Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (
More info?)
That PC133 is a real drag on the system. Most any modern mobo that still
supports PC133 is going to be in the "value" market, something from ECS,
perhaps, who is still selling hybrid boards (SDR-RAM and DDR-RAM). You night
get these pretty cheap, maybe $40-60. But you're not going to
find anything *new* and *modern* in the PC133 arena among the enthusiasts
market, like Abit, Asus, etc.
And while I suppose you could pick up an older PC133 model, such as a Abit
KT7A-RAID, and save some money, compatibility always becomes an issue. You
don't have to step too far back anymore to find "quirks", things that don't
work just right, lack of support for the current high-end Athlon
processors, etc. Plus so many of the modern mobo's have integrated
components, you'd spend MORE money replacing them on an older board than
simply buying a new, modern board. So I'd strongly advise against it.
My recommendation would be to *dump* the PC133 on eBay. There are many
people who are trying to upgrade older systems, who would be happy to have
it. Some of it is hard to find, esp. the older low-density stuff (if you
have that, it's worth even more). Because supply and demand dictates
prices, not "age" (up to a point), with any luck, you can probably sell it
for a decent price and use the profits to get DDR, or at least a good start
on DDR. Until the DDR prices went insane over the past 8 weeks or so, it
was almost an even trade!
Among AMD mobo's, and Abit specifically, the choice among DDR solutions is
either the NF7-S v2, or AN7 (there are NO PC133 solutions!). Although the
AN7 is supposed to be the follow-up to the NF7, it's not been getting
particularly good reviews (
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTU3 ), to be fair, expectations may
have been too high. The NF7-S v2 is still extremely popular, very mature
(nearing the end of its life cycle), and stable. People just rave about it.
Has just about everything, including on-board sound from NVIDIA (5.1 channel
SoundStorm w/ digital OUT), USB 2.0,
firewire, SATA, LAN, SoftMenu (still the best), for about $105 shipped (
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&depa=0 ).
Since you already have an 80GB IDE, you can use the included SATA adapter,
then purchase another SATA drive, and use the RAID features. It's either
that, or pick up another IDE HD and a Promise FastTrak100 TX2 RAID
controller off eBay for about $35.
The NF7-S is definitely targeted at gamers, but frankly, all AMD models are,
that's its strength. So I see nothing wrong with using it for lighter
duties, bound to be even more stable than it already is. Overclocks easily,
so if you just want to dabble, shouldn't be a problem.
The only Abit alternative is the AN7, newer w/ newer chipset, only $5 more,
but I'm less confident about this model. Many people do swear by it, and it
is the latest and greatest, so that's something to consider. There's really
not that much difference, primarily the AN7 has the new NForce2 Ultra400
chipset, plus Abit has added the uGuru features, which are overclocking
facilities. It's really a matter of deciding whether it makes more sense to
go for the the maturity and stability of the older NF7-S v2, or take a
chance on the newest improvements as expressed in the AN7 (pricing is
basically the same). If it were me, I'd read a few reviews on each, then
decide.
But that old strategy of trying to revive older technology, leverage old
hardware, etc., it just doesn't work anymore, just not worth it. In the
end, it will cost you more in terms of actual $$$ *and* aggravation. Trust
me, I've been there, I dumped *all* my old stuff on eBay, and w/ the profits
paid for at least %50 or more of my new system. Happy to be rid of it.
JMTC.
As far as processor, that's really just a matter of finding the sweet spot,
might be a Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton" 333MHz (
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-417&depa=1 )
right now. Pick up some PC2700 to go w/ it, over PC3200 if you want to give
yourself some overclocking headroom.
HTH
Jim
"Tom Dugas" <tdugas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:10cab28b.0404141135.1f5e76ec@posting.google.com...
> Greetings,
>
> I am a little behind on my PC reading, my knowledge is sort of stuck
> in 2001, which is the last time I built a PC. I am looking for a ABIT
> motherboard because I like them and I have used them before. I have a
> new Antec 550W powersupply, 80GB IDE Hardrive (7200rpm), Nvidia Dual
> Monitor PCI Video Card, ATX barebones case, and about 512MB of PC133
> RAM. All of the parts are NIB, with the exception of the RAM, which I
> salvaged from a PC that was being upgraded at work.
>
> Soooooooooo....I need a good ABIT motherboard to host all this nice
> hardware. I am not a speed freak. I still surf with a dial-up, cause
> its free (VPN). Don't do hardly any gaming, but I want to install
> Windoze XP PRO and Office Pro. I am sorta interested in playing with
> RAID technology, since I link the redundancy. I am not against buying
> another 80GB drive to make a simple RAID PC. Last but not least, I
> like stability, I MAY overclock, but at a later date when the board
> gets old. I like AMD processors cause they are good value. I may
> watch movies, so 5.1 sound built in would be super nice, but not a
> deal breaker.
>
> I would appreciate a good tip on where to buy a good ABIT
> motherboard/CPU combo that can use my PC133 RAM, >$50-$100 would be
> great.
>
> Thanks in advance.
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