Motherboard Suggestions

[dusty]

Hey,
To make a long story short, I've been seeing at a couple of sites that the board I use might be a bottleneck for using my ATI 9700. When testing using 3dmark 2001se i only get a score of 10300..I have heard that it could be more..I am happy with the cards performance but am still wondering.....

Here are my specs:
Athlon XP 2000+
Windows XP Pro
512 Meg DDr 2100 kingston
Asus A7V-266 Motherboard
Antec 300w Power Supply
Antec 1030 Case w/ all extra fans
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Xgamer
3-Com Network Card
Adaptec Scsi Card
Ati- Radeon 9700 Video Card {128 meg ram}
Western Digital Special Edition 120 gig Hard Drive {8 meg cache}
PlexWriter 40/12/40a
LiteOn 16X DVD
Microtek ScanMaker X6EL Scanner {SCSI, 8.5 x 14 Bed}
Altec Lancing 4.1 Speakers
HP-990 Printer
Logitech Cordless Mouseman Optical Mouse
Logitech Cordless Keyboard
Logitech Wingman Extreme Joystick
Bell Labs Power Controller

What would your suggestions be for a better board? I do not overclock so this might help.

Rick
:stress:

[Thud]

According to motherboards.org, the best overall board is the big brother to yours: The A7V333.

The only one that out-performs it (according to them) is the Soltek SL-75DRV5.

Info taken from here: http://www.motherboards.org/rank/AMD/total/motherboard-rank.html

Also note the absence of any KT400 chipset boards.

My personal opinion is that if your system is fast enough to do what you want and runs stable and you're overall happy with it, why mess with it? Buying a new mobo just to get a higher 3DMark score is a bit rash. There have been no great leaps in technology from the KT266A to the KT400. Sure the performance is somewhat better, but is it worth the $$ and hassle to you?

Again, just my thoughts. I say this, because I have a brand new KT333 board setting here, but I can't bring myself to replace my KT266A with it, because it runs so well and the gains would be negligible. Now if I were building a brand new system, it'd be a different story. :)

[dusty]

hey Thud,

The main reason was that i will be upgrading my P3-1gig. when i do that i will put my 2000 and board in it and then buy me a different processor and board. I was checking to see what options were out there...
I also agree with you about the benchmarks...My system has been running 24/7 ever since i signed on for ECCP. If this is not a good burn in, i don't no what is..

btw- thanks for the links.


Rick

[Thud]

Ahh, well if it's for a new build, then the A7V333 looks pretty nice, given your good experience with Asus thus far.

There are a couple (maybe a few) KT400 boards out now, which I'm sure are somewhat faster than the KT333's, if you use the fastest DDR available.

I've had great luck with Epox boards. To me, they seem to be on par with the quality of Asus, but with a lower pricetag. I use the 8KHA+ (KT266A) here, and it's been great. I just built one for a friend using an 8K5A2 (KT333) that's a really sweet board for about $90.

As an aside, Newegg recently quit carrying Soltek boards. I don't know if that means anything or not, but just thought it was kinda odd.

Best of luck!

[dusty]

thanks Thud,
I'll keep this info in mind.

Rick