alotta questions!

well i hav saved sum money now and im set on a XP1900+ but there r alot of mobo's out there to choose from im still pondering about either the soltek SL-DRV4or5 or the MSIK7T266APRO2 plez help with the goods and bads about each motherboard and also which is the best HSF to get im set on a VOLCANO7 try to convince me of better!

As far as MOBOs I would definately advise on going with MSI or ASUS. Have some experience with the 266APRO from MSI. Stable as a rock with a 1800+ on it when BIOS is patched up and USB2 disabled. Didnt like overclocking with USB2 enebaled.

In my working experience I would say that the MSI K7T266A PRO2, is by far the best choice..

Oh and as far as heatsinks. Go 4 the new Volcano 7+

It saves industrial deafness. Its a hell of a lot quieter, has a factory inline fanbus. And even on the fans slowest setting runs roughly 5 degrees cooler than the Volcano 7.

I have 1 on order myself, will get it midweek.

YES!! i have made about three computers with that mobo in it.. Guess what [Blocked image] every time they turn on they work [Blocked image] well so far [Blocked image] .. + there red and sexeh [Blocked image]

ive been reading at www.tomshardware.com and to my surprise the MSI got rated the crappiest mobo and the soltek was 2nd
and the soltek cums on a purple groovy board

Well that just shows U the difference there is between retail boards and engineering sample boards..

All manufacturers, and it can be anything have " review " items.. They are immaculate, I mean perfect.

The retail versions are different..

Im not bagging the Soltek. I am just sharing the experience I have with years working on machines. And if my wholesaler tells me he doesnt have ANY MSI boards returned with faults, and I have 2 MSI boards working sweet for me right this very instant.

Thats good enough for me..

And Prowler, U have come to the forums asking peoples advice, now if U have already made your mind up ( which it seems U have ), why ask ??

[ 25 March 2002: Message edited by: Sly_Fox ]</p>

I must point out that Toms Hardware is often paid by companies (unofficially of coarse) and they cannot always be trusted. If your going to buy a new motherboard now, I recommend you buy one that is capable of running 166MHz FSB (333DDR) so you can upgrade later on and extend the life of your purchase. Many current boards can go to 166 (my Abit KG7 can go to 200 (400DDR), but the problem is they only have a PCI divider of only ¼ (133.3/4=33.3). The new ones have a 1/5 divider (166.6/5=33.3). These mobos are fully backwards compatible so even though they can run 166, they can also run 133 and 100. My suggestion is not to buy a VIA KT266A motherboard and only get one built with a VIA KT333. If you have the money and don’t already have 266DDR memory I would also say pay the extra and buy 333DDR. If/when you plan to upgrade later on (as we do) to a Appaloosa or Thoroughbred you would already have the memory for it. They can also be used for overclocking current CPU’s if you’re not prepared to hack your CPU’s bridges.
Just keep these suggestions in mind, nobody wants to buy a new mobo and have people a month later telling them they can’t run the new CPU’s.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Odyssey:
I must point out that Toms Hardware is often paid by companies (unofficially of coarse) and they cannot always be trusted. If your going to buy a new motherboard now, I recommend you buy one that is capable of running 166MHz FSB (333DDR) so you can upgrade later on and extend the life of your purchase. Many current boards can go to 166 (my Abit KG7 can go to 200 (400DDR), but the problem is they only have a PCI divider of only ¼ (133.3/4=33.3). The new ones have a 1/5 divider (166.6/5=33.3). These mobos are fully backwards compatible so even though they can run 166, they can also run 133 and 100. My suggestion is not to buy a VIA KT266A motherboard and only get one built with a VIA KT333. If you have the money and don’t already have 266DDR memory I would also say pay the extra and buy 333DDR. If/when you plan to upgrade later on (as we do) to a Appaloosa or Thoroughbred you would already have the memory for it. They can also be used for overclocking current CPU’s if you’re not prepared to hack your CPU’s bridges.
Just keep these suggestions in mind, nobody wants to buy a new mobo and have people a month later telling them they can’t run the new CPU’s.<hr></blockquote>The ThermalTake Volcano7 and Volcano7+ are excellent products but they are not recommended by AMD so you should use a copper Shim to prevent core chipping. I have seen this happen twice and it's never a pretty sight, CPU core or user of CPU. [Blocked image]

Yes..

