13 Boards with KT266A and nForce 420D @ Tom's Hardware

[LXi]

<<Did anyone notice where the article said;

The Shuttle comes wrapped in a generic package that doesn't stand out from the competition. Among its positive features are its four DIMM slots and its six PCI interfaces. The manufacturer scrimped a little on the sound chip, preferring an inexpensive AC'97-Codec. Hardcore AMD fans will be happy to hear about how far the CPU core voltage can be adjusted - all the way up to 2.025 volts. However, the FSB clock speed maxes out at 133 MHz. Compared to its more-established competitors, the Shuttle can't quite keep up, and brings up the rear in the benchmarks.

133 FSB Max? I am at 150x10 as I'm typing this. >>

I noticed, did you notice he also said MSI K7T266 Pro2 maxes out at 133MHz? It in fact goes up to 164Mhz. I think this article is just really poorly done, mistakes here and there, fuzzy comments on the benchmarks, all of these leading to a wrong conclusion.

 

[Innoka]

duh... "Chipset Duel - VIA vs. Nvidia" was written by Frank V&ouml;lkel & Bert T&ouml;pelt not Tom Pabst. How do we respect analysis of the review when they can't even get something so basic right?
More intelligently, explain why Ace's Hardware gives so different an impression of the nforce.

 

[Mats]

^^^^ Link to Aces?

 

[Zebo]

LXI-"I think this article is just really poorly done, mistakes here and there, fuzzy comments on the benchmarks, all of these leading to a wrong conclusion. "

When the cats away the mice play..

 

[LXi]

Yea, I couldnt agree more. I didnt mean to downplay the KT266A chipset, I still think it's the most practical solution for AMD today, but that article is just a debacle, I cant believe it came out of a big site like Tom's, sounded like some amateur wrote it.

 

[Demonicon]

I encourage all READERS of THG articles to take them with a grain of salt.

I advise THG READERS looking for info on the board they should buy to LOOK elsewhere when deciding what is best for them.

Also, if you're looking to get a KT266a chipset, I would recommend comparing ALL the contenders.

 

[jamison]

In my eyes, Tom's hardware greatly lacks in writing ability. Sure they have good pictures, good benchmarks most of the time, but the content is too simple and too obvious.

I am not trying to say I write well, but these guys are paid to write aren't they?
Hope Anand gets a review like this up*

*I mean in scale, Anand's articles are much better in quality.

 

[Guilty]

<< Guity, Whoever did these comments are pretty stupid, however, one of the graphs/comments was interesting, if you look at the graph below this comment... <<"The MSI K7N420 is the fastest board at compiling the latest Linux kernel. It only takes 230 seconds - while the QDI requires a whole 270 seconds. " -The MSI K7N420 is not even close to the leader in this test, it's in the very middle with 215 seconds, the QDI requires 232 as well, ?>> In WinACE 2.04, the K7N420 Pro got 230, and QDI got 270. >>



Ahh, the graph has been changed to represent the comments, they must have noticed the error. I know most people wont beleive me but yesterday when I wrote that it was wrong.

 

[AGodspeed]

Ahh, the graph has been changed to represent the comments, they must have noticed the error. I know most people wont beleive me but yesterday when I wrote that it was wrong.

You're right Guilty, I went straight to THG to look up that stat, and there it was, clear as daylight. They must have changed it, even though they haven't indicated that the article has been edited.

 

[John]

<< john,

you're totally off here.

epox = $105 PLUS audigy soundcard ~~ $165, AND you get all that cr*p (eg. gf2mx) with it for free...so priceing is NOT the factor here.

The question is eg. if i'd be better off getting epox & audigy....because the audigy has EAX and i dont know if the builtin sound of the nforce has any use in real life anyway....eg . no eax...
>>



flexy, I am not off base. Those of us that do not need the integration, which includes most people on AnandTech, will find no reason to move to the nForce420 boards at this point in time. We are looking for performance......not an integrated solution.

 

[Leokor]

<< I can't see the advantage of the nforce cards. Their biggest drawback is what should be their biggest draw, i.e the graphics card. Instead of getting the "good" stuff, you get the "clunker" stuff. >>


Audio is nForce's biggest draw, not video. Audio.

