Motherboard opinions for Athlon XP

Reccomended MoBo

Hey any1 know of a good motherboard/processor combo?
i need a fairly cheap mobo but with a AMD 1800+ processor

Support out sponsors like,
www.jncs.com
www.azzo.com

also: 3Ds Price Guide

I love my MOBO. How many peole do you hear saying that this day in age. I have the XP 1800 and the EPox 8HKA+ MOBO. This thing has been solid as the Hoover Dam for me for 4 months. The only new gadgets it does not include are RAID and AGP Pro (which is useless now anyway). If it is RAID you want then you need to get the SOYO Dragon. The SOYO dragon has everything, but for a big price too. The EPoX can be picked up at FRY's Electronics now for 89 bucks or so, and don't be fooled by the price. www.TomsHardware.com gave this board a top spot in his review of the top 14 mobo's for the XP.:hotbounce



http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q4/011126/index.html

3DS Motherboard Reviews:
http://www.3dspotlight.com/reviews/motherboards.shtml

agreed, $145.88 Soyo K7V Dragon Plus Socket A (VIA KT266A) is the hot ticket right now.

Budget boards:
Shuttle AK35GT-R Socket A (VIA KT266A)
& the low cost $55.76 Elitegroup ECS K7S5A ( SiS735) which can be buggy.

Good Deal:
http://www.azzo.com/test2/specials_combos.html
ABIT KR7A-RAID & AMD XP1800 CPU w/CoolerMaster HSF $365
with FREE SHIPPING in the USA*
*Shipping method is FedEx Saver and for Continental US only

Hehehe...Happy Birthday Reptile

as previoulsy said, if you want a budget board the best option are the shuttle and the elite mobos. the ak35 is the most recent shuttle but i've heard that the ak31 can be had for a very reasonable price now (~$55). if you want to spend a bit more then you can't go wrong with the Epox 8KHA+ and the Abit KR7-A.

SamJ

I second the Abit KR7-A. I have an Abit KT7A, and it's made me a loyal Abit buyer. Actually the KT7A version 1.3 or newer will support an xp chip of upto 1.9 ghz. That would be a good solution because now they are quite cheap and still perform very well.

ABIT + IWILL = Overclockability
ASUS + EPOX = Stable
TYAN = oh momma
JETWAY = Budget

PC Chips = Need I say more ???

Personally, i'm using MSI KT266A Pro RU! I think among all the contestant, this mtb performs fairly well in term of performance but it shine in it's value added utilities such on board USB2.0 and best of all, we have a great services fr my local supplier!

Relates my persoanl exp, i spoilt my mtb once and the supplier only took 3 days to change it for me! Not bad for this board rite!

Oh i think it's the most stable board among the rest! Beside that it's red in color! Cheers!

Newer ever buy an ABIT mobo!!!! Over the last couple of years I have had to change almost 200 ABITs at work, all with the same problem, blown caps and guss what they still use the same *darned caps on their latest models! Need I add ABIT mobos only have a one year warranty so if it blows up a year from now (like it most likley will) you will be left with a couple of ram sticks and a cpu that you most likley will not find a compatible mobo for!

(*edited by mod)

Mobo

MSI KT266 DDR would be my choose of best buy in Canada at CAD170

Re: Mobo

I will not buy MSI again..After they completely stopped support of the K7 Master while it was in its prime I swore to only buy Abit or Asus from now on.

Here is AMD's list of recommended system boards:

http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config

Why do the capacitors blow? Is it from heat or do they just wear out after a year cause they're poor quality or what? Now I'm worried though cause my Abits approaching it's first birthday. I guess if it dies it will be a good excuse to go out and buy a good DDR board or whatever other flashy fast thing they have out then.

I second the Epox 8KHA+. However, there were a lot of problems relating to it if you O/C the board.

But a lot has been researched about that board and from my experience, I haven't had any probs with it... Haven't tried O/C-ing it yet coz I don't need the extra power.. YET

Anyway, here's the link for the config guide:

http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79836

From many reviews I've read the Soyo Dragon Plus seems like the best motherboard for XP proccessors, it usually gets the highest benchmarks in a variety of tests, although it is not the best overclocker in the field.

Just my opinion, thats what I would buy at the current moment to go with my XP.

Take a look at this shootout on who's the OC king between the Epox 8KHA+ and Shuttle AK31.

http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/Motherboards/epox_and_shuttle.shtml

a similar thread from the old forums:
Recommended motherboard for AthlonXP
4 Motherboards, which tops?

Cheap....

Be careful with cheap. If you are looking for a board to go with the 1800+ look at AMD's motherboard list. go here for a look

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_756_3734^4348^4351,00.html

You should be able to get the Shuttle or DFI for under $85 and they support DDR as well....

Take care,

Boeingfixer

I know I was complaining earlier about my K7 Master and MSI's lack of support for the board. On a positive note, it is a very stable board and is very reliable as well. I have never had any issues with it. I would like to say that the new MSI board that LNCPapa pointed out is a very nice board with many good features.

Im surprised to hear about the bad Abit experience. I have over equated Abit with stability and reliability.