How's this motherboard?

**t048** · 03-13-2002, 11:35 PM

I need to upgrade my motherboard. *I'm looking at either the Epox 8K7A+ or the Epox 8KHA+. *Anyone have any experience with these boards (how do they work in Linux).

Here is what I have:

800 Mhz T-bird
2 133 MHz ram chips (for 384mb total)
AGP vid card (NVidia GeForce 2Mx)
USB or PS/2 mouse (Logitech Optical wheel)
IDE CD-RW and CD-ROM (Plextor and generic)
2 IDE HDs (WD and Fujitsu)
SoundBlaster 256 (or something like that )
Intel Ethernet card

I need a board that will work with my current hardware because I don't have the funds to upgrade anything (even the motherboard, but I think that has become a necessity), but I would like expansion room for future upgrades (especially the RAM and CPU).

**pbharris** · 03-13-2002, 11:57 PM

hum - i think i would go with the Epox 8KHA+ because it is using an all VIA solution, while i think AMD has better overall quality i don't like mixing chips (amd and VIA for the chipset on the 8KHA+). either should work fine though.

**Compunuts** · 03-14-2002, 02:58 AM

Yeah, I'm also shopping for an AMD 800 MHz chip ( Thanks pbharris ! 8) ) for my Linux box to replace my client machine but I'm all for DDR rather than SDRAMs. I've checked out ECS K7S5A or K7T266_Pro non-RAID version. The MSI one is a lot better than ECS one but it's also more expensive ( about 30 bucks more )....

I'm still undecided ..... :-/

**ph34r** · 03-14-2002, 09:54 AM

Have you considered a SMP mobo with a single "low end" cpu? Yes, the SMP costs some extra $$ now, but it leads to a very rewarding and very cheap upgrade in 1-2 years...

**Schotty** · 03-14-2002, 11:12 AM

Have you considered a SMP mobo with a single "low end" cpu? *Yes, the SMP costs some extra $$ now, but it leads to a very rewarding and very cheap upgrade in 1-2 years...

Very true, however, you needed to in the past (not sure if it applies anymore) the same revision (stepping #) of the same speed cpu. I think that was to ensure compatibility.

**praetorian** · 03-14-2002, 11:34 AM

Yeah, I'm also shopping for an AMD 800 MHz chip ( Thanks pbharris ! 8) ) for my Linux box to replace my client machine but I'm all for DDR rather than SDRAMs. I've checked out ECS K7S5A or K7T266_Pro non-RAID version. The MSI one is a lot better than ECS one but it's also more expensive ( about 30 bucks more )....

I'm still undecided ..... :-/

I had problems with my ECS K7S5A, both hardware, and software which caused great unstability in Linux. It was mainly due to a faulty ide controler but I ended up returning the board. A friend of mine who got the same board after I advised against it is having the same problems as I had, and with Windows. Also I was unable to get my onboard lan an sound to work on that board while I had it running.

I sent it back and got an MSI K7T Turbo 2 instead and its been great to me. A very stable board, runs 100% in Linux, and I've had no problems yet. So....get an MSI! ;D

**stryder144** · 03-14-2002, 12:06 PM

I had problems with my ECS K7S5A, both hardware, and software which caused great unstability in Linux. It was mainly due to a faulty ide controler but I ended up returning the board. A friend of mine who got the same board after I advised against it is having the same problems as I had, and with Windows. Also I was unable to get my onboard lan an sound to work on that board while I had it running.

I sent it back and got an MSI K7T Turbo 2 instead and its been great to me. A very stable board, runs 100% in Linux, and I've had no problems yet. So....get an MSI! ;D

Dude, I haven't seen you post recently (probably because I haven't been spending near the amount of time I usually do, bu that is besides the point

). I was going to pm you and see if you got your mobo in and how it worked. Glad to see that everything is working fine.

Cheers

**Compunuts** · 03-14-2002, 01:15 PM

I sent it back and got an MSI K7T Turbo 2 instead and its been great to me. A very stable board, runs 100% in Linux, and I've had no problems yet. So....get an MSI! ;D

Thanks for the heads-up. Yeah, I'm leaning towards MSI too...

SMP is interesting area but I'm not sure there is support boards for 800 MHz chips... There are some boards for AMD Durons and XPs but I haven't seen much for Athlon Socket A. Have you guys got any links?? Thanks.

**stryder144** · 03-14-2002, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the heads-up. Yeah, I'm leaning towards MSI too...

SMP is interesting area but I'm not sure there is support boards for 800 MHz chips... There are some boards for AMD Durons and XPs but I haven't seen much for Athlon Socket A. Have you guys got any links?? Thanks.

I was under the impression that Duron/XP/MP were socket A and the older Athlons were slot A. Is your 800 a slot or a socket? I don't think that the older socket A Athlon's (non-palomino) will be able to do smp, though, I could be wrong.

**ph34r** · 03-14-2002, 01:36 PM

If you have a socket processor now, and it uses the same socket as the MP series, then you can use your current cpu as a single processor. Then, for your cheap upgrade, drop a couple of the 1.8ghz MPs in there in a year or so when they are really dirt cheap.

I did this with my setup. I got a dual board and a single P2-350, paying $180 for each. Then 2.5 years later, I upgraded to 2 P3-450s (couldn't find any 550s for sale), for $200. My dual 450s "feel" faster than my single 933 in both Slack and Win2k.

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