Abit KT-RAID vs. Asus A7V

[seven11]

Hi folks,

I'm currently in the process of deciding on a new motherboard for a new system that I'm going to throw together. I'm going to be putting in a Thunderbird 1200e, but I can't decide between the Asus A7V or the Abit KT7-raid. From what I understand both have raid 0 (which is what I want), but when it all comes down to it, which board is a better buy and which board has a reputation of being more stable and offering more features?

I was all set to pick up the KT7 until I heard about the A7V, and now I'm not sure what my best choice would be. The box that I'm building is going to be a dedicated audio workstation, so having raid 0 in there and a reliable bios etc would be a priority. Correct me if I'm wrong...but does the A7V also allow you to hook up 8 ata100 drives to the motherboard in addition to raid 0?

And one last question about the Asus A7V: What's the difference between the Asus A7V and the Asus A7V133? They both have raid 0, do they not? Is one just a more recent model?

Any input on this from anybody would be extremely helpful. I'm looking to buy within the next week. Thanks!

Ryan.

 

[LTJLover]

ok first of all, you should be looking at the KT7A RAID and A7V133. The others are previous versions and do not allow bus speeds of more than about 110MHz. I am ordering up the KT7A RAID next week for my TBird 1.2gig 266FSB. I personally love the Abit boards. Asus makes a great board too however. It is really a matter of personal choice. Both boards will perform about the same, with ruffly the same features. Some people swear by Asus, some by abit. You make the call. Chipsets are the same and such.

Jon
"Water-Cooled CPU Runner"

 

[seven11]

Cool!

The KT7A RAID is the one with audio, whereas the KT7 RAID is without audio, correct? I wanted to avoid on-board audio if I can if both boards are indenditcal otherwise. I'm a fan of Abit boards which is why I checked out these boards in the first place. I run two Abit boards for my celerons right now and I've been really happy with them. Do you know off hand what the max # of drives I'll be able to run off of the KT7 board at once (including raid)? Thanks again

Ryan.

 

[LTJLover]

Wrong. The KT7 line doesn't have built in audio. The A designation signifies that the board uses the new VIA KT133A chipset which will run FSB's over 133MHz as opposed to the KT133 chipset on the KT7 RAID and A7V which will only do about 110MHz FSB. Other than that, the Abit boards are about the same. Using the primary IDE controllers and RAID controller, you can use 8 drives.

Jon
"Water-Cooled CPU Runner"

 

[seven11]

Ahh..Woops. Lucky I didn't order the plain old KT7. One last question if you don't mind, since you are planning to build almost the same system as me:

What kind of cooler would you recommend that I stick on my 1200e Thunderbird? Thinking of picking up this little guy:

http://www.ncix.com/shop/detail.cfm?id=5773&cart=additem.cfm

Do you think it'll be enough? Or should I be investing in something better? Thanks.

Ryan.

 

[LTJLover]

oh jesus man. What a rip. That is not a good cooler, especially for that price. I am buying the GlobalWin FOP38 which an awesome HS/FAN for OCing purposes (people get this combo to about 1450MHz). It is loud though. Loudest fan out there. The FOP32 is more quiet, but still good. Check globalWin's page or read up on Tom's cooler review and get one of those. The orb's are expensive and not that great. Be careful not to get a heatsink that is too big for the mobo.

Jon
"Water-Cooled CPU Runner"

 

[seven11]

Thanks for your advice. I kind of suspected something fishy with that cooler - seemed rather expensive to me. Probably the biggest issue I'm facing is trying to find a cooler that'll keep it cool at 1200mhz (I don't think I'll overclock, but you never know) and I need to find myself a cooler that is quiet, since this machine will be sitting in a recording studio environment. If it's too loud the machine is going to have to be put in an isolation cabinet, which I don't really want to do if I don't have to!

Ryan.

 

[Guest]

I was wondering.... what kind of CASE or you using for your ABIT motherboard?

 

[seven11]

Well, I'm either going to be putting it in a full tower case or in a rackmount chassis. I forget the brand name of the rackmount (I'm potentially buying it off of a friend), but it's solid and built like a tank. Also supposed to have good cooling and is pretty quiet. I think it's by GC Systems, now that I think of it. Putting it in a rack would be great, but it depends on whether or not my friend is ready to part with it by the time I'm ready to build in a week or so. My other option to a rackmount case will be sticking it into a Supermicro SC760-A (http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/Chassis/sc760A.htm), because I already own one of those. Tons of cooling, lots of drive space and it's nice and roomy. I have a Celeron running in it right now, but I'll put that out and put it into a rackmount case along with my other Celeron should I need to use the Supermicro for the KT7a

 

[lrmv]

I'd suggest not to get the FOP38 as it is really terribly noisy. The noise it makes has a high pitched tone in it which is unbearable. I use a FOP32 and recently decided to upgrade this cooler to the FOP38 by replacing the fan by the DELTA fan, which is the type used on the real FOP38. I just took it back of because of the noise...
(as far as I'm informed, the FOP38 is the same as the FOP32 but with a more powerful fan)
Don't forget to remove the thermal pad using some aether or another solvent, and put some arctic silver on as thermal conductor.


<i><font color=purple>Running within specs is the key to a stable computer!</font color=purple></i>

 

[phsstpok]

Irmv, here is a link to a low-noise FOP32 upgrade. Looks easy and cheap.

<A HREF="http://www.ocshoot.com/foprocks.htm" target="_new">http://www.ocshoot.com/foprocks.htm</A>.

 

[lrmv]

I've been experimenting with 80mm fans om my FOP32 too - only not in the way it is done there. But I think the results where about the same - not much difference in temperature compared to the original FOP32 but much more quiet. What I did was to make a funnel from cardboard to guide all the outcoming air from the fan in the heat sink. The fan is a 80mm 47CFM PAPST type (8412N/2GH). Of course the funnel reduces the surface which may in turn reduce CFM.


<i><font color=purple>Running within specs is the key to a stable computer!</font color=purple></i>