surf with a dial-up, cause
> its free (VPN). Don't do hardly any gaming, but I want to install
> Windoze XP PRO and Office Pro. I am sorta interested in playing with
> RAID technology, since I link the redundancy. I am not against buying
> another 80GB drive to make a simple RAID PC. Last but not least, I
> like stability, I MAY overclock, but at a later date when the board
> gets old. I like AMD processors cause they are good value. I may
> watch movies, so 5.1 sound built in would be super nice, but not a
> deal breaker.
>
> I would appreciate a good tip on where to buy a good ABIT
> motherboard/CPU combo that can use my PC133 RAM, >$50-$100 would be
> great.
>
> Thanks in advance.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

"Jim" <null@null.com> wrote in message news:<RDofc.3068$Yf6.38@fed1read07>...
> That PC133 is a real drag on the system. Most any modern mobo that still
> supports PC133 is going to be in the "value" market, something from ECS,

DING DING DING DING DING! We have a winner.

Thank you for the outstanding post. You told me *precisely* what I
needed to know.

Yeah, I sorta realized the danger of trying to saddle the fence with
the PC133 RAM, and your advice about Ebay is rock solid, as I make
serious cash there selling things from my other hobby.

You're right. Sever the ties to the past and move on. I think I am
going to get the ABIT board you advised, the rock solid "mature"
model, I like the sound of that.

Time to sell off the Celeron 333 MB and acessories to fund up for this
board.

Thanks again....

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In message <10cab28b.0404150555.d5b2ea3@posting.google.com>, Tom Dugas
<tdugas@hotmail.com> writes
>"Jim" <null@null.com> wrote in message news:<RDofc.3068$Yf6.38@fed1read07>...
>> That PC133 is a real drag on the system. Most any modern mobo that still
>> supports PC133 is going to be in the "value" market, something from ECS,
>
>DING DING DING DING DING! We have a winner.
>
>Thank you for the outstanding post. You told me *precisely* what I
>needed to know.
>
>Yeah, I sorta realized the danger of trying to saddle the fence with
>the PC133 RAM, and your advice about Ebay is rock solid, as I make
>serious cash there selling things from my other hobby.
>
>You're right. Sever the ties to the past and move on. I think I am
>going to get the ABIT board you advised, the rock solid "mature"
>model, I like the sound of that.
>

While I don't disagree with the majority of Jim's post, its worth
pointing out that you can pick up some very, very cheap older athlon
boards nowadays that support PC133 (e.g. Shuttle AK32) and will take
266MHz FSB chips (i.e. XP2400+) that are also really cheap.

The difference in performance you'll get compared to your celeron will
be outstanding. The difference between it and a new XP3200 won't be as
bad as you think (if you notice it at all for what you are using it for)
and I guarantee that you won't perceive any difference in performance
between PC133 and DDR400 !

Synthetic Benchmarks are one thing. Real life speed improvements are
another. In my field of work, I've had to do some benchmarking using
real life apps and seeing the impact of varying the memory speed. The
bottom line is that the FSB speed has very little impact. CPU speed
however is a different matter (I used multiplier unlocked chips to keep
the final speed constant).

Upgrading to a new MB with AGP*8 (and a corresponding video card)
striped SATA 150 RAID (i.e. two new drives) and a fast P4 or Barton
Athlon is going to give you a flying machine (which I'd recommend
wholeheartedly - just built two such machines recently to upgrade our
'his and her' machines).
Just bear in mind though that you're looking at possibly a tenfold
difference in price compared to the simple MB/CPU upgrade option!

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
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