MB Debate - KT600/NF2

[rsfnatik]

I'm considering a motherboard upgrade to support an XP 2100+ I have recently acquired. My goal is to stay with an affordable board with some features for future upgrades (ie: 400FSB/SATA).

I was hoping to go with an NF2 board but I can't get one with the features I want for my target of ~$100CDN - it puts me into AN7/NF7-S/A7N8X-E territory which is $139-$162CND. I can drop to a more mid-range ASUS/MSI NF2 board for $98CDN but I loose some of the features I want.

That brings me to the KT600 - they're cheaper. :) I can go with an KV7/A7V600/KT6 and be happy. Any thoughts? I'm still doing my own reading.

[BipolarBill]

If you need features, the KT600 is a good choice. I like my Epox KRA2+ just fine. It overclocks as well as my 8RDA+ too. The sound is much better in the NF board though.

I would shop by price and features. Here's a nice KT6:


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-197&depa=0

[rsfnatik]

From what i'm seeing, most KT600 boards seem to revolve around the same basic specs... so price and "feel" will probably be the deciding factor. At the moment, i'm leaning towards the MSI KT6 Delta-LSR @ $97CDN. The layout is excellent and it's one of the top performing KT600 boards out there.

[Recordlord]

I have the A7V600 I am very unhappy with it. The reason I chose the A7V600 was for the Sata/southbridge controller which is supposed to be the best/fastest. better than Promise's hmmm?? The A7N8X is much faster and the memory sticks you can use are limited. Just my thoughts!

[rsfnatik]

Yeah, i've already written off the A7V600 - not the greatest KT600 performer, which says a lot. Like I said, the MSI KT6 Delta-LSR has peaked my interest at the moment. It's got a lot of features and outperforms most KT600 boards... closes the gap between the NFII a bit. :) We'll see what happens... unfortunately, it looks like i've got to put off the new board a few more weeks. :(

[Bat25]

It doesn't just close the gap, it is basically even and actually better with 3D mark scores, and is better up to about 220 FSB where the nforce2 then takes over - only with AGP-PCI lock and the ability to overclock. VIA has better IDE stability too with KT600. Despite what you see certain posters on Tom's say about VIA (he has also posted here) - KT600 is actually quite good. The problem is that the implementation 'of' that chipset was done much better by Gigabyte, MSI, and Soyo. All three boards are quite excellent.

[crapyking]

I recently built 2 nf2's (biostar & chaintech) & 1 ea. Gigabyte kt600 & GA-7S748-L. All were very fast & stable but I prefer to get just 1 stick of ram & not have to worry about matching sticks for duel channel (yea ,U can run just 1). I really love my gigabyte kt600 - lighting fast, never misses a lick! And the 745 Gb board ran the same,rock solid. I built that one for a friend.NF 2's R overrated unless your looking to overclock. I tried tweaking them all & still have the best 3dmark 2k1 scores w/ my kt 600. not alot but still better.

[rsfnatik]

Yeah, i've grown out of overclocking - I just need a stable board with a certain feature set. When I looked over the NF2 boards I would have been forced to go with the higher-end Ultra 400 to get the features I wanted. Then I looked at VIA and I can get a KT600 board with everything I want at a noticably lower price (~$40CDN). Sounds good to me... :)

Man, I wish ASUS had put a little more work into the A7V600 tho - very disappointing.

[Bat25]

Im right there with your guys. I have OC'ed for so long that this past year I got really tired of it, and just started to prefer the regular systems with a faster native processor. I just like regular fast systems now with absolutely no overclocking (or very little if any).

[PH8]

Check out http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7N400-L.htm