Epox EP8-KTA3+ vs Abit KT7A Raid, Opinions anyone?

[RichL]

Now I've finished re-decorating my study/computer room (and my back is killing me) I'm about to pry my wallet open to upgrade my venerable AMD K6III/475. It was Steven Speilberg showing up to ask if he could borrow it for Jurrasic Park 3 that settled it....

A couple of Duron/TBird based mobos have caught my eye - The Abit KT7A Raid, of which I've heard praise and damnnation in equal measure, and the Epox EP8-KTA3+ (also a Highpoint chipped Raid board). I dont intend to use Raid straight away, but I'd like it as an option for the future.
The Epox has an extra Dimm slot over the Abit and is £15 cheaper. But the Abit has 4-way memory interleave, which I'm told is a Good Thing™.
I'll be using a 256mb stick of Crucial PC133/Cas2, will 4-way interleave make much of a difference?

I'll also be keeping my G400Max, unless Half-Life TFC is still unplayably slow at 800x600, in which case a Kryo II will have to fit the bill.

AUGH! I am having a *&^@£$! bad time posting in forums right now. Two long posts eaten in as many days!
Rant mode off..



[This message has been edited by RichL (edited 28 June 2001).]

[Alec]

This probably isn´t much help, but here are a few "recommended by AMD" mobos:
http://www1.amd.com/athlon/mbl/index/1,1503,,00.html

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 28 June 2001).]

[Wombat]

I love my board, and I'd be happy to answer questions. And the 8KTA3 has 4-way interleave, too. Yes, it helps. I've never had any problems with this board (other than the 686B bug, which is happily patched away).


------------------
Epox 8KTA3 w/ Duron 850@7.5*133 with Alpha 6035, 256MB Crucial 7E, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, IBM 45GB 75gxp, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-final), and Win98 (when I have to).

[Wombat]

P.S. I play Counterstike/TFC at 1024x768 and framerates in the constant 50's. If I try really really hard (with explosions and such), it will dip into the high 30's for a second.

[SCompRacer]

To generalize what I've gathered in posts, it's a matter of percentages. Buying one type of board over another won't guarantee you won't have problems, but the percentage of success goes up with some.

I had a KT7A RAID board, worked great. Others weren't so fortunate. Many go to Iwill, Epox and MSI and claim no hassle setup with the exact same components including power supply.

Some that have had problems report changing power supplies fix their woes. Look for the combined power output on the power supply, not just the overall wattage output. Not all power supplies list it on the tag or in the specs. AMD lists the combined power output in their approved power supply recommendations.

[This message has been edited by SCompRacer (edited 28 June 2001).]

[The PIT]

Abit can be shit just see this link for some of the fun I have had. http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum3/HTML/004081.html
Other places to look are the viahardware forums. Soundblasters are supposed to make things worse but then they're are poeple reporting data corruption without a sblive card in. Iwill Epox and Asus Msi seem to have less problems but this could be mainly due to market share.
You could also look at the Asus with the ali chipset. I've had a hunt Asus forums and they doesn't seem so many problems reported.

[rylan]

The Epox boards all support 2 and 4-way memory interleave also.

I've seen enough horror stories over at www.amdzone.com in the forums regarding current Abit boards that I won't even consider the KT7A-raid.
Abit has been using cheaper components, and their RMA rates are skyrocketing.

[RichL]

Thanks for all the replies so far people.
The needle is veering towards the Epox board.....

[This message has been edited by RichL (edited 28 June 2001).]

[Taz]

I'm pretty happy with my Abit KT7A RAID, the only problems so far have been related to the VIA chipset, so you'll get these whatever KT133A board you go for. An AMD 760 board would be good if they didn't insist on using the good old VIA 686B southbridge ALi boards seem to have less problems but suffer from poor performance. The is supposedly a much modified version of the Iwill KA266, (ALi Magik chipset), coming out soon which may be worth a look.

[EchoWars]

Running the Abit KT7A non-raid myself. Trust me it's the last Abit MB I'll ever buy. Getting ready to dump it for the Epox EP-8K7A DDR setup (used to buy Epox, shoulda never abandoned 'em). I implore you to spend a few more dollars (actually not that much, at least here for us in the States) and go with an AMD chipset (which realisticlly means a DDR board). Although no one has both the North and South from AMD on the market on their board, at least you can go halfway. I think VIA reached their peak with the Apollo Pro 133A for the PIII, and their Athlon chipsets are going downhill fast. Just read a link today that cinched it...about how a huge number of VIA Athlon chipsets manufactured since May will not run stable at 133MHz FSB!! If I find the page again, I'll post it.
So much for VIA...

[The PIT]

Echowars I hope you find it I'll copy the link to a via tech support bloke who hangs out on the forums at viahardware and see what he says.
I'll bet he'll says it bullshit like he insists that probs are only with poeple with sb cards.

[RichL]

I took the plunge, and ordered an Epox this morning. Along with a Duron 800 g/teed overclock to 1ghz, a Thermoengine, Globalwin802 case and a handfull of odds and sods.
Thanks for all the input everyone!

[EchoWars]

For the article on VIA's 133MHz troubles, check here

[Marshmallowman]

I am very happy with my epox 8kta3+

Thing to note when OC'ing a duron

if you are going to run your duron at 133 or higher FSB, using the pencil trick mark the default multiplier as low as possible.

because if you try to boot at 133x8 (default mulitiplier, and voltage) your computer might not boot far enough to into the bios to set your OC'd settings, eg lower multilpier and higher voltage.

I am talking about the default multiplier, not the actual multiplier.

I had problems with my duron 750, but setting the default multiplier to 7 cured it.

epox 8kta3+ 7*140=980 (generic ram running at cas2 140mhz)
had 7.5*133=1G, but i prefer the bus speed of 140

anandtech has the lowdown on the whole deal if you want to chase it up

[RichL]

I remember reading all about that problem, I think it was on Anandtech actually.
IIRC, the problem only occurs when you have to set either the FSB or Multiplier on the motherboard and the other in Bios. I think if both are modified in Bios then you dont get the problem where your ghz capable Duron/TBird tries to boot at 10x150 instead of 6.5x150