Asus or Abit?

[BluHeadTed]

Ok I have a question.. I don't want it to be like the AMD versus Intel grouping either. I would like an opinion from people that are not dedicated to one brand or another. My question is Abit or Asus? Kt7 vs Ka7 . Now Im not a gamer. Im also not getting the raid board. If raid was an issue I would go with the abit board. Pros. Abit has 6 pci and 1 isa. Asus has 5 pci and an AMR slot. I figure AMR modems suck anyway. I run DSL, so why should I waste the time with AMR I could put a 56k isa modem in for those times I need one. I still then have 6 pci slots. Asus can support up to 7 USB controleers. I do have have several USB devices. But is the lacking PCI slot make up for the fact that I could buy a DSL hub? Im not much of a gamer. I do do a lot of web design and 2d graphics. I primarily use Paint Shop Pro. I have my reasons for not using Photoshop..We won't go there.) So what board is the better bang for the buck? I have seen the abit board come out ahead in all the articles I have read, but it was the Raid board. Also, is there a good reliable brand of memory? I dont need to overclock I'll be running a T bird 800.. I just prefer stability, but I dont have the money for the REAL good stuff.

Any advice would be kind...

Thanks
Ted

[SoDead]

Funny you should ask BluHeadTed. i am in the process of making the same decision. The reviews that i have read (everyone i could find - and that's lots of 'em) end up being a toss-up between the two boards. i have online friends that have each of these boards and they are all very pleased with their selection. You may want to do what i did - download the users manuals for each board. i have casually paged through each; still need to give each manual a serious read. i am leaning towards the KT7-RAID because of the slots and software over-clocking but i sure do like the ASUS BIOS update from windows feature and don't mind using DIP switches. What about Crucial memory sticks?

[BluHeadTed]

Well,

Like I said earlier. I don't really need the raid controller. I haven't seen a review of the basic KT7 board against the Asus. Is the only benafit of the Abit the Raid controller? I like the soft bios feature. Although I also like the Asus 7 usb port feature as well and the ata 100...it looks good for the future..

as far as crucial? I am looking to pay around $1.00 a meg for the ram...Ugh. the decissions!! I'd swear I was buying a car! Wait no.. my car isn't worth as much as my computer....LOL

Thanks

Ted

[AuraEdge]

Theres more than just that.

The A7V's multiplier is adjusted through the Jumpers. The KT7's is adjusted through the SoftBIOS.

The A7V has an AGP4x/pro slot and 5 PCI slots (AGP pro is useless, since I dont think any cards use it). The KT7 has an AGP4x slot, 6 PCI slots, and an ISA slot.

The A7V has 2 ATA-66 ports and 2 ATA-100 Ports. The KT7 has 2 ATA-66 Ports. The KT7-RAID has 2 ATA-66 and 2 ATA-100/RAID ports.

The KT7 has has a fan on the northbridge chipset, and the A7V has nothing.

The A7V has 5 USB ports out the box, and 2 more can be added. The KT7 has 4 USB ports out the box, and non expandible.

KT7 has every FSB up to ~180. The A7V has select ones in between (Anything about 112 isn't really feasable for a Athlon system anyways.)

I think I covered all the differences...

[BluHeadTed]

Well Yes I knew all these differences..BUT I wasn't planning on buying the raid board. I am not an OCer so soft bios settings aren't particularly useful to me. Once I set the Jumpers they will probably stay there until I update the CPU. KT7 and A7V are closely priced, but the Raid is about 25 dollars more. Now I know big deal.. 25 dollars, but I'm not rich, and debt isn't an option. all these 25 dollar upgradeds have added an extra 300 dollars to my system.I think that I am mostly turned off by the lack of PCI and ISA slots and the addition of a useless AMR slot. The bigest PRO is the 7 usb port ability which would prevent me from buying a USB hub. Now onward to Memory.. are there any specific brands that work better with one or the other. does anyone know if the manufacturer prefers a particular brand? Oh as wel im not a gamer but more of a Graphic artist that plays an ocasional game. Infact I opted for the ATI Rage Fury Pro AGP card. So if that tells you where I stand on performance. I chose these two bored because they seemed the most upgradeable ( like a 440bx ).I want room to stretch out in the future.. not to fly at light speeed now. Reliability, and Upgradeability are the most important features... Thanks for the Input Aura..!!!!

[tcul72]

auraedge.....you can set the bus speed by 1mhz increments in the bios with the asus a7v. but like you said, 112 is a bout the max that i have heard. my max is 109(unstable).

[AuraEdge]

Is it? didnt know that..
I can run 112 FSB stable w/ my Abit KT7-RAID on my thunderbird. 113 and it wont boot.

[tcul72]

yes. i don't have my manual handy, but i beleive you can set the bus speed from 1 to 200 in 1mhz increments. you have to set the appropriate jumper on the board to be able to do this from the bios.i tried it, but i prefer dip switches...that's why i chose the asus a7v over the abit.

[gyoung]

For the Asus you would still have to buy something to take advantage of the 7 USB ports. It only comes with 5 out of the box. I am not sure if you have to get that from Asus or can get it somewhere else.

Also, I'm not sure how easy it is to get. Just so you know when you open the box you only get 5 USB for the Asus as opposed to 4 for the Abit Raid or non-Raid.

By the way I have the Raid.

[moabtwo]

I have used both and prefer Asus even though I am running Abit now. The only difference I noticed was Abit' poor, very difficult to install software and incredibly unreliable site to download BIOS updates and find information.

[BluHeadTed]

Ok is this the deal? Does the abit board support ata 100? or does it only do it in raid compatibility? I have heard the with working with massive graphic files..150 + megs , that the raid setup will actually help me in both stability and speed. is this true??


Thanks Ted

[AuraEdge]

Theres 2 kinds of raid. One just mirrors everything onto 2 harddisk's, giving you a backup incase one gets hosed.
The other kind, called striping, lets your write half your data to one and half to the other, utilizing both read/write heads at the same time. This makes data retrival, and writing faster.
You can have both, but that takes up 4 harddrives.
Abit software?
I didnt install any of the Abit software, except the ATA-100/RAID Drivers, and those were a breeze.
The Asus's ATA-100 drivers werent any harder.

[bhess]

Ram is getting cheap again. Here is some IBM ram:
http://www.memplus.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=880740