K7Master impressions

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Originally posted by snoop:
Marc: it's a fact that the MSI KT266 has a problem. it is not fair of you to trump this board up (because YOU have it) well knowing
that there is a big problem with his hardware. It is totally misleading what you do. Only a very few guys know about register settings, how to solder, and even how to flash a bios. Your are somwhow implying that that the MSI KT266 is ok, and that is not true.

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No, I said that I would suggest to keep it IF he have the R126-Version! I didn't tell him to solder. And for Bios-flashing...Come on! That is a job that EVERYONE can do who ia able to work with Windows!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Marc [img]smile.gif[/img]

quote:

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Originally posted by :
=) and whne i get the K7M it will be nice to get mem benchs in the 650/800 with out much work not in the range of 500/700 after a bunch of tweaking, Thanks again!

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500/700 after a bunch of tweaking?? Mh, when you got the R127-Version, okay. But the R126-Version beats the K7Master in ALU a bit and is a bit slower in FPU (654/802 against 645/830)! Also it's 2,5% faster in Quake3. Just use the 1.10c-Bios and set r64 to 12. I wouldn't call that a bunch of tweaking and I'm sure that we won't need WPREST anymore when the final bios from MSI is out! [img]smile.gif[/img]

To make it clear: I will never buy a thing from MSI again because of that resistorcrap and the try to f**k up their customers, but the R126-Version is really fast!

cu

Marc [img]smile.gif[/img]

Yea thats the thing i don't have the r126 version tho, If i did i wouldnt mind taking some time to tweak you always have to tweak =) Im just say i shouldnt have to go trought a bunch of soldering and bios flashes and tweaking to get decent performance thats all i ment, and ur registry tweaks work good i had 503/705 now with the tweaks i get 545/721 but the only thing is im still on the 1.0bios i have tried the other bioses but they never wanna run at 133fsb only at 100fsb and yea i have a 266fsb CPU thats what im running with the 1.0 but with the 1.09 1.0b 1.0a my system always hangs right after it checks all the drives during POST
So i sent my RMA to newegg and im waiting for a reply, I hope i can get the K7master soon my geforce3 is comming on thursday =)

quote:

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Originally posted by Altima:
Yea thats the thing i don't have the r126 version tho, If i did i wouldnt mind taking some time to tweak you always have to tweak =) Im just say i shouldnt have to go trought a bunch of soldering and bios flashes and tweaking to get decent performance thats all i ment, and ur registry tweaks work good i had 503/705 now with the tweaks i get 545/721 but the only thing is im still on the 1.0bios i have tried the other bioses but they never wanna run at 133fsb only at 100fsb and yea i have a 266fsb CPU thats what im running with the 1.0 but with the 1.09 1.0b 1.0a my system always hangs right after it checks all the drives during POST
So i sent my RMA to newegg and im waiting for a reply, I hope i can get the K7master soon my geforce3 is comming on thursday =)

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On thursday?? Mh, my card will take a little longer... :(

Anyway, I wish you big fun with your GeForce3!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Marc [img]smile.gif[/img]

For those who don'tagree with Marc about how good is the MSI kt266 board, I just want to give my opinion on that:

1. MSI public relation and engineering department behaved unprofessionnaly with the R127 issue. Looks like they never read the spec sheet of the kt266 chipset before designing the board (cut and paste of reference design?). Despite that, the board works well.

2. Obviously, all user that has R127 installed should do the mod. No one reported problem asociated with the R126. Lookslike those resistor are strap settings and res. values aren't critical (only affect binary config settings). Like I said, MSI should read spec sheet and do some validation, its the customer's job to do it.

3. The kt266 chipset is well designed. Bandwith comparable to AMD760, similar lantencies (lower than Ali Magik, built onto experience aquired from kt133A).

4. The Hub architure used by the Kt266 is way superior than the nortbridge/southbridge config used by others. This new configuration eliminates potential bottleneck and malfunction associated with bandwith-hungry devices. Know why the Sblive cause data corruption with the 686B? Oversaturated bus and device fighting for bandwith is the culprit. Hub architecture isolate the south bridge from pci bus - a good thing.

4. Expect the Kt266 boards to be solid like AMD761, but remember that AMD761 board cost more but uses higher quality 6 layer PCB witch may improve overclockability. I would think also that kt266 sould have less issues with peripheral than kt133 du to VIA growing experience in chipset design. I myself think that using 4-layer PCB is an unnaceptable compromise for today's motherboard chipsets, but these Taiwanese likes cutting corners ya know..

Pierre

Amen P! I think MSI board was marketing disater. They should have release a statement saying that
1) Due to differences in memory designs and desity and other considerations, MSI has moved resistor to obtain the best stability for our customers.(Simple, to the point)
OR the best thing
2)Due to differences in memory designs and density issues, with the current bios preproduction bios we recommend the use of these tested products with our motherboards. We respectfully ask you bare with the trasition time so we may provide you with the best performance with a broad range of products.(This preferred over moving resistor)
Now, Iagree fully with the differences in board design. I remember when the first ram strips came out for the athlon,poor quality sticks with less than satifatory pcb, created noise and werent compatible with the new athlon. Same thing can be said about motherboards. With hot components(cpu,controller chipsets etc)the noise generated on these boards can cause problems(all boards). The use of 6 layer pcb m/b would make the system more stable and allow for better o/c. As the cpu get smaller and faster along with the chipset, expect to see the problems get worse. Start a petition to have all m/b 6layer pcb, but expect to pay a premium. Also consider this, as you shrink the board size , this also can have an adverse affect on the performance. Point is wait listen and learn, and dont accept all things as reviewed as "The best of the best" because there are too many variables to consider. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Yea i got the visiontek from eb world for $400 with next day shipping so it should be here thursday, i dont mind paying a little more over sellers on pricewathc to gte it ive been waiting so long anyway so an extra $20 to get it sooner doesnt really matter

www.m***ardware.com

Zielin recently recieved his K7Master and posted some info.

Once we've got some more solid benches and tests (by early this coming week), we're going to put up a comparison chart between the K7T266 and the K7Master.

I back Marc on his comments, the KT266 chipset has potential and as it matures we're going to see better and better results.

Though MSI is quick (relatively speaking ) to release BIOS updates for their K7T266 Pro, I also agree that they should've done more testing before being so gung-ho to be the first ones out with a KT266 board.

Things can get pretty silly pretty fast. Marc says things like: "But my K7T266Pro with R126 plus new Bios plus WPREST-Hack is 2,5% faster than the K7Master in Quake3 Demo001!" Wow! all these plusses, And then he (you) goes on to talk about office apps.
When you run an office app, you run it. I've never heard of an office app LAN Party.
It gets to the point of: "OK, Is there a point here?"
I wanted to try the new DDR technologyand my experience with the K7Tblahblah was a total abortion. Much worse than the average nightmare. I got caught up in the buzz, but then I said, "Baby, you gotta go!" Who needs the headaches.
I'm waiting for the FedX man to deliver my Master today.

I'm personally holding out for a Hercules GF 3. Those blue boards are soooo Pretty, and I leave my case open a lot.

BTW: Marc,I applaud your ability to generate these Hacks and such.

:D