KG7 or KR7A?

[Diamond Dog]

Hello.

I plan to buy an Athlon XP cpu but need some aice about a good mobo for it.

I read about the Abit KG7 (the reviews I saw were impressive) and was attracted by the 4 slots for the ddram.

But after visiting the Abit site, I saw another model named the KR7A. I do not know what is the difference beetween both of them. I know the KG7 with the latest Bios will can support the Athlon XP.

Can anybody help? Thanx

Diamond

[NDD]

KG7 is based on first DDR chipset for Socket A mobos, the AMD761 from AMD. It's been known for it's stability, but doesn't offer too much options to "play" with. It's been discontinued now, since AMD announced that the chipset is outdated know and played his role well for "bringing" DDR to Socket A platform.

KR7A is based on newest revision of latest VIA chipset, the KT266A. Benchmarks all over the Net show that it's the fastest chipset yet, with higher perfromance of even nVIDIA nForce in most cases.

I'd go for KR7A, for all the obvious reasons.

Best Regards ...

[coyote]

Diamond Dog - I agree with ND...and here's my take at it.

I too, was in this dilema for the past week. Going from a KT7-RAID, I was considering either the KG7-RAID or KR7A-RAID. I even looked at the EPOX and MSI boards (KT266x) but they didn't 'fit' what I needed, plus I don't like promise for raid.

The KG7 (-RAID) uses an AMD northbridge which (in my opinion) was used to 'get the board out' because VIA was taking too long to release the KT266 chipset...so I see the KG7 as a transitional board from SDR to DDR.

I just spoke with a tech at Corsair memory, and they mentioned a significant increase in performance with the KT266A chipset as opposed to the KT266.

Believe it or not, I am considering either the KT7A-RAID (rev 1.3) or the KR7A-RAID to go to DDR. It will most likely be the KR7A, but the point to this note is the KG7 is as not as much of an increase in performance and doesn't justify an upgrade.

So, I say between the two, go with KR7A.

[Diamond Dog]

thank you to both you (ND and Coyote).

how much is the KR7A? do you guys know if abit will release
a version of this board without raid?

i'm from canada (montreal) and the only store i've seen with
this board on their motherboard list didn't have the price yet.

thanx again

Diamond

[NDD]

I don't know how much this mobo gonna cost (don't have it here either), but I do know that non-RAID version is gonna be released as well.

As for availability, KT266A (the chipset of KR7A) is relatively new, so I guess we'll see that mobo in two or three weeks.

Best Regards ...

[Lonely]

I just got the KR7A RIAD MB
The Retail cost the KR7A RIAD of it is about 162-200 US dollars
I got it for $175

Cost for the KR7A NON-RIAD is around 66-150 US Dollars

[NDD]

Lonely - what's your impression ? I've read couple of review so far, but want to hear from "member of the family" :)

Please post your specs, and if you noticed any faults/dealt with any problems/etc ...

Thanks, I'd appreciate this :)

Best Regards ...