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Conclusion
Pairing the KT3 Ultra2-R with the GeForce 3 TI 200 yielded some good results. I guess the most important thing to many consumers is cost. This set up can be purchased for around the 275.00 to 300.00 mark. Not too bad... GeForce 3 TI 200 The GeForce 2 TI200 is starting to show it's age. With the GeForce 4 TI 4400 and 4200s out on the market at about $190.00 and $131.00, and the GeForce 3 TI200 at about $80.00, it may be well worth the extra money for the latest and greatest. But still the GeForce 2 TI 200 is still no slouch, and can still run any game at a nice playable level. It is not the greatest but, for a budget system, it's not too bad. KT3 Ultra2-R The KT3 Ultra2-R performed with out a hitch. The performance is on par with other KT333 boards out, the price also makes this board an attractive option, ranging between $80.00 and 100.00 depending on the options that you select. You will also notice the lack of the in socket thermistor, this is because the motherboard can read from the internal diode of the XP line of processors, both the .18 and .13 micron versions, the temps range anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees higher when reading from the internal sensor, but at least now you get a true reading. Clearance around the socket was not an issue. I was able to install the MCX-462, the Coolermaster HSC-V62, and the Thermaltake Volcano 6 CU+. The onboard audio did not affect performance as much as I thought it would, showing that integrated solutions can perform as good as add in PCI cards. I was really impressed with the card when it came to DVD & Music playback. All sound was crisp and clear. The onboard audio supports both Dolby and DTS decoding, you get the 5.1 connections via a CNR card. This was the first time that I have really gotten a chance to play with CNR but I didn't see any problems. Supporting 2 GB of ram should keep any user happy, having the ability to run your memory at 266 or 333 also is nice. Of course that's why it is a KT333, right? This board also supports USB 2.0, unfortunately I don't have any USB 2.0 peripherals so I could not test that, but I did test for backwards compatibility and everything from the old Iomega CDRW to multiple gaming devices worked with out any problems. Also included with this board is Promise's 20276 RAID controller. This is the "Lite" version, meaning that only 2 drives will work in a multiple drive array. This is kind of a beef with me. I would much rather see a non-lite version of the RAID controller. I happen to run and know people who run a 4 drive raid array, but that is really a minor issue in the overall scope of this board. This set up rocks for what it is. Granted, a 4400 would be nice, but hey, you have to work with what you have. Testing this setup was a pleasure, I ran into 0 issues or crashes. I did not have the opportunity to test out the overclocking features of the board at the time of the review, but I will get to it here in the very near future. I would like to thank Phillip over at MSI for supplying the awesome products for review. So if you are looking into building a budget system, remember to take a look at these two products as your options. This set up comes Very Highly Recommended.
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