Which MB?

[Lycanthrope]

I'm planning to get an Athlon 1700 (or 1800). I can afford an Epox 8K3A at $215 (or $240 w RAID). Or I can just stretch the budget to an Asus A7V333 ($269 no RAID).

Which would be best?

I have a Gf3 Ti200 and I don't plan to overclock (I'd probably incinerate the house). This PC is mainly used for gaming and a little bit of home video editing and watching downloaded eps of Buffy on TV :)

Also, how big a problem is temp with this setup? I assume the CPU comes with a fan.

AND is generic DDR pc2700 RAM OK? It's $135 as opposed to Kingmax at $180 and my budget is so stretched it's about to snap back in my face!

Peter B

[Andy]

i can't say which is best, but i can say good things for the A7V333 :)

[Wiggo]

The EPoX boards are great value for performance and the "plus" version also has 6 speaker sound support. But as for the memory I myself would stay away from the generic memory as it in most cases is far inferior if you plan on pushin' the memory speed or FSB. :smokin:
<center>:cheers:</center>

[fragman]

The MSI KT3 Ultra is a good DDR board also:

http://www.msi.com.tw/products/mainboard/mainboard.php?model=MS-6380E+Ver1.0

The Kt3 Ultra-ARU adds ATA133 RAID, USB 2.0 and 6 channel audio but it's probably past your budget......

[FLaCo]

I think Abit is pretty darn good...never gives problems..(at least not yet) and i've heard that overclockers love'em as well....especially the new AT7. I have a ( well will real soon) KX7 which has the KT333 chipset and RAID. Another great thing about ABIT is price they are real cheap...and at the same time great performers...check 'em out...I beilieve there is no need to go NUTZ and spend all that amount of money on a Motherboard if you are going to be gaming and not even overclock. I would rather use that for a Video Card, or Blaster Audigy and anything else you might need. Just my 2 Cents ...either way those two mobo you spoke about are good as well...anyhow have fun! :D

[PlasmaBurn]

Well, I love my ECS K7S5A, only $160, and has support for SD-RAM and DDR-RAM. Bonuses are that it supports all the Durons/Athlon XPs up to 2000+ (As far as I know), and has onboard Sound and LAN (only with some models, I didn't get LAN on mine. :)

ECS review on the TweakTown page - here

Hope this helps.

[Wiggo]

PlasmaBurn[/size]]
Well, I love my ECS K7S5A, only 0, and has support for SD-RAM and DDR-RAM. Bonuses are that it supports all the Durons/Athlon XPs up to 2000+ (As far as I know), and has onboard Sound and LAN (only with some models, I didn't get LAN on mine. :)

ECS review on the TweakTown page - here

Hope this helps.

I can't really recommend that board for use with Athlon processors and cheap PSUs (even some more expensive 1's too). Durons are fine but with the Athlons the power supply becomes a factor that needs to be looked into very carefully before purchase (I have one and know the problems).
Better performance can be had for not a great deal more from any KT266A board. :smokin:
<center>:cheers:</center>

[PlasmaBurn]

oOoOo, thanx for that info.

I was about to buy a Athlon for myself, but I'll have to get a new mobo too. Ack.

[Wiggo]

Yes a new mobo will be even better value. ;)

[Albinus]

Only the retail AMD CPUs come with a HSF, unless the vendor is kind enough to chuck one in with the OEM CPU (which most don't)

Heat shouldn't be too much of a problem, as you're not overclocking.

Generic DDR is usually a no-no, a reputable brand such as Apacer comes with a lifetime warranty, as opposed to the 12 months often placed on generic modules :)

Hope this helps :cheers: