Albatron K8X800 Pro II a good Athlon 64 motherboard?

[Manoj]

http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/mb/specification.asp?pro_id=79


I am pleased with the overclocking options for the Albatron K8X800 Pro II.

CPU voltage = 0.8V to 1.9V
DDR voltage = 2.6V to 2.9V
AGP voltage = 1.5V to 1.8V
Northbridge voltage = 2.5V to 2.8V
Southbridge voltage = 2.5V to 2.8V
LDT Voltage (not sure what it is for) = 1.2V to 1.3V

CPU multiplier for unlocked Athlon 64 (none at the moment) = 4x to 10x
CPU host frequency = 200mhz to 300mhz
mem clock = 100, 133, 166 and 200mhz


What do you guys think?

[Manoj]

Originally posted by MickeyMouse
chaintech's nf3 ;)

It is for the Socket 754 or Socket 940?

I bought the Albatron motherboard today for about $167.

I am not an Albatron fan but the overclocking fuctions are pretty nice.

No need to mod anything, I hope.

I also bought the Athlon 64 3200+ today as I didn't want to spend extra for the AThlon FX and registered ECC rams.

I will use the Athlon 64 3200+ and wait for the new socket version of Athlon FX next year.

[Manoj]

The chaintech board is not available in Hong Kong yet.

I will get the Abit KV8 Max3 next.

It is the board I want to use. Sadly it will only release in Hong Kong in November.

So I have a month to play with the Albatron board.

Let me check out Chaintech's site for the specs of the board you mentioned.

[Kalway]

chaintech is usually rather iffy, IIRC. Never heard anything really positive about em. I'm going to wait for Abit's board.

[Manoj]

Chaintech's board is not that bad actually.

http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13&PISNo=206

The only problem is the bios updates. I heard they hardly update the bios the often.

Also I prefer the VIA solution from the nforce3 solution now.

May be the next nforce3 250 will be the one to get.

[Kalway]

Via is definately the way to go, unless you have REALLY good cooling.

The NF3 250 may be the way to go later. If Via puts in pci/agp locks then it won't matter because Via's chipset is much more matured.

One thing I like about that Albatron board.

"Built-in VIA Envy 24PT with 8 channel Audio Support"

Very nice...

[Manoj]

Originally posted by MickeyMouse
vr-zone gave it #1 in there round up and well I think oyu know how the chaintech worked for me ;)

You are an exception.

Not everyone are good overclockers.

I am not saying the Chaintech board is not good. I have not tested it. I just don't think Chaintech boards are good in general. I have tested 2 of their Intel boards and frankly, they sucked.

This time, they could have made a good board. I may have to look into that later when it releases in Hong Kong.

I do know that by the time the board does release, the Abit board will release and then I have no choice. I will get the Abit board.

[Manoj]

Originally posted by Kalway
Via is definately the way to go, unless you have REALLY good cooling.

The NF3 250 may be the way to go later. If Via puts in pci/agp locks then it won't matter because Via's chipset is much more matured.

One thing I like about that Albatron board.

"Built-in VIA Envy 24PT with 8 channel Audio Support"

Very nice...

I didn't even notice that.

I have the Audigy 2 ZS card which I prefer to use.

[Kalway]

Compare the analog sound quality between the two. The Via Envy is supposed to sound as good if not better than audigy. Of course I don't like Creative much anymore after being disappointed with their stuff so much.

That Chaintech is like $200 but at least it has award BIOS and lotsa features someone might use. Where's the fet cooling tho?! For $200 it should have ALL of the bells and whistles.

[Manoj]

Originally posted by MickeyMouse
I hope your not getting a "VIA" based chipset in hopes of good overclocking possibiltys?

Nah. I know bought boards are not the best at the moment.

I would have got the nforce3 board but a local reviewer suggest that I go for the Albatron board as it is good.

I feel the Abit board will be good too.

I am not hearing good things about nforce3 at the moment. I may test a nforce3 board from Gigabyte later on.

[Manoj]

Originally posted by MickeyMouse
see whos saying this do yourself a favor and search forums for "REAL WORLD" views by people that know what settings and such do what.. 9 out of 10 then IMO will tell ya nf3..

via=best performance defualt settings OEM mobo's only IMO...

I tried the via asus and hated it.

No problem, I will check out the nforce3 later on.

Let me first set up my system first. I have not even started to build my Athlon 64 system yet.

I can change the motherboard anytime as I will only use the best motherboard for the Vapochill.
Need to test and choose the best one.

[Manoj]

I finished setting up the system.

It seems like the Athlon 64 3200+ is unlocked.

I can use multiplier 4x to 10x.

Not a problem as I plan to lower the multiplier and raise the FSB.

[Naser]

Some Manufacturer told us that the VIA will have AGP/PCI locks but in the next rev. of the boards,if you look at the ASUS KT800 you will see it has a table somewhere about 1/7 dividers for DSW switch but that switch isnt there,i will recive my board in a couple of days & ill add that switch & see if it works.
http://www.tbreak.com/nasser/table.jpg
http://www.tbreak.com/nasser/DSW.jpg

[Naser]

Manoj, i was just looking at that albatron & i can see dip-switches,picture is too small can u check plz,it might have these dividers.
Thanx

[Stang_Man]

Originally posted by Naser
Manoj, i was just looking at that albatron & i can see dip-switches,picture is too small can u check plz,it might have these dividers.
Thanx

right above the albatron logo right??

[Naser]

Originally posted by Stang_Man
right above the albatron logo right??

yeah,just downloaded the manual heres what it says, "Voice genie & BIOS Mirror Function".

[Holst]

I dont think just adding dip swiches will work on its own, there are some other components that may need to be added.

but if we look up the PDF of that ICS chip we may be able to do it ourselves.

[Holst]

I cant find 05, only 03

http://www.icst.com/pdf/ics950403.pdf

unfortunatley thats not a great help with getting the deviders, as they are programmed vis the bios.

I dont suppose there is an attansic chip on the board as well?

[Penti]

Originally posted by Naser
Some Manufacturer told us that the VIA will have AGP/PCI locks but in the next rev. of the boards,if you look at the ASUS KT800 you will see it has a table somewhere about 1/7 dividers for DSW switch but that switch isnt there,i will recive my board in a couple of days & ill add that switch & see if it works.
[IMG]http://www.tbreak.com/nasser/table.jpg[IMG]
[IMG]http://www.tbreak.com/nasser/DSW.jpg[IMG]

The pll probably has 1/7 divider support(that dont mean that 1/7 will work though), but not there chipset as usual i guess. Maybe they will release a new reversion that supports the 1/7 divider, but from seeing what they did with kt400 i wouldn't think that it will happend with just a new reversion..