Leo

 

[MichaelD]

<< Those of us that do not need the integration, which includes most people on AnandTech, will find no reason to move to the nForce420 boards at this point in time. We are looking for performance......not an integrated solution. >>



Well said, John. My thoughts exactly. I will be purchasing a KT266A to go w/my not-yet-purchased Athlon XP (prolly the 1600/1.4GHz)

 

[flexy]

<<

<< john,

you're totally off here.

epox = $105 PLUS audigy soundcard ~~ $165, AND you get all that cr*p (eg. gf2mx) with it for free...so priceing is NOT the factor here.

The question is eg. if i'd be better off getting epox & audigy....because the audigy has EAX and i dont know if the builtin sound of the nforce has any use in real life anyway....eg . no eax...
>>



flexy, I am not off base. Those of us that do not need the integration, which includes most people on AnandTech, will find no reason to move to the nForce420 boards at this point in time. We are looking for performance......not an integrated solution. >>



Of course "we" are looking for the max. performance...and i dont care for the IGP either (gf2mx400)...anyway there WERE (and maybe still are) reviews around which put the nforce on TOP of all other boards..claiming the nforce IS *THE* fastest chipset right now....so (in this case) the performance factor would've been legitimate....regardless of what integrated components are on the nforce.

However....you can calm down....i do NOT see the THG review in that bad a ligt (as many seem to do)....because certainly it is not possible to test 13 boards (i mean TEST them..benchmark them..set them up...) and then in addition give an DETAILED description of the pros and cons of *every* board....for those reviews there are countless other sites.

I thing the THG review is good for a 'quick' overview...and i have no reason to believe that the performance of the nforce (he tested TWO boards) is 'in reality' much faster then he SHOWED up in his benches. I changed my mind....and i am getting (probably) another board instead...THG was a small factor, but the main factors NOT to go with nforce are others:

() delays
() i dont like MSI
() ASUS is too expensive (WAYYYYY to expensive) and offers no VALUE for the $$$
() Asus has realtek NIC instead of nforce integrated
() twinbank memory tech. doesnt do that much if you use an external agp card (like i do) - so this is neglectible (0.4% to 2%).....so far this hyped 'feature' does nothing except luring me wanting to buy another 256mb module for a 1% performance gain...

It looked as i was forced to go with the MSI (even if i didnt like the bios at all)..because i didnt like the asus...and the other boards will all come in microatx...i dont even know if they wont fit in my case - and NOW THG shows that there is nothing to the performance claims either....so..byebye nforce...

Oh yes..another thing is..what about the integrated audio ? It all sounds great in theory..but does it have EAX support ? What features does it have...i want to use it RIGHT out of the box...and i dont want to wait for "EAX may be implemented in the future...blah blah"...this would effectively degrade the whole great onboard audio to "just capable of directsound playback".....and i can have MORE features with an audigy/turtlebeach....

 

[flexy]

<< In my eyes, Tom's hardware greatly lacks in writing ability. Sure they have good pictures, good benchmarks most of the time, but the content is too simple and too obvious.
>>



Well....actually...doing a review of 13 boards which is 'simple and obvious' - i would call that an achievement !

 

[The Sauce]

That was one of the worst and sloppiest reviews i have ever read. I'm not sure I trust anything said there. They two of those boards that I own they were completely inaccurate about. For instance, they said that the MSI K7TPro2a and Shuttle AK31 max out at a FSB of 133 and can not be overclocked any further. This is total bologna! I have had both boards up well beyond 133 with simple bios changes. One has to wonder if they even really tested these boards at all.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Well....actually...doing a review of 13 boards which is 'simple and obvious' - i would call that an achievement !

I won't argue that the attempt to review so many boards was valiant, but Tom's is a hardware review site, and the accuracy of the information presented is critical to how the site as a whole is percieved. Reviews like this just add tarnish to an already blemished image.

 

[Demonicon]

Bigger is not always better, and in THG's case it was worse.


NOTE:I didn't hate everything about the review, I liked the pictures, THG hasn't figured how to screw those up yet..

 

[BFG10K]

Good to see Soltek getting a little more recognition. I have a KT133a board made by Soltek and it rocks.