Conclusion

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

With all those tests and descriptions, I am going to make this conclusion short. Chances are by now, you know whether or not you want to buy a Tyan Thunder K7 motherboard based on the AMD-760 MP chipset supporting two Athlon MP processors. If you don’t know, let me summarize my thoughts on the subject.

Yes, finally dual-Athlon is here!! The performance increase in applications that support SMP is very significant, and even some programs that don’t support SMP show a nice 10% increase. When AMD does get around to putting out 1.5 GHz Athlon MP processors, this gap is sure to widen even more. When can you expect these processors? Soon, very soon. August or so, would be my guess.

But what about the cost? Is it worth it? The Tyan Thunder K7 motherboard is priced at just about $600. If that isn’t the most expensive motherboard you’ve purchased before, you have more money than I do. But there are other versions of the K7 Thunder motherboard rumored to be released soon that will cut down on some of the options and thus lower the cost. How significantly, I don’t know.

Then there is also the price of a new power supply. While I can’t even find a price on these anywhere, I’d guess at least $100 for that as well. Then, if you choose to buy a couple Athlon MP processors, factor in a few hundred more dollars. Want a SCSI hard drive to take advantage of the Adaptec controller? $250 at least. So, you can see how quickly this is adding up.

In the end, its just another personal choice. Do you want SMP Athlons right now? Are you willing to pay the $700-$1000 its going to take? Do remember that another dual-Athlon motherboard won’t be around for at least a couple months, maybe even 3 months last I heard.

If you aren’t looking for a board for your personal system, but perhaps for a server or workstation, I can’t say enough good things about the Tyan Thunder K7. I can already tell you that mine will be in the web server that hosts this site within a month. 🙂 The price/performance ratio of this board is definitely a different one than we are used to in the consumer market, but in the server market, it is all too common. As someone wise once told me not too long ago, “you have see it in its intended light.” That is also what you must do.

Overall Rating
Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41Tyan Thunder K7 AMD-760 MP Motherboard Review - Motherboards 41
(9.0 / 10.0)

So, you wanna talk about all this? I’m sure you aren’t the only one!! Visit us at Amdforums.com, our new forum domain!

Buy the Tyan Thunder K7 at Monarch Computer
Thanks to TC Computers for supplying the Cheetah Hard Drive!!
Buy the TaiSol HSFs at Monarch Computer as well.

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