In the market to finally build a proper platform for my V5-6000. I'm looking for a KT333 motherboard that will support the fastest AMD ECU possible without overclocking.

Some suggestions thrown out on a few boards-

ASUS A7V333-R
Epox 8K5A2

Pro's? Con's?

Notes-

Will be run dual boot under Win98 and Win 2000 pro.

Call me biased, I'm not looking at the SIS chipsets at all, bad memories from the Pentium I days ;-)

Thanks for your suggestions.

I use(ed) MSI KT333 Ultra Aru. Its the first Ultra revision. The 2nd Ultra has been tested as the best board for 6K by the 3dfxzone team. I could reccomand one of these. Ofcourse the ones you mentiond are also fine boards.

I am so happy reading this, because I am in possesion of this motherboard And I never gonna sell it :P. I am V5 6k ready so to say. But why where these boards the best? Can you post a link here Omega_supreme.

Obtaining one of these boars is not a very hard thing.
Anyway here what Amigamerlins website tells :


Quote:

Hi guys, here a list of mb that are compatible with voodoo5 6k. These MB were tested by me and are fully compatible with 3dfx Voodoo5 6000 - JETWAY VB266 - GIGABYTE 7VRX(P) (VIA KT333) - GIGABYTE 7VTXE (VIA KT266) - MSI KT3ULTRA2 (KT333) - ECS K7S5A (SIS 735) - DUAL XP TYAN S2466N TIGER MPX (AMD 760 MPX) These MAINBOARD that are defined compatible by forum users - MSI KT3 ULTRA ARU (KT333) - MSI K7D MASTER-L - ECS K7VTA3(KT333) Other MAINBOARD that are defined compatible taked from the site of LOGICAL MADNESS (www.voodoo6000.com) - ABIT KD7E ( VIA KT333) - SOYO DRAGON ULTRA (VIA KT333) - ABIT SA7 (SiS 745DX) - Epox 8k5a (VIA KT333) - MSI 7MS6561 (SIS745DX) MAINBOARD for PIV that are usable with 6k taked from www.voodoo6000.com - GIGABYTE GA-8SIMLH (SiS 651) - SOYO P4S DRAGON ULTRA (SiS 645)

What do you think? Anyone using this one?

http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7vta3_6.html

You can still buy them new for $29!

@gdonovan,

Although my board is a bit different, I can only say that my experience has been excellent and the board has been solid as a rock  ;)

Your 6000 should really "come alive" with a 2000 + mhz cpu, my upgrade from a 1 ghz pentium 3 to a 1900 mhz athlon was fantastic with a 5500  ;)

http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7s5a_pro.html

My only concern is it might be a later revision (it's marked V6) and not work with a 5500/6000 card.

Looks like I'm going to have to spend some time doing a lot of digging.

What is the fastest AMD CPU the KT333 supports? Is a Barton 2500 faster then a XP 2400? (Not a simple question as it sounds)

I'm just not up on the specs any more, been a long time.

Fastest is XP3000+(Barton ), it will work very good in the MSI KT3 Ultra2. I took the next step and put it next to 2 MP2800+ (Barton) Only something went wrong...but thats a whole different story. If you want fast, I suggest you take the MSI KT3 Ultra2 and a 3000+ processor. This is the fastest setup possible (without AGP2PCI, which I dont like  :P )

I can buy a brand new Kt3 ultra-2 for 40 euro.  That is where I going to build my new V5 system on.

wrote on 19.11.04 at 16:23:15:

Is a Barton 2500 faster then a XP 2400? (Not a simple question as it sounds)

generaly yes, it is. Barton has bigger cache and fsb (333), but it has lower frequency. Also barton 2500+ overclocks better (as it is the slowest cpu from family) than 2400+. Actually, Mobile Barton seems to me even better choice, because it needs less power (and heat is lower), has cool and quiet system (drops mhz when idle) built-in.
If money is not limited you could also take XP3200+..

