Assuming you want ISA ports, KT133A is as good as it gets in my opinion. 133MHz RAM and FSB, ATA100, etc. The southbridge is a bit sketchy, but the 4-in-1 driver/service pack offers workarounds for Windows at least. The AMD chipsets uses the same VIA southbridge, and the other alternatives have even more serious weaknesses if you ask me. Perhaps you should wait for some more input before making your decision though, I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable user on the forums when it comes to this.

There are plenty of motherboards sporting the KT133A chipset around. I'd suggest doing some research on board specifics before picking one, at least if you want one with Athlon XP support.

kaputnik wrote:

Assuming you want ISA ports, KT133A is as good as it gets in my opinion. 133MHz RAM and FSB, ATA100, etc. The southbridge is a bit sketchy, but the 4-in-1 driver/service pack offers workarounds for Windows at least. The AMD chipsets uses the same VIA southbridge, and the other alternatives have even more serious weaknesses if you ask me. Perhaps you should wait for some more input before making your decision though, I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable user on the forums when it comes to this.

There are plenty of motherboards sporting the KT133A chipset around. I'd suggest doing some research on board specifics before picking one, at least if you want one with Athlon XP support.

Thanks for the hint. On the A7Pro there's the first KT133, which differences there are between various KT133 revision (BX,A,... )?

386SX wrote:

kaputnik wrote:

Assuming you want ISA ports, KT133A is as good as it gets in my opinion. 133MHz RAM and FSB, ATA100, etc. The southbridge is a bit sketchy, but the 4-in-1 driver/service pack offers workarounds for Windows at least. The AMD chipsets uses the same VIA southbridge, and the other alternatives have even more serious weaknesses if you ask me. Perhaps you should wait for some more input before making your decision though, I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable user on the forums when it comes to this.

There are plenty of motherboards sporting the KT133A chipset around. I'd suggest doing some research on board specifics before picking one, at least if you want one with Athlon XP support.

Thanks for the hint. On the A7Pro there's the first KT133, which differences there are between various KT133 revision (BX,A,... )?

Here's a comparison of the basic features.

By the way, another thing to check for is if 133 MHz FSB is enabled on the specific KT133A mobo, wouldn't take it for granted if the board was designed for Thunderbird Athlons. My Chaintech 7AJA2 has a completely undocumented jumper to select FSB frequency ranges. One jumper setting gives a range between 100 (if I remember it right) and 130 MHz FSB in the BIOS selection menu, the other jumper setting between 133 and 160 MHz. Possible RAM settings are the same no matter the jumper setting.

kaputnik wrote:

386SX wrote:

kaputnik wrote:

Assuming you want ISA ports, KT133A is as good as it gets in my opinion. 133MHz RAM and FSB, ATA100, etc. The southbridge is a bit sketchy, but the 4-in-1 driver/service pack offers workarounds for Windows at least. The AMD chipsets uses the same VIA southbridge, and the other alternatives have even more serious weaknesses if you ask me. Perhaps you should wait for some more input before making your decision though, I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable user on the forums when it comes to this.

There are plenty of motherboards sporting the KT133A chipset around. I'd suggest doing some research on board specifics before picking one, at least if you want one with Athlon XP support.

Thanks for the hint. On the A7Pro there's the first KT133, which differences there are between various KT133 revision (BX,A,... )?

Here's a comparison of the basic features.

By the way, another thing to check for is if 133 MHz FSB is enabled on the specific KT133A mobo, wouldn't take it for granted if the board was designed for Thunderbird Athlons. My Chaintech 7AJA2 has a completely undocumented jumper to select FSB frequency ranges. One jumper setting gives a range between 100 (if I remember it right) and 130 MHz FSB in the BIOS selection menu, the other jumper setting between 133 and 160 MHz. Possible RAM settings are the same no matter the jumper setting.

But the KT133 was basically the only available chipset at that time? No other manufacturer like sis?

No, there are others, but in my opinion their weaknesses are greater than the KT133A's. The SiS ones were geared towards the budget/value market segment. The AMD ones are on par with the pure VIA ones, but they use the same somewhat problematic VIA south bridge, and was more or less out competed by KT133A, would guess they were more expensive without offering anything for the price premium.The KT133A is, once again in my personal opinion, the most viable and accessible alternative today if you need ISA, 133MHz FSB and 133MHz RAM support.

kaputnik wrote:

No, there are others, but in my opinion their weaknesses are greater than the KT133A's. The SiS ones were geared towards the budget/value market segment. The AMD ones are on par with the pure VIA ones, but they use the same somewhat problematic VIA south bridge, and was more or less out competed by KT133A, would guess they were more expensive without offering anything for the price premium.The KT133A is, once again in my personal opinion, the most viable and accessible alternative today if you need ISA, 133MHz FSB and 133MHz RAM support.

Thankx. Any specific motherboard model I should look for better than other?

Abit and Epox both marketed KT133A motherboards with an ISA slot. Not everyone else did.

So, keep your eyes open for hardware from either one of these guys.