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Best CPU you can use with a Socket A motherboard with ISA slot

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First post, by Green Giant

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I'm trying to figure out what the best CPU is that you can use with a Socket A motherboard with ISA slot, and barring industrial motherboards, it seems like Socket A with a VIA KT133A chipset is the best you can get.

Unfortunately, I've also read that various Socket A motherboards only support various subsets of Socket A CPU's, especially without modifications.

I am interested in DOS and Windows 98 compatibility, while being able to cram as much of the XP era as I can and supporting more CPU intensive games such as Morrowind.

Reply 1 of 2, by Repo Man11

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This thread has the scoop on one of the best Socket A retro setups: Abit KT7A (KT133A/VIA686B), Athlon XP Mobile 2500+

This very old thread on Overclockers.com also has some pertinent information, but it was written when the KT7A wasn't yet completely obsolete. I ran a couple of KT7E motherboards with XP2100 CPUs as parts lookup computers at my job from maybe 2007 to 2011?
https://www.overclockers.com/forums/threads/t … ghz-now.158672/

After watching many YouTube videos about older computer hardware, YouTube began recommending videos about trains - are they trying to tell me something?

Reply 2 of 2, by kixs

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I played with KT133A some years ago... and while you can cram in some mobile XP chips, it's unfortunately the memory bandwidth of KT133A (SDRAM) that gets in the way, so there isn't much benefit of a faster CPU in the end.

Visit my AmiBay items for sale (updated: 2025-10-29). I also take requests 😉
https://www.amibay.com/members/kixs.977/#sales-threads

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