Mobo Three-Way

[MazaNaza]

Stop panting, it sounds a lot kinkier than it is.

I'm looking for some information on three motherboards (and, in fact, any others that fit the following description). The three boards: Asus A7V333-R, Abit AT7, and the Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra. I'm interested in these because I'm looking to keep my PCI cards to a minimum, and all three of these boards offer onboard USB 2.0, LAN, and RAID. The Shuttle (not listed here) seems to be the fastest board on the market right now, but I'm willing to trade a few frames per second for the wealth of options offered by the other three.

Basically, does anyone have any experience with these boards? Links to reviews of them would also be greatly appreciated, as would other boards that fit what I'm looking for.

All I'm waiting for is the Throughbred, so I figure I've got a little more time to do this right (I figure it'll be released just before the second coming).

[Tico]

You prob won't go wrong with any of them, I seem to always use Asus and can not complain about them at all...

Here is an A7V333 Review

http://www.amd3d.com/review/a7v333/index.htm

[MazaNaza]

Those are some damn impressive overclocking results. I wonder if they just got a particularly good sample, or if we can expect this from all those boards?

[Tico]

One thing that is starnge, I was looking at the Abit board and it has NO PS/2, ATA, serial, or parallel ports. That is good but I still use Serial ports and wouls like a Parallel and PS/2 in case I ever need them some day......

Instead, we get 4 USB 1.1 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a pair of IEEE1394 FireWire ports, full analog 5.1 audio out, digital audio out, and a LAN connector.

That is all good But..... Look at this panel

http://www.nosnarb.com/atx_panel.jpg

And it will support 12 IDE devices....DAMMMMNNNNNNNN

[Tico]

2 more reviews for ya..

Abit

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/abit/at7/at7p1.htm


and Soyo

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/soyo/kt333dragonultra/kt333dragonultrap1.htm

[MazaNaza]

Yeah, a large part of the reason I was interested in the Abit board was because of all the ports it has. Personally, I don't really need or want any legacy stuff, since pretty much everything I have can or does use USB or Firewire. My only concern is that it's got only three PCI slots, although I can't see what I would use them for anyway with this thing. Just a sound card really.

I think I'm leaning towards the Abit board, but I want to check out some more reviews first to be sure.

[sbp]

The dropping of legacy stuff is increasingly going to happen, certainly now that Abit has been forward enough to do this. At the same time I got legacy stuff that is still useful. Oh well times change and we move on.

[DARTH]

Hey Maza, Well I currently have both the ASUS and Abit boards in for testing and review...Should have the ASUS review up next week...With the Abit board following...For right now I can say that I absolutely like the HPT374 RAID controller better then the Promise RAID controller.
DARTH

[MazaNaza]

Good, good...this pleases me. I'm a big fan of your reviews, and I was hoping that you'd be reviewing at least one of these boards. I too have heard great things about the High Point RAID controller...should go well with the dual 120GB Western Digital Special Addition RAID array I plan to create...

On another note, here are my planned system specs. Commments are appreciated:

Abit AT7 Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP (Thoroughbred) 2300+?
512MB Corsair XMS DDR333
Gainward Ultra/750XP GF4
Sound Blaster Audigy mp3+
Two WD 120GB SE Hard Drives (RAID 0)
Plextor 40.12.40 CD-RW
DVD-ROM
Cooler Master ATC-201
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 400

[Memo]

Can't wait for those reviews Darth, i'm gonna be building a system here soon (soon as I get a job that is ;)). Those are two motherboards i'm considering, especially the ABit

[DREDD]

If past experience serves then the Abit and Epox will be the top 2 boards for overclockers and will run stable at extreme speeds.

[AmRivlin]

I hate ASUS, while they may be stable I tried to build a dual box with that board and was not impressed.

I really like the dropping of legacy items. I have USB mice, but I am not sure how I would use my Logitech Wireless Keyboard that is PS2 Native. Other wise I would have no problem with no legacy, I am waiting for the day when VGA is dropped HA, Could be sooner than you think, as they have that DVI adaptor for VGA monitors.

I have the ABIT KG7 Raid, and have played with a KR7A Raid and prefer the Highpoint controller to any promise board. While I may be an AMD person by heart, I thing my next machine will be dual Xeons on a supermicro with a gig of RDRam...

What is this thoughrobread thing?

[Memo]

Originally posted by AmRivlin


What is this thoughrobread thing?

Different core for the AMD Athlons. Runs cooler and all that good stuff. I think The Athlon XP 2000+ and up have them now.

[sbp]

Originally posted by AmRivlin
What is this thoughrobread thing? Current Athlon XP's are produced on a .18 micron fab size. The Thoroughbred Athlon XP's will be produced on a smaller fab size-that being .13 micron. This means Thoroughbred Athlon XP's will run cooler, use less power and their speeds can be faster than current Athlon XP's. AMD will let the Thoroughbred Athlon out of the stable to run free in June.

[AmRivlin]

Very cool... will they work in standard Socket A boards. My board currently supports up to a 2100 (ABIT KG7 Bios 8N)

[sbp]

Originally posted by AmRivlin
Very cool... will they work in standard Socket A boards. My board currently supports up to a 2100 (ABIT KG7 Bios 8N) Most motherboards will just need a bios update for the Thoroughbred Athlon XP's.