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I'm getting a new mobo and CPU for my server and have narrowed it down to these 3 choices, what do you think would be the best one?
Epox EP-8K7A with AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47Ghz) 266FSB CPU & Fan
Abit KT7A-RAID with AMD Athlon XP 1600+ (1.4Ghz) 266FSB CPU & Fan
Gigabyte GA-7DXR with AMD Athlon XP 1600+ (1.4Ghz) 266FSB CPU & Fan
These are all around the same price $268-$281
And please let me know if I messed up and one of these does not support DDR...that is a must :)
If I had to choose between those 3, I guess I would take the Abit. But if you want to spend a little more money and aren't looking for RAID, there is a combo deal on Pricewatch that has an MS-6380 Mainboard, Athlon XP 1600+ w/HS & Fan for $232.
The name of the company is PartsPC.com and their number is 866-427-9283. You'll more than likely have to mention Pricewatch in order to get the discount. I have always been a big fan of Microstar boards.
Never looked into Microstar, and that is a good price...my wife wouldn't be as mad over that :)
I can do without RAID, but it is a nice feature for future upgrades. It looks like it has everything I am looking for. 3 DDR slots (perfect, I found another site that has 256mb ECC DDR for $33 :) )
Thanks for the imput, I'll be looking into this one also!
Well the KT7A-RAID is not a DDR platform but standard PC100/133 SDRAM (I know as I use one myself :D ). You may have meant the recently released (yesterday) KR7A-RAID, which is the fastest Socket A motherboard that I have seen.
I would go for the Abit based platform personally.
I will have to say you can't go wrong with either of those although you're not going to want the Abit board you mentioned as there is no DDR support on it.
I own the Epox board and it has been a stellar performer, quite stable, and has allowed for a 200mhz overclock with pretty mediocre cooling, still keeping my CPU temps low.
My friend owns the Gigabyte board you mentioned and loves it.
Darren owns the Abit board and has commented on how much he likes Abits boards, as he notd above :D :D :D
So choose one, yuo can't go wrong..although maybe you want to consider the Epox 8kha+ instead of the 8k7a and maybe get the XP1600 to even out the cost.
I bit the bullet and went with nytiger73 suggestion, that has everything I need for it (which isn't much :) ) Ended up getting the MS-6380 Mainboard, Athlon XP 1600+ w/Thermaltake's Volcano HS&fan, some ArticSilver II (about time I got that stuff :D ) and a nice 350w PS for $350 after shipping...nice deal, but I messed up and had it shipped UPS Ground :eek:
Something to do next week when it comes in :)
Id go with Abit or Gigabyte Both are great boards, if its a server I would go with abit, since gigabyte is more a gamming board. (dont get me wrong Abit is to, but I think the abit board will support and be more stable for server use. *BOINK!)