Anywhere in the UK still stocking SDRAM based boards?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

It loosk like my sisters managed to kill her motherboard:

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160469

So im trying to scout out replacments, however im having no luck turning up AMD, SDRAM based motherboards. If anyoen could point me in the direction of a retailer still selling them (paticularly anywhere stockign the Abit KT7a - which is what is currently in therE) i woudl be most gratefull

Cheers,

--Jakk:t

[Peter M]

The usual suspect for this scenario, K7S5A pro, should still be somewhat available.

E.g.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52748

The "Syntax" KT266A board they carry for 19 quid would be the last remaining alternative with a VGA-less VIA chipset, although people in forums are not generally too happy with it. It's rather slow compared to K7S5A, but the similar chipset might save you from having to reinstall the OS. The ebuyer customer comments paint a very positive picture however.

[BipolarBill]

You have two choices, Jakk - the ECS K7S5A Pro and the MSI KM266 (mATX).

Oh - three choices! Ebay! :rolleyes:

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Thanks Bill, Peter;

I was hoping that the ECS wouldnt come up, ive heard VERY bad things about them and generally dont liek the look of them, judging by user comments, the things ive heard were right.

Im liking the look of the MSI board though, only concerns are, will it take my Ti4200 (im guessing yes) and will it do okay for light gaming (my dad likes to use that machine for his CoD habit)?. Other than that i cant see any problems, only really need once PCI slot if theres onboard NIC.

My only worry now is that im gonna buy a new motherboard and find that other components have also been screwed in the lightning strike :(

--Jakk:t

[Peter M]

oh, I've literally used PILES of K7S5A and -pro, with no more and no less problems than with anything else. In particular, I've been using it lots for upgrades to machines where recycling existing RAM was in order.

It's not very tolerant against wimpy power supplies, and thanks to the SiS chipset being rather fast on the SDRAM, will reveal whether or not your DIMMs are really up to their PC133 specification. Careful adjustment of the RAM timings and other settings should be done, but there's no secret tricks there.

In fact, the latter thing is true for any mainbaord that has SDR/DDR configuration - even more so if it's a chipset w/ integrated VGA.

Most people who've been ranting about this board have sooner or later found the actual mistake they've been making - just browse through old threads on the matter. As you've just demonstrated, there's just too much temptation to bash the mainboard without ever having looked at one because soooo many others have done the same :rolleyes: ;) You should be able to do better than them ...

ECS haven't kept this thing available (and successfully selling in dozens of millions) for two and a half years because it's such an unusable dog of a design. In fact, in total numbers shifted, it's the best selling computer mainboard ever, by a huge margin. That's another factor of why you see so many threads about it.

If you've had an Abit board before, check for inflated or leaked capacitors.

[BipolarBill]

The video card is all you would have to worry about surge-wise.

The MSI can handle most anything short of AGP 8X and Barton CPUs.

[BipolarBill]

BTW - I'm with Peter on the ECS. I've installed about 30 of them now and my customers are quite happy. I guess that this goes to show that the less one knows, the better.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

MSI it is then, i've had nothing but good experience with MSI and im one to stick with what i know and im hoping the VIA KT run on will save me some hassle (though nto holdign my breath). There wont be any problems with putting a Micro-ATX board into an ATX case will there?

The thing that seems really odd though is that all the machines are on spike and surge protected extension cables, i just dont get why this should have happened, especially given that my machine is perfectly alright and wasnt turned off until long after her's. Still, just one of those things i suppose, i would be really annoyed if the video card's pegged it toothough, its been a really good investment over the years.

Loosk liek i might have to put plans to buy my new HDD on hold now :(

Thanks again guys

--Jakk:t

[BipolarBill]

Your biggest problem is going to be disabling onboard video and making the nVidia primary. I can help with that when you're ready.

[Peter M]

That surge/spike protection gadgetry is absolutely useless against lightning strike. I've seen a direct strike jump the air gap from a wall socket to a disconnected mains plug a foot away on the floor. Pair that up with the delicacy of today's silicon chips, and you're headed for disaster.

The only good thing about those surge protectors is they often come with an insurance policy that replaces the stuff that was connected to them if they failed to protect the equipment.

[Peter M]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
Your biggest problem is going to be disabling onboard video and making the nVidia primary. I can help with that when you're ready.

The VIA chipset auto-disables its internal VGA as soon as you plug an AGP card. No tricks required.

[BipolarBill]

Well, I had fits with a KT133 mATX board and a PCI video card. Then again, this board didn't even have an AGP port.

[Peter M]

I reckon that was KLE133 then? KT133 doesn't have internal VGA ...

KLE133 plays by different rules, given the age of its integrated Trident graphics engine. That one might not even play well with PCI VGA cards.

And yes, getting a PCI VGA to play nice with a chipset integrated pseudo-AGP VGA device might be a bit tricky. You need both parties and their drivers to behave.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Originally posted by Peter M
The VIA chipset auto-disables its internal VGA as soon as you plug an AGP card. No tricks required.

Yeah, thats what i've read, then again ive not much experience of boards with onboard video.beyond the boards with Intel Extreme at work.

Given that more than one item has been cooked during this paticular storm i think my dad may wel b looking at gaining for some compensation somwhere, i'll pas son the info about surge protection companies

--Jakk:t