The fastest you can get is 333mhz bus with a 3000+, if you want to go faster you must overclock the FSB (if the CPU is locked )and that includes the AGP speed. I doubt that overclocking the AGP bus is very good for a V5 6K.

wrote on 20.11.04 at 19:12:15:

The fastest you can get is 333mhz bus with a 3000+, if you want to go faster you must overclock the FSB (if the CPU is locked )and that includes the AGP speed. I doubt that overclocking the AGP bus is very good for a V5 6K.

3000+ will be fine, I have no desire to overclock the FSB.

I currently have an AthlonXP 3000+ (FSB166) running on a KT333a Motherboard.

Shuttle AK-35 GT2

Works like a blast, and has 3.3V AGP support.

wrote on 20.11.04 at 19:23:34:

I currently have an AthlonXP 3000+ (FSB166) running on a KT333a Motherboard. Shuttle AK-35 GT2 Works like a blast, and has 3.3V AGP support.

Anyone know where I could find one of these units new? This model doen't seem to be popular on this side of the pond.

wrote on 19.11.04 at 17:11:11:

Fastest is XP3000+(Barton ), it will work very good in the MSI KT3 Ultra2.

Any board number I should look for? I found one but don't trust the seller.

I played a lot with Socket A in KT133A-KT333 time... I can assure you that in terms of overall quality, performance, BIOS settings, features (on RAID-packed boards) and oveclocking potential NO ONE was able to beat EPoX that days.

Their 8KHA+ on KT266A was THE perfect board for KT266A and following models on KT333 also were great...

Here is the list of models:
http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_main.php?main_cat=52&pos=97

Actually, if you're going to build an ultimate PC for this platform, choose EPoX 8K5A3+ (http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=131). Four DIMM slots, six IDE channels (unique feature - 4 channel RAID), POST indicator... And legendary EPoX BIOS, of course :) This was most feature-packed mobo for KT333 :)

Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything regarding V5-6000 compatibility:)

wrote on 09.12.04 at 11:03:54:

I played a lot with Socket A in KT133A-KT333 time... I can assure you that in terms of overall quality, performance, BIOS settings, features (on RAID-packed boards) and oveclocking potential NO ONE was able to beat EPoX that days. Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything regarding V5-6000 compatibility:)

Not interested in any overclocking, just wish to run a Barton 3000+ and a V-6000 at the same time ;-)

Now I have people telling me the Barton will run on the regular KT3 Ultra I as well. <sigh>

There is a guy here in the states with a II for sale but he is acting like a meathead and I think I'll pass, he refuses to give me the board revision number and what brand the ram is.

For what it is worth-

I picked up an Epox 8K3A+ as a spare board and it's a screamer! Currently it's running an 1800+ but I had a chance to throw a Barton 3000+ with 333 mhz bus for a few hours and it worked perfect. The only thing I had to do was set the bus speed in the bios from 133 to 166.

AGP mode is adjustable in the bios (1/2/4x) and when running in 1/2x mode the AGP is the correct 3.3 volts.

My V5-6000 ran looping Quake3 demos for hours with zero problems. 1024 x 768, 16 bit color, 8 x AA with Win98SE, last non-beta 3dfx VSA drivers and directx 9b.

The ASUS A7V333-R Rev1.04 the one I own also runs great at 333Mhz FSB with Bios 1017, my CPU is an

AMD AthlonXP 2700+ Thoroughbred-B @ 2167Mhz / 256KB L2 / 333Mhz FSB

Bios 1018 is the newest but it's Beta  and 1017 is Final and not Beta, that is something I rather choose than Beta.

The A7V333-R Rev1.04 as Rev.2.0 supports supports both up to Barton 3000+ the Rev.1.04 users need Bios 1017 to use 333Mhz FSB CPU's as for Thoroughbred-B & Barton Support. ;)

wrote on 28.12.04 at 16:22:50:

The ASUS A7V333-R

As someone already pointed out on the 3dfxzone.it board his V6000 would not boot up on that motherboard so it isn't an option for me to look at since the motherboard I end up purchasing *must* run with a V6000.

I'd go for Soltek mainboards any day where Athlon is concerned! ;)

Have a Google for a Soltek based KT333 board - these boards are ROCK stable (no good for O.C.-ing, but you said you just wanted to run at stock speeds...) 8)

Oh, but their SL-75DRV5 mainboard only has 266 FSB...so maybe...maybe not? ???

(I've tested this board and it DOESN'T run Barton chips!) >:(

wrote on 20.11.04 at 19:12:15:

The fastest you can get is 333mhz bus with a 3000+, if you want to go faster you must overclock the FSB (if the CPU is locked )and that includes the AGP speed. I doubt that overclocking the AGP bus is very good for a V5 6K.

Not worth the risk of trying to o/c such a rare card.  For what performance gain? Marginal at best. Any o/c either clock speed, or increase in AGP voltage, would be ill-advised.

not sure if you bought the board yet or not, and if you have good luck. might want to check out pricewatch for the boards your looking for though, can probably find any of them for cheap.

First thing I did when I started looking- Only thing on pricewatch was referbs from odd companies with bad feedback.

The Epox board I have works great and I have an MSI KT3 Ultra II on the way as a backup.

Chances are I'm going to post a list of tested boards on my site with bios and setting details.

gary i have that same epox board that im gonna o/c for my v3, cant wait

Anyone on the board running the MSI KT3 Ultra2?

The one I purchased finally came in and it seems to act rather odd.

1) Even with the latest bios the machine doesn't autodetect the cpu bus speed and defaults to 100 mhz (100 x 2 of course)

2) When the bus is manually set to 133 or 166 on boot up the screen flashes red several times and the speaker beeps before the video card displays.

Seems to work fine, except for these odd details.

Odd enough, pulling the Voodoo 3 and replacing it with a Voodoo 4 makes the red flash and speaker beeping at boot up stop and all is well.

wrote on 28.12.04 at 17:46:44:

As someone already pointed out on the 3dfxzone.it board his V6000 would not boot up on that motherboard so it isn't an option for me to look at since the motherboard I end up purchasing *must* run with a V6000.

I don't see why the ASUS A7V333-R Rev 1.04 shouldn't, I'm running the same install of Win98SE for like 16 mounths without anylockups with my Voodoo5 5500 AGP x2, imean the 6000 has the same type of AGP bus as the 5500, it shouldn't really matter, though Bios 1017 Final is a must have. Every Voodoo AGP x2 card has been tested in that moo and it works flauwlessly, ASUS is well known here in Holland because of it's great stabillity and support.

Anyway it could of been a bad working mobo from that on dude, normally the A7V333-R is the best performance and stable KT333 base mobo out there, I sold like 70% more A7V333's than any other brand. I never heard complains from my clients, but alot of complains from other cheaper brands like ECS, Biostar and Soyo, EPoX was a better brand sometimes but also the KT333 board from EPoX was not always one to trust, some work good and some don't.

Sorry that my text came a little rough over but this was my experience with ASUS and the experience from my clients at my old PC store, which was sold 2 years ago.

wrote on 15.02.05 at 14:27:18:

I don't see why the ASUS A7V333-R Rev 1.04 shouldn't, I'm running the same install of Win98SE for like 16 mounths without anylockups with my Voodoo5 5500 AGP x2, imean the 6000 has the same type of AGP bus as the 5500,

1) Cost- Most of the boards suggested come from Europe, I have to purchase them through third parties and pay for shipping twice. What ever is purchase MUST work correct the first time or I have thrown cash out of a window, and I'm getting tired of that happening.

2) Boards- V5-6000 is different then V5-5500 (Hint chip remember?)

3) Damage- I WILL NOT RISK a V5-6000 in any shape, manner or form if there is even a whiff of incompatibilty with a motherboard.

The ASUS board falls under that catagory.

I do not needlessly risk rare hardware if there is even the smallest chance damage can be done. It's much safer to go with a known item run by other V5-6000 owners.

As far as the MSI Ultra2 vs the Epox board I'm currently running I'm inclined to use the Epox with the V6k since the Epox board has a more detailed bios and hardware monitoring that clearly lists with the AGP voltage is which the MSI does not.

The Ultra2 is faster then heck and running smooth now, I think since it has onboard RAID I'll pick up a pair of drives, hook them in mirror mode (automatic data protection) and use them for a daily machine.

hmm the Hint I remember sorry about not everyone I know has one of those cards, Sorry I got a little off track :) But it still sounds wierd though they all have the same Chipset...the manboards then.

Well the difference are there, you  can see them. I once compare some colormax Voodoo graphics card with some other reference V1's the A-trend's they where exactly the same. I couldn't find a difference. Only minor ones (that means the crystal oscillator was of a different brand. But still these cards wouldn't run and the A-trend's would. And those Colormax cards where working on an old P1!!!!!!

wrote on 15.02.05 at 15:41:19:

But it still sounds wierd though they all have the same Chipset....

What the chipset supports and what a board maker chooses to support are two vastly different things!

I have one KT333 board here that has no support for 3.3V on the AGP slot required for Voodoo cards.

Same chipset.

Never assume, always check, check again and then get a yardstick and check one more time ;-)

The board here is a KT333 board (not a lite) and the bios only shows 1.5/1.6/1.7 volts for the AGP even when it is set to 1 or 2 x AGP.

Clearly it is a fault of the bios software since 1/2x modes are supported and shown in the bios and the chipset supports 3.3 V AGP.

wrote on 16.02.05 at 00:46:59:

Did you try to update the bios ?

Yup, last revision, 5.7


Quote:

did you try also to contact the manufacturer ?

For a 5 year old product that I'm not the original purchaser?


Quote:

What's this mobo ?

MSI KT3 Ultra2-R version 1.0

More on the MSI starting up at 100mhz bus-

According to the (freshly downloaded) owners manual this is normal and you have to manually set the bus speed if the CPU is designed for a faster spec.

Needed to be that way for backward compatiblity for the old 100MHz chips or they wouldn't POST. I'm pretty sure.

i can recommend the Epox 8K5A2... runs with all voodoos fine (6000 included) And it supports Athlon XP-M (Barton, fastest processor for socket A )

@TM30.
The Epox 8K5A2 runs well with a BARTON 3000+ 166FSB?

Regards,
Oscar

with the newest Bios you should be Fine Osckhar ;)

If it can help you I could run a Voodoo 5 6k (not mine) on a Gigabyte GA-7VRX revision 2.0 equiped with an Athlon 2800+ (Barton with 266MHz FSB, quite rare in fact).
http://minuteman.n-serv.com/divers/Ga-7VRX.jpg
http://minuteman.n-serv.com/divers/cpu-2142.jpg http://minuteman.n-serv.com/divers/gestionnaire.JPG

Thanks Minuteman, but I am seeking boards compatibles with V6k + BARTON 3000+ 166FSB. I don't like my MSI KT3 ULTRA REV2. I want to try another different board...

Regards,
Oscar

wrote on 24.03.05 at 18:36:47:

I don't like my MSI KT3 ULTRA REV2. I want to try another different board...

I don't like mine either as I strongly suspect it doesn't support the Voodoo cards with the correct 3.3 volts.

The Epox 8K3A+ revision 1.2 I'm running on the other hand gets a RAVE REVIEW.

It's dead stable, runs the Barton 3000+ with ease, the bios is more full featured then the MSI board *AND* the bios correctly ID's the video boards AGP 1/2/4 modes correct and AGP voltage too.

Matter of fact on boot up all the voltages are displayed at the bottom of screen for a few seconds so if something is wrong you can shut down before something bad happens.

Avoid MSI mainboards like the PLAGUE! :o

They genuinely SUCK AR$E! >:(

wrote on 25.03.05 at 05:24:58:

Avoid MSI mainboards like the PLAGUE! :o They genuinely SUCK AR$E! >:(

it really depends on what you use them for, I know like 12 people which have a MSI board and I have one alsookay it's a dual Opteron board  and it never failed me, but EPoX is a real hell. maybe you have a bad experience with MSI like I have with EPoX ;)

wrote on 25.03.05 at 12:12:29:

it really depends on what you use them for, I know like 12 people which have a MSI board and I have one alsookay it's a dual Opteron board  and it never failed me, but EPoX is a real hell.