AMD cores are very small, and quite delicate.

Especially when locking on a big chunk of heavy copper.

But my Volcano 7+ runs lovely on my 1.2c
I dont use a shim either, but unless U are fanatically precise in what U are doing. It does give U a margin for error in fitting it.

They have finally finalised the standard for the 333 now, so its a safe purchase [Blocked image]

Its not a necessary thing tho, there is roughly 1% performance difference today between 266 and 333. So a 266 is just fine, but if U want that extra bit of tomorrow proofing, go 4 the 333.

I emphasise TODAY there is only a 1% performance gain over the 266A by the 333. Because current equipment dont exploit the advantages. Today.
Tomorrow is a different thing tho [Blocked image]

Can't say which is better but I just put together and ASUS A7N266E with an AMD XP1900+.
Went together sweetly with the usual well written manual, overclocked mildly on the soft BIOS without trouble.

Bonus! Got two slabs of 256mb PC2100 DDR to utilize the 128bit "Twinbank" architecture at up to 4.2 GB/s.

This guy wanted the nVidia MCP-D integrated Dolby being a DVD freak!

Not so hot! The GeForce 2 on board ( Sure great for an onboard, but makes it a waste if you already have a 3 or 4!)

Used the Zalman Flower Heatsink & fan combo, seems very top heavy with only one hs clip, but works a treat!

Oh, onboard Lan is always nice!

Arent the Zalmans just the freakiest lookin heatsinks out ?

Onboard LAN normally bites. Normally the throughput is brain numbingly slow.

have to take my hat off to both Sly Fox and Flammable ('sokay, i'll pop his ego later [Blocked image] ) for the advice on the MSI K7T266 Pro 2 they reccomended for my new beast - the damn thing purrs like a kitten.

I love the thing [Blocked image] not one jumper setting or switch [Blocked image] i also recommend Neo get one [Blocked image]

And oddly enough, Neo got one [Blocked image]
(ordered one anyway [Blocked image] ), will let ya'z know how it turns out.

Okay not sure about the mobos BUT.. I have an Xp 1600 fitted with a new shiny Volcano 7 fan. Copper shim is in the base of heatsink and is made for AMD as Pentium is different.

Fitting was easier than greasing a pig and tempreture in non airconditioned hovel went from 64 degrees to 50.

So fitted a 12 cm case fan and tempreture now 45 degrees constant.

With aircon room tempreture drops to 40 degrees. Damn thing is so cold I can almost hear the penguins inside the box whinging.

So as for the fan buy the Volcano 7 built specifically for the AMD.

My ten cents worth

Go the Aluminium blocks!

Go the standard Intel Heatsink and fan [Blocked image]

havent really followed this thread, but I would Reccoment the following boards:

For Overclocking:
Abit KR7A
Epox 8KHA+

For Running Stock
Gigabyte 7DXR
MSI K7Master

And I got 2 Volcano 7's on a pair of Athlon XP 1800 on a dual slocket A mobo, and tempature is no problem (:

BAH! You fools, I have had experience with some mobo's and heatsinks. Ok first of all you can bugger off, true they do run SLIGHTLY higher then ther mobo's but they run hotter and less stable for the fact that they push more out of their cards, a speed difference that you will not notice unless you benchmark and even then it is only slightly. Soltek are brilliant boards, Flammable, they are also jumper free or yuo can use jumpers if you want, the standard BIOS changes the speed of your RAM which makes a HUGE difference. As for heatsinks, I have never used the volcano 7 but have used the NEW standard amd heatsink, (the bronze not the silver) and I get temperatures of 47 without aircon already and it only cost me $50. The new COPPER standard heatsink is $85 retail and I admit it is a bit louder but it gives you lower then anything i've seen, same temp as some water cooled systems. I am using now a soltek drv2 and will upgrade to the drv5 soon.

Question for mentasm:
cant be fucked doing normal quote so read

"Stable as a rock with a 1800+ on it when BIOS is patched up and USB2 disabled"

How is that stable as a rock then, you have to bother patching the bios, and then disabling the USB2. You fool, USB2 is the way of the future, at 480MB ipless configuration for direct connection, my god it's AWESOME, the only reason I would get that board is FOR the USB2, hopefully thats how all LANS will be ran in the future using USB2