"The Compaq Upgrade...suggestions for socket 7 mobos?"
Sorry about your presario frustrations, ZP. What a pain.
I would go for either the Epox or TMC "super 7" boards mentioned here earlier. The TMC advantage is 5 PCI slots, but they don't seem to have as wide a distribution as the Epox. As mentioned before, Anand's site has reviews of both. Grump Mirco, which carries the TMC board and calls it "the best super 7 board," now has the 1 MB cache version (which'll cache up to 256 megs.)
Though Anand likes the TMC board better, I'd feel a bit safer with the Epox. I am more familiar with their company, and my experience with their support has been excellent. Moreover, Check whatisnew.com to see ESC's very favorable reaction to this board. As you know, they are definately a top-drawer sales outfit, more concerned with compatability and reliability than with more dubious virtues like overclockability. I'm getting very near my own purchase, and if I can get by without the 5th slot, I'll probably by this board from them.
I'm not sure if you can re-use your RAM--depends on its specs and whether you want to try to use 100 mhz front-side-bus (you can choose with either board, fortunately.) I'm virtually certain both allow for harddisk boot selection, tho you'd want to confirm this. ESC answers my presales e-mail very quickly at presales@esc-tech.com ; they confirmed that they have the latest version (.2) of the board in stock, and their price is competitive ($120.)
You should definately be able to re-use everything else.
Best,
Dave |
