Which motherboard?

I'm looking at upgrading my system from socket 370 to socket A. I would like
to find a cheap motherboard that will take my current 512mb pc133 ram and
then upgrade to ddr at a later date. So far I'm thinking of either an Elite
K7S5A or an Asrock K7VT2.
Has anyone got any views on either of these motherboards or any other
recommendations?
I'm not too worried about features at the moment, just a basic board that
will take anything from an XP1800+ to XP2400+.
Cheers

 

I'm looking at upgrading my system from socket 370 to socket A. I would like

Built the elite K7S5A pro for a friend with the same problem,
didn't want to throw his RAM away.
Worked well.
2 Weeks later he had me upgrade it from a t-bird 1.4 256-pc133
to xp2000+ 512 2100DDR...all went well,
machine does 3dmark2001se at around 10,000
with an asus ti-4200 vid card.

Various Elitegroup forum members steered me twords
a single stick of DDR512, as they pointed out
problems with a 256X2 setup on this board.

Other options are a honeyX or cheepoman BIOS
for overclocking, haven't gone there yet.

Ski

 

I've built 5 systems based on the ECS K7S5A mainboard and all are still
running today with no problems. My daughter's mainboard uses 512MB of
Crucial PC133 and my work mainboard uses 512MB of Crucial PC2100 and to be
honest there is no noticeable speed difference between the 2 in real life
applications. Only difference is in benchmark tests and even then its
minimal. Stay with your 512MB PC133.

You will need a clean powered 350-watt PSU (very important). An Antec
350-watt PSU is the PSU I use and it works well with the K7S5A.

If you are experienced with upgrading the BIOS I recommend you upgrade to
the latest Honey X BIOS. It gives you some extra features and OC options.

http://www.ezboard.com/

In the "what's your interest" box type K7S5A and it will take you to a forum
about the K7S5A and from there you can download the Honey X BIOS.

Any other questions can most likely be answered at the follow newsgroup
link: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.elitegroup
Most of this newsgroups is centered on the K7S5A.

Good Luck
Nystagmus

 

I use the Shuttle AK32E in your exact situation (customer wants to keep 133
RAM and get DDR later) and for a "no frills, rock solid" system. I used to
use the ECSk57a but quit using it becuase of problems. I've never had a
problem from the Shuttle boards.

 

Which Asus allows the use of both PC133 and DDR RAM?

 

I will second that. I have six ECS K7S5A boards Pro & non Pro versions
running. I also have dead MSI, Soyo & Epox boards that have been replaced
with the ECS K7S5A. I don't have a dead ECS board.

 

The Asus A7A266, using the Ali Majik chipset. I think he was was referring
to the Asrock K7VT2, which is an offshoot of Asus.