Abit KT7 RAID vs Asus A7V revisited, please read on...

[tuando]

Hello everyone,
I am confused. Most of the major web-site dedicated to hardware such as Ars’Technica http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/hotrod.html , Sysopt http://sysopt.earthweb.com/reviews/abit-kt7-raid/index.html , Anand Tech http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1296&p=6 etc. stated that the Abit KT7 RAID is the “best Athlon board to date”. However, based on a recent article from Tom’s Hardware “Socket A Is Coming: Test of 10 Boards”, http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q3/000919/index.html , http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q3/000919/kt133-27.html#conclusion , it seems that the Abit KT7 RAID is lacking in performance in comparison to Asus A7V. Could someone please comment on this? If it were you which one will you pick for home Video Editing (Media Studio Pro 6.0) and 3D modeling applications (Pro/E, Solidedge). Any insight thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[i6s1]

Well, it was an easy choice for me. I need an ISA slot for my SCSI card, so the Abit was my only choice. The Abit does have more FSB choices, and should be better for overclocking. But if you're not overclocking, and don't need ISA, then get the Asus. They're supposedly faster and better quality.

[spigidygak]

Go with the abit KT7 Raid, much better mobo.

[sbp]

I've heard the Asus A7V motherboard has less problems.

The KT7 RAID does use highpoint ata-100 chip while the Asus A7V uses a Promise controller ata-100 chip. Highpoint controllers have proved to be a pain in the a$$ for a lot of people.

The KT7 raid comes 3-phase power solution which means it will be just fine with an Athlon 1.5Ghz.

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/kt7/page3.asp

Of course with the upcoming release of DDR chipsets this might not mean that much.

[Ladogaboy]

sbp... what will the DDR chipsets do?

[sbp]

DDR is Double Data Rate ram that transfers information on the rising and falling egdes of a clock cycle. Basically almost twice the data is being transferred in a clock cycle compared to SDRAM.

Some videocards like the GeForce GTS use this type of ram.

There should be a 15-20% increase in performance using DDR instead of SDRAM. DDR ram won't cost much more than SDRAM.

http://www.karbosguide.com/module2e.htm#RDRAM

Sharkyextreme preview of AMD DDR chipset:
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/articles/tyan_760_ddr/

Tomshardware preview of Micron's DDR chipset.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/99q4/991216/

Pictures of DDR ram:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/business/00q4/001013/mp3-02.html

[Edited by sbp on 10-20-2000 at 05:46 AM]