rolsen 0 Posted June 21, 2001 Anyone got any opinions on the Abit ST6-RAID? I'm looking at upgrading, and it seems to have some sweet features. One thing that was slightly disapointing was that the maximum amount of ram is only 512MB. Share this post Link to post
Brian Frank 0 Posted June 21, 2001 Blame it on the chipset, but other than that, it should be good. Abit has a good name behind them. Back to the ram, unless you're gonna use stuff like Photoshop, you probably won't need 512MB, and if that's your only problem with the board, I wouldn't say it's a big deal. Of course if you're not strictly Intel, you could also see what else they offer with more memory expansion, but those would most likely use Via chipsets, and not everybody is thrilled with Via. Share this post Link to post
rolsen 0 Posted June 21, 2001 Well, besides being a hardcore gamer, I also use Photoshop very heavily. I've been looking into the Athlon Thunderbirds, and damn, for WAY less I can get a 1.2Ghz with a 266 FSBthat beats PIII's in benchmarks. Also, the Abit KT7A-RAID looks like a very good match for it. Share this post Link to post
Brian Frank 0 Posted June 25, 2001 I use both AMD and Intel cpu's and with all the speed and power they have, you WILL have a powerful system with anything you choose between the two. The exception might be the Pentium II and Celeron, as they are left in the dust. There is nothing wrong going with AMD or Intel. If you're trying to save money, AMD may do that, but first add the cost up, because the end difference is not always that great. Actually for Photoshop, in addition to RAM, you also might want to check out the speed of your hard drive. If you're using an IDE drive that's only 5400rpm, you may want to look at a 7200rpm drive with ATA100 to go with that new motherboard and cpu. Ive never used Photoshop, but I do understand that it likes a generally hefty system to run nicely. Not just the cpu power--although that helps, but the amount of Ram and the speed of the hard drive are also factors. Just something to consider... Share this post Link to post
rolsen 0 Posted June 25, 2001 I ended up buying the Abit KT7A-RAID, a 1.2Ghz Athlon, and one of the newer Geforce 2 MX400 64Mb. I totally agree with you on the hard drive speed. I'm currently using a 7200rpm ATA/66 drive, so its not extremely slow, but I'm not really in need of an upgrade on that. Share this post Link to post
Brian Frank 0 Posted June 26, 2001 About the only thing you could do to improve the drive now would be to go to ATA100. FYI, I saw a little report that showed a 5400 ATA100 drive was pretty much the same to a 7200rpm ATA66. Not saying you have to, but I just though about giving you food for thought. Enjoy the speed. Share this post Link to post
CrazyKillerMan 0 Posted June 26, 2001 or go with an IDE raid option. One more hard drive. WAY increased bandwidth. I am running dual maxtor 7200 ata100 drives and they perform wonderfully! Just dont get an IWILL raid card...i had a large amount of problems with mine, and finally got a promise fastrak 100 for $30 more, it was definatly worth it. edit: Nevermind you have onboard raid already Share this post Link to post
