Best SLOT A mobo?

Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited January 2005 in Hardware
Ok guys... you all know I have this thing for weird/exotic hardware... well, I just bought a 550MHz AMD Athlon Engineering Sample CPU. It came with a free compaq mobo. But, seeing as how Compaq mobos are **** as far as overclocking and stuff goes, I bought an ABIT KA-7 mobo that this store had sitting around.

The ABIT needs its caps replaced tho... which isn't a big deal- I mean, I've got a desoldering iron for a reason- but I'm wondering if it's worth it. Are there any other, significantly better Slot A boards out there?

Comments

  • floppybootstompfloppybootstomp Greenwich New
    edited January 2005
    I've forgotten...... ;)
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2005
    From what I remember the Abit board was one of the better ones, if you ignore the cap problem. None are going to overclock the fsb real well though, I don't believe. I think they were all 100 fsb boards back then and they don't have the divisors for 133 fsb, like the original KT133 boards.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    KA7
    KA7-100

    might be hard to find 1, cause they had a prob with caps leaking/exploding/blowing_up. but back in the day they were prolly #1
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    mudd: i did read one review on the Abit. The author said that with their 750MHz Athlon, in other motherboards they couldn't overclock the FSB to more than about 110MHz. In the Abit, it hit 125MHz. I think I'm just gonna replace all the caps (all 41 of them :banghead: ) on this board and use it... assuming the cpu is good. I need to test it in the compaq board it was in first...
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2005
    I think the cap problem on the KA100 was pretty much confined to just the big caps, Geeky. I don't think you have to worry too much about the small ones. I know that there's still quite a few big ones on that mobo though.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    I think the cap problem on the KA100 was pretty much confined to just the big caps, Geeky. I don't think you have to worry too much about the small ones. I know that there's still quite a few big ones on that mobo though.
    I also recall that it is just the large caps that need replacing. so this brings it down to what, 10? :p

    You could try Abit's cap RMA program! ;)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2005
    How much does ABIT charge to replace the caps, mtgoat?

    As for replacing the caps... All but 3 of the 2200µF are bulging or leaking, as are several of the 1500µF caps. So all of those at the very least need to be replaced... that's 24 caps right there. And if I'm gonna replace those, I might as well replace the rest of them just in case anyhow. Caps are cheap, and replacing them shouldn't take me very much time at all. :)
  • floppybootstompfloppybootstomp Greenwich New
    edited January 2005
    Geeky1 wrote:
    Caps are cheap, and replacing them shouldn't take me very much time at all. :)

    This is true, tis but a minor task. But just get one round the wrong way and you gonna be in for some serious fun :D

    So, do yourself a favour and just take a little pause each time. It's worth it.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2005
    I think Abit charges a flat $25 fee and those caps will cost you at least that much. :)
  • floppybootstompfloppybootstomp Greenwich New
    edited January 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    I think Abit charges a flat $25 fee and those caps will cost you at least that much. :)

    $25.00? I don't think so. Lemme see, that translates to about £14.00 in the UK, for that price you could buy enough min electrolytic capacitors for about 10 boards.

    They're cheap. If you know where to buy anyway.

    And Abit would only replace the obviously leaky ones, not the whole shebang.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2005
    Maybe in your area or Geeky's area Flops, but not around where I live here in soggy bottom Louisiana. I tried this with an old Soyo board and the 6-8 caps I needed to fix it cost me more than just sending the friggin board off to someone. There is only 1 electronics store in the area that stocks those size caps and they rape and dry-**** you on the prices. :eek:
  • floppybootstompfloppybootstomp Greenwich New
    edited January 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    Maybe in your area or Geeky's area Flops, but not around where I live here in soggy bottom Louisiana. I tried this with an old Soyo board and the 6-8 caps I needed to fix it cost me more than just sending the friggin board off to someone. There is only 1 electronics store in the area that stocks those size caps and they rape and dry-**** you on the prices. :eek:

    Oh. Not good :( Fair enuff. In that case, yes, sending to Abit would be a wiser option.
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