questions on ram for my AMD system

[Crack Monkey]

im gonna be upgrading my current system to an AMD system with my tax return (yay!) ive always been an intel guy, and ive finally decided to switch over and get a REAL processor. anyways, im looking to get a duron chip o/c to 1 Ghz, on an Abit KT7-A board. however, im confused as to what RAM i should use. its been a while since i built my last system, and there are tons of different kinds of ram out now. for my system what would be the best price/performance option for me? i.e. PC133, PC150, PC1600 DDR, PC2100 DDR....

also, are there any incompatibilites with the above mentioned ram types and my chip/mobo?

thanks in advance

[This message has been edited by Crack Monkey (edited 03-13-2001).]

[daverme]

There has been a LOT of griping on SysOpt lately about Abit boards. You may want to reconsider your choice of Abit. I recommend searching the SysOpt forums before buying.

[randy48]

You're gonna clock that bad boy, better get PC150, it's cheap enough!

[gyoung]

If you want the best bargain, go to www.crucial.com (http://www.crucial.com)

They have great deals on 256MB CAS2 PC133 RAM. If you get there quick they have free shipping.

This stuff is fast and of very high quality.

[JackAndCoke]

i agree with gyoung i have 2 sticks of Crucial cas2 PC133 in my comp overclocked with no problems at all.Good Ram fast delivery..

[Bovon]

I will also agree with gyoung and jackandcoke (my favorite also http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif ) only the guys with deep pockets and will push a board to the edge of the envelope go for the pc150 ram. Crucial, Corsair and other good quality pc133 cas2 sdram will go to 150 cas3 just fine. And for most O/Cers...this will be great enough. When you go much higher, the systems will only work with the mininum stuff...so, its just to find out where the limits are.

As gyoung said, Crucial has a promo sale going, and 256 mb pc133 cas2 sdram is $89.24. I ordered mine friday, and it showed up here Monday morning with free UPS 2nd day shipping...can't beat that. And, the word on the street is, ram is soon going to go up again, so get it while the prices are down.

By the way...I forgot to mention this. I have not ordered a board yet myself. I read every review I can find. I read at several other forums. From what I can determine, the KT133a boards (all of them) are giving the users many headaches. The reviews are usually done with the minumum amount of cards. When you go to assemble a system, there are all sorts of conflicts...and many of the guys are dissapointed. This appears to have started with the Abit K7Ta board...but now that there are others on the scene..the problems persist.

My personal opinion is...the KT133a chipset...particularly the new 686B southbridge, may be a little immature yet...The mobo mfrs jumped on this bandwagon too fast, and all of the bugs haven't been worked out yet. I will wait and read awhile yet myself.

[This message has been edited by Bovon (edited 03-13-2001).]

[gauge]

I'm no computer expert, but Im running the same system your upgrading too. I have a Abit Kt7 raid with 256 and have not have any problems yet (knocking on wood) I have not attempted to overclock because I cannot afford to make any mistakes (one of my friends burned his chip up) Im running Window 2000K and loving it. So far so good.

[Crack Monkey]

thanks for the replies everyone

bovon - ive seen some posts and articles describing the same kinds of issues with the chipset - is there another good quality alternative, or is a updated chipset planned anytime soon?

[paul233]

I wish someone would get specific about Abit boards problems. I don't have any, and run a tnt 32 card in the agp and 2 pci video cards, as well as sound, modem, network, and an extra serial port. I run w2k for work and w98se for games. A friend of mine does have problems with his toshiba cd/rw and we think it IS the mobo, and that is because the drive worked fine with a p3. It's not like he is going to change back tho :-)

[BDAWBTP]

I also have a KT7 board. No problems here either.

Has been running 24/7 for the past three months.

Duron 700
Diamond Viper II AGP
SB Live
128 meg crucial ram

[Hellmund]

I've had the Abit KT7,Duron 750 and
128meg c2 PC100. I run Win98SE for three months and haven't had a crash. This board has been completely stable.The RAM i have is generic c3 pc100 and my hardrive is a Quantum Fireball LM(a low quality cheap drive but it's 7,200rpm).If anyone should have problems it should be me.Oh, I also have an Unrecommended Maxway 250W PS.

[jad1097]

I have a KT7A and I have no problems with it. I think most people do not have a problem with these boards. Week 50 and newer KT133A chipsets overclock better from what I have read at several places.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/005708.html

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/005702.html

[gyoung]

I've got an Abit KT7 and I've had some problems with my soundcard. It just took some researching to find out that my soundcard has some compatibility with the VIA chipset (not Abit but VIA).

I've got the Diamond MX300 (aureal) card and it has issues. I was able to get it to work in Win98 by disabling sound blaster emulation. I currently have problems with it in Win2K where the sound cuts out. I'm currently looking for a new sound card to get around this problem.

I don't blame this on Abit, but on the soundcard. First off Diamond doesn't support it any more and second, Aureal went out of business, so no support there. The card is old, so I figure it's time for an upgrade.

[jad1097]

BTW there is no more FREE shipping at Crucial. It now cost $8.50 for UPS 2nd day but for $1.50 more you can do FedEx Overnight.

The promo is still going though. http://www.crucial.com/webpromo/

[Bovon]

Crack. There are many ppl that are having problems with the newKT133a chipsets...not everybody of course. Those that don't have problems, rarely post at forums. But, to get a handle on a few that others have run into, check out these forums.
http://hardforum.com/index.php
http://www.amdmb.com/vb/index.php
(Site has dedicated mobo forums)

(amdmb forum's server is the pits, and will sometimes time out trying to load the site)

There seems to be a hugh issue with the KT133 (a?) chipset and SBLive! drivers. While at amdmb forum read the thread named 'Abit - Oh noooooooooooo....' or, here...
http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=27263

Soundman777 may have found the problem.

I have some 'personal' thoughts concerning Intel vs AMD and their chipsets. Most problems appear to be software and VIA chipset have been having problem for too long. Could it be an issue between Intel and software designers?...I wonder. To my knowledge, there is no alternative for the AMD processors except the KT133 chipset...could be wrong...as I havent researched that aspect well.

Paul233, check out the hardforum. You will see many complaining about the KT133 chipsets, all are not limited to Abits either. Abit has left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of ppl that do have problems, and can't get Abits customer service / tech help to respond. Some old time Abit diehards have jumped ship due to this.

Glad I ordered my ram from Crucial last friday...at least I got the free shipping http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif every little bit helps, and everybody like a good bargain...and free shipping usually isn't applied to sales type deals.

Here are a couple of other forums I visit pretty regularly...
http://www.forumoc.com/
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/
(main page, click on EOC Forums from menu)
http://forums.win98central.com/index.php

[jad1097]

I wonder what he meant by "just bought tha mobo lost 2 houres for Fan1 problem".

Did it take him two hours to figure out a fan needed to be plugged into fan header 1? Maybe not, but if so he should have read the manual first. I have seen that posted on different BBS's at least a dozen times. I wonder at times if I am the only one who takes the time to read manuals and instructions before proceeding with anything else. What really gets me is people have the nerve to blame the manufacturer for their laziness.