Mobo's

Fidelis

What mobo's support the new AMD XP chips up to about 2Ghz with a min. of 2GB DDR RAM capacity ?

I've looked around but I can only find specs on mobo's that indicate it can support 1.4+ etc., not their actual maximum CPU speed capacity.

JustHalf

The 2GHz Athlon XP chip is not due out until the end of next year. No motherboard maker is able to say for certain that the board will work with a stock non-existent chip in any advertisments, so they don't (and thus avoid lawsuits).

But as the 2GHz chip will run on a 16x multiplier and a 133MHz FSB, check for support for these in the motherboard manuals; which should be up on the manufacturer's site.

Gerry

Even the most technical websites are unsure whether the via kt266a chipset really supports 1gb dimms, my own opinion is that it doesn't, since a 1gb dimm would need to use chips of at least 512 megabits each. Since motherboards are only supporting 256mbit dimms now, I don't think the 1 gig dimms will work.

As for the processor, well nobody knows how high the xp series will go. The 2000+ is running at 1666mhz, any decentmotherboard supporting the xp will run this chip.
You aren't going to get a board that will be future proof for terribly long. The motherboard makers don't know what amd are going to release, so they don't put a max figure on it.

The power requirements are what will kill lower quality boards. The new boards like the asus a7v266-e and the abit kr7-raid, and the epox 8kha+ are well capable of supporting the latest xp chips for another few months.

For example, the asus board can run an overclocked xp chip (dunno which one) at 1770 real mhz, so thats roughly an xp 2100+ by amd's rating.

The interesting point is that the power requirements should come down again with the launch of the 0.13 micron palomino (codenamed thoroughbred). So your board should be able for one of those, amd is apparently using the same socket for them.

Fidelis

The Gigabyte GA-7DXR Socket A DDR and the MSI K7T Pro-2 Socket A 266A DDR.

Are these boards particular good ? The MSI is for £120 in Peats, that any good ? Will these guys support the AMD Athlon T-Bird chips aswell as the XP chips ? And also, the Peats site says that the MSI board supports up to 1.8Mhz - sounds awfully cheap in comparison to the Gigabyte board @ £200 seeing as though they do the same thing...

Gerry

The MSI board with the kt266a chipset is a grand board, however make sure it is the kt266A and not the kt266, as the A is a faster, more stable chipset. The exact model that the MSI board should be is K7T266Pro2-RU, I am pretty sure thats what you have there. If the RU is missing, this may denote a lack of 2 extra ata 100 ide connectors, and lack of usb 2.0, decide for yourself if you need these. The gigabyte board definitely does have the 2 extra ata/100 ide connectors, but not the usb 2.0. The gigabyte board is based on the amd 760 chipset, not quite as fast, the high price tag probably comes from the higher price peats would have paid for it, a good while back. The boards are very similar apart from that, so I would go for the MSI. It may have a few quirks, but so do all practically all athlon boards, it goes with the territory, and if mention of a few quirks scares you off (as it has done to some other people in the past), you shouldn't be building a pc.

<edit> on reflection, you mentioned wanting the board to be capable of taking a 2000mhz athlon. Well the msi's power circuitry may not be able for that, so I would go for the epox 8kha+ from www.marx-computers.com instead, as it is superior to both of the above boards. Reviews of all these boards are available on amdmb.com. If you just want the board capable of taking the maximum speed of cpu, you might want to look at the abit kr7a as well, it uses 3 phase power, which has a little bit more headroom in it. People have run overclocked tbirds with the epox and abits at close to 2 ghz, which is rather impressive.</edit>

carbsy

Re: JustHalf

"The 2GHz Athlon XP chip is not due out until the end of next year. No motherboard maker is able to say for certain that the board will work with a stock non-existent chip in any advertisments, so they don't (and thus avoid lawsuits)."



The 2Ghz Athlon XP i.e. The Athlon XP 2000+ is due for release in about 5 weeks.....

while your at it check it ->
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/01q4/011112/index.html

Gerry

yes carsby, if you had cared to read that tomshardware page properly, you would see that the athlon xp 2000+ actually runs at 1666mhz. Note that justhalf was referring to a 2000mhz xp, as in an athlon which actually runs at 2000mhz. I can't be arsed figuring out what xp rating that is. As he said, its a little way off. You should read tomshardware.com, and get a basic grounding in computer technology.

JustHalf

Check out the table here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/22747.html

Remember, these are PR ratings. A 2600+ *should* map to a 1.83-2GHz clock speed (roughly).

carbsy

Gerry,

I read JustHalfs post incorrectly , entirely my fault.

As for me getting a getting a basic grounding in computer technology as you put it, I'm fully MCSE qualified , have a degree in Electronic Engineering and have 7 years experience behind me in my field.....but I dont have any qualifications in english,which sometimes fails me

Gerry

Glad to have you on board then
and apologies for my over zealous reaction. Just getting a lot of muppetry on this board lately.
This xp rating system might help people who know nothing better than more megahertz equals better, but its just annoying for the rest of us.

Fidelis

Thanks for the info Gerry. I'll probably pick up the Epox board if I can fit into my budget, if not I'll grab the MSI.

Originally posted by Gerry
Just getting a lot of muppetry on this board lately.
This xp rating system might help people who know nothing better than more megahertz equals better, but its just annoying for the rest of us.

Sheesh, sorry I asked :eek: