GA7DXR+ vs. A7V266-E

[who]

I know some of you swear by one or the other and was wondering if someone can explain the differnces between the two. (I have looked at both company's websites, but I'm unclear what the real world benefits are of each.)

Thanks

[Allen Hallada]

They are both great motherboards using different chipsets. The A7M266 is another great motherboard with the same chipset as the GA7DXR.

GA7DX, GA7DXR and A7M266 use the AMD 761 chipset
A7V266E uses the KT266a chipset

Performance with Digi001: Same depending on the user and tweeking.

Cost: GA7DX and GA7DXR - about 60.00 less than A7V266E, 30.00 less than A7M266

Added features: A7V266E and GA7DXR has onboard Promise Controllers for ATA100 or RAID 0 configuration.
Although these onboard controllers have made it easy to hook up extra drives, I'm still skeptical of their performance in comparison to the stand alone Promise ATA100 or ATA133 TX2 controller card for 23.00 at www.newegg.com One person using the A7V266E saw about a 10% enhancement after downloading the VIA Patch for Promise controllers on the KT266a chipsets.
As Brian pointed out before, if you go with the GA7DX or GA7DXR, make sure you get the most current version. I think it is V 3.0 now. See their website for more info.
Also, the GA7DXR and GA7DX do not fit the Koolance water cooled case without modifications to the motherboard. www.koolance.com
Not important if you don't plan on using this case.

Hope that helps you.
Allen [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[who]

Hi Allen,

Thank you VERY much for your detailed reply. I think I'll go with the A7V266-E since I'm also looking at the Koolance case.

[Allen Hallada]

Good choice. You will love it.
Allen [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[8mmOverdose]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by who:
Hi Allen,

Thank you VERY much for your detailed reply. I think I'll go with the A7V266-E since I'm also looking at the Koolance case.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

the ga7dxr will fit into a koolance, but you need to "re- thread" some of the wires that connect to the mobo. i did it, its easy.

[G.roots]

The A7V266-E smokes and is a great choice!

I highly recommend it! You can see my performance posts on the DAVEC Performance thread - I believe that I was the first A7V266-E user to post results.

Provided you use the same CPU and RAM, you will achieve nearly the same performance with all three boards. As I recall, there is minor setup differences (i.e.. PCI slot loading) but the A7V266-E is as easy as it gets and the onboard promise controller functions great! I attempted to set it up with the onboard RAID controller but saw no noticeable benefits with ProTools LE. I did disable the onboard sound in the BIOS but this was not due to any problems, I just preferred to do so.

Anyways....

Good luck!

My system has been a ROCK SOLID work-horse since the day I built it.

[who]

Thanks to all who have replied!