I'm sure that this is true but in keeping in the context of the situation (running a 3.3V AGP 3dfx board and Barton 3000+) the Epox board I have is much better then the MSI Ultra II I also own.

funne I never hear Omega Supreme argue about his MSI KT3 ULTRA board, he has the ULTRA 1 version though not many changes I suppose. he told me it is as stable as a rock.

wrote on 25.03.05 at 05:24:58:

Avoid MSI mainboards like the PLAGUE! :o They genuinely SUCK AR$E! >:(

Same advice here...from experience I don't recomment MSI.

I only have two MSI Athlon64-Motherboards in service, but so far I never had a single Problem with them.

wrote on 25.03.05 at 16:18:48:

I only have two MSI Athlon64-Motherboards in service, but so far I never had a single Problem with them.

Which is why I felt it was important to mention context.

I'm sure they are fine boards but if you are looking to run a Barton 3000+ and a V5-6000 there are better choices then MSI IMHO.

I plan on using the MSI Ultra II I purchased as a daily box with an 1800+ since it has RAID and I can mirror drives for the ultimate in data security  ;D

yeah okay, everyone has a different aspect on what they want really. I have a Dual OpteronDP 244 on a MSI MS-9130 K8T Master2 FAR and it runs as stable as a rock with my X800XT PE, but for a Voodoo5 6000 I hear from alot of European users that the MSI's are just fine, maybe it's the way you configure it's Bios. allready tried the newest Bios Gary?

i

wrote on 25.03.05 at 18:09:55:

allready tried the newest Bios Gary? i

Of course.

The board lists 1x/2x AGP operation but only shows options for  1.6, 1.7 & 1.8 volts for AGP voltages.

This leads me to suspect that only 1.5V is being sent (since 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 v is not being shown as options) to the AGP connector regardless of AGP mode operation.

And it has no way of reporting AGP volts under hardware monitoring, so not worth risking a V6K to find out.

yeah true, what other brands would be safe? Gigabyte maybe? About that EPoX board of yours it is a good one just read some nice reviews on it, sorry about my bad talk about EPoX but my experience was rather scary, and the best board I had was and still is the EPoX EP-MVP3G2 for Super 7, it has a real 3.3 volt AGP x2 slot. my Voodoo3 3000 AGP +TV-out works great in it. anyway the system is allready 8 years old it's my good old Nostollagy system :) Wing Commander IV The Price Of Freedom and Wing Commander Prophecy are good games to play on it even Descent3 runs fine. The CPU is a AMD Kryptonite6-2 500Mhz @ 550Mhz and 288MB PC-133 @ PC-100.


Dunno if a Voodoo5 6000 would work in a MVP3G2 mobo, okay I know that the CPU is kinda slow, but would it work?

Without actually having a board here I have no opinion on something I have not tried and tested.

wrote on 25.03.05 at 22:12:25:

Dunno if a Voodoo5 6000 would work in a MVP3G2 mobo, okay I know that the CPU is kinda slow, but would it work?

I think with a 5500 your K6-2 would be the bottle-neck. A 6000 is too precious to experiment with but I think it would function on that board.

me and my funny idea's that systems name is GASAAP in germain  --> GAS APE in english Acceleration APE LOL hahaha and a 6000 in it I would really laugh hahaha would be soo coool just the looks of it  :D :D :D

I did OC the CPU to 550Mhz, but I think a K6-III 500Mhz would be a better idea, but finding a K6-III 500 isn't that easy.

So Gary. What did you settle on for the V5 6000? the Epox? I need to start looking for a 4 X AGP as well ;)

Well, I already have here the EPOX 8K5A2+. It is totally compatible with my BARTON 3000+ 333BUS. I have tried the board with my v6k and it is totally STABLE like a ROCK.  ;D
For me this board is much better than the MSI KT3 ULTRA REV. 2. I have compared both boards and I prefer the EPOX board.

Regards,
Oscar