nd22 wrote on 2026-07-09, 05:45:

There is no review available online about any AMD760 board in 2000. However there are lots of them in 2001. i would keep the KT7A with the 1200C and build the system with them.

Actually, if I'm being a stickler with the whole year 2000 thing, was the AB-KT7A-RAID even available until early 2001? If not whats my best option for a socket A board that did 266MHz FSB in 2000?

I don't think that KT133A boards were available in 2000. I remember that they started to appear around Feb/Mar 2001.
Your safe bet is KT133 but this means no FSB 133. Most of them have VIA686A southbridge.

AMD released Athlon 1000C, 1133C and 1200C on October 31, 2000 according to wikipedia. It stands to reason that boards were available if the processors were sold in the last 2 months of the year, maybe in December.
However I found these 2 articles: https://web.archive.org/web/20240908172745/ht … ch.com/show/706 and https://web.archive.org/web/20040504161138/ht … epox-8kta3.html
Both are published on January 21, 2001 and, in the conclusion, XBIT even mentions: "While Athlon processors officially supporting 266MHz bus are still unavailable, the mainboards based on KT133A can be successfully used without them. "
If you choose to go down the "exact" date when first processors and particular boards were sold you would get yourself in a never ending debate.
Personal experience: in December 2000 I bought myself a Duron 750 and a lucky tech board. Because I had a S3 card I could not play most new 3D games. As soon as i bought a geforce2 mx I could play anything. So I think the most important component of a dream 2000 PC should be the video card.

I believe that Athlons with 133 FSB and AMD 760 had an official launch in Nov 2000.

Personally I don't get what's the thing about year specific builds instead of just getting the best components for a given platform that are still reasonably priced or which you already have. Such as just getting a KT133A board with an ISA slot and then plopping in the fastest Athlon XP you have at hand. But I guess people have different tastes. 😀

Mike_ wrote on 2026-07-11, 12:28:

Personally I don't get what's the thing about year specific builds instead of just getting the best components for a given platform that are still reasonably priced or which you already have. Such as just getting a KT133A board with an ISA slot and then plopping in the fastest Athlon XP you have at hand. But I guess people have different tastes. 😀

Its the challenge of the restrictions you put on the build that creates a lot of the interest and fun for me. In this case the restriction is "best parts available in 2000". Working within the strict boundry is the fun. This also includes the "hunt" of finding those best parts for a good deal even if it takes a long time.

Google tells me that the KT133A was introduced December first of 2000 and the KT266 was introduced in the early spring of 2001. I guess that would make a KT133A technically a year 2000 chipset.

be forward looking and do an ultimate 2001 build. 2000 was the end of the millennium; 2001 is the start.

My favorite KT133A board is the Biostar M7VKD.
I have a few of these, one of which is in a fully built PC, running an Athlon XP Barton 3000+. I modded the CPU to XP-M and unlocked all multipliers, so I can change the multiplier on the fly from within the operating system, using tools such as setmul (this does not work by default with the KT7A, unless you first modify a chipset register). It's paired with a GeForce 4 Ti 4400 and a 3dfx Vodooo 2 12MB.
In fact, this is my most versatile build by far, it can run 99% of games released between 1980 and 2001.

Now, in your particular case, versatility/flexibility might not matter much. Also, techically, the KT133A chipset was released at the beginning of 2001 (so it wouldn't be 100% period correct).
If it's speed you're after, might as well go with a KT600 / KT880 (or the holy grail nForce 2 Ultra 400) board and a much faster CPU, anyway.

I love my KT7A-RAID build! I also own the KT7A board!

It's my main vintage rig.

I'm using a Mobile Athlon XP cpu the AXMH2500FQQ4C and I love it!

Two sound cards, Orpheus II ISA for Windows 3.x and DOS and SB Live! for Windows 98SE.

Also a good choice is the later VIA chipsets (KT600 / KT880) that are DOS compatible 100%, nForce 2 isn't.

stanwebber wrote on 2026-07-13, 04:30:

be forward looking and do an ultimate 2001 build. 2000 was the end of the millennium; 2001 is the start.

The issue with doing any "ultimate year XXXX" build is that most of the best hardware for that year is found at the tail end of the year and released in like, Oct, Nov, Dec so it's in some ways it's really a build for the next year.

I did have a year 2001 build at one point. I don't remember the motherboared but it had a 2GHz Willamette CPU, RDRAM and a GeForce 3 TI500, which I have since sold.

soviet conscript wrote on 2026-07-13, 16:17:

stanwebber wrote on 2026-07-13, 04:30:

be forward looking and do an ultimate 2001 build. 2000 was the end of the millennium; 2001 is the start.

The issue with doing any "ultimate year XXXX" build is that most of the best hardware for that year is found at the tail end of the year and released in like, Oct, Nov, Dec so it's in some ways it's really a build for the next year.

I did have a year 2001 build at one point. I don't remember the motherboared but it had a 2GHz Willamette CPU, RDRAM and a GeForce 3 TI500, which I have since sold.

Exactly Late 2001, Geforce 3 Ti 500 released on October of 2001. I bought on 21st of December of that year, alongside Athlon XP 1900+ and the Audigy Gamer, both released in November!!!
Motherboard was GA-7Dxr+.