AMD owners- What do to do in the post nforce2 era?

[Chronic321]

I recently built a new setup, AMD Athlon 2400+, Geforce 4 Ti4600 etc... However with the recent nforce2 launch I feel like an idiot. Granted, I purchased my motherboard back in July but still why did VIA release the KT333 chipset if it was extremely slow? The nforce2 scored 1000 more 3dmark points than the Kt400 when paired with dual DDR! Just look at the recent gamepc.com review. Is there a possiblity of a BIOS update or 4-1 driver update to bring the performance of the KT series and nforce closer? Thanks

 

[Markfw]

I can sympathise with you, but we all do it: buy, and right down the road something else faster comes out. Just life in the computer world. I wish I had your 2400, the best I have is my 2000, and I paid $181 for that (didn't wait long enough). Now I want the 2800 and the 333 bus, but I hate nvidia, and don't envy the nforce2. KT400a will be my next mobo.

 

[Gstanfor]

You should never have bought a VIA motherboard in the first place. Its been apparent to many since the first nForce (and before that) that VIA does not offer the best performance and has buggy chipsets, but prior to nForce2 if you dared state that publically you were shot down in flames as being a nVidiot and VIA hater...

Greg

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
You should never have bought a VIA motherboard in the first place. Its been apparent to many since the first nForce (and before that) that VIA does not offer the best performance and has buggy chipsets, but prior to nForce2 if you dared state that publically you were shot down in flames as being a nVidiot and VIA hater...

Greg

VIA chipsets are good. that's why they have most of the market on the AMD platform side.
and, when the KT266A came out, it was top notch performance and stability. I don't remember the last time I saw a VIA chipset not being up near the top of the pack, if not THE top.. in terms of speed. I've never had any problems with the 3 VIA chipsets (AMD based) that have passed through my own personal hands (in my house) Don't worry about your purchase... your KT333 is fine.

 

[Bovinicus]

Please, for this thread's sake, do not start getting into the classic is VIA good or bad argument. Anyway, it is going to happen a lot, and there is nothing that can be done. With the rate that products come out on the market, there are always going to be new products just a couple of months down the road. I'm trying to restrain myself from upgrading any time in the near future. I have had my current system (See Moobox) for a good amount of time now and I am going to try to wait for the Hammer. That way, when you upgrade, you get so much of a boost you could care less what just came out. Hehe.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Bovinicus
Please, for this thread's sake, do not start getting into the classic is VIA good or bad argument. Anyway, it is going to happen a lot, and there is nothing that can be done. With the rate that products come out on the market, there are always going to be new products just a couple of months down the road. I'm trying to restrain myself from upgrading any time in the near future. I have had my current system (See Moobox) for a good amount of time now and I am going to try to wait for the Hammer. That way, when you upgrade, you get so much of a boost you could care less what just came out. Hehe.

Two Words....Via Sucks

Why do you think AMD keeps sending reviewers nForce2 motherboards when reviewing their newer processors?

Also the reason why Via has lead in the AMD market is because they are fast and they are cheap. But that will only go so far.

I wonder if ATI has a chipset in the works anytime soon? The only design wins I have seen for their chipset are mobile design wins. Its not like ATI had any impressive chipsets, but it would be interesting if they did have something exciting coming down the pipeline.

 

[Soulkeeper]

AmdInside, ati does have atleast one athlon chipset that isn't laptop based and i believe it supports ddr memory
i saw a reveiw of it once and saw some boards for sale at Fry's electronics but they were never a big splash

yeah more competition is always good tho
I can't say i'm apposed to Nvidia coming into the chipset business

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
AmdInside, ati does have atleast one athlon chipset that isn't laptop based and i believe it supports ddr memory
i saw a reveiw of it once and saw some boards for sale at Fry's electronics but they were never a big splash

yeah more competition is always good tho
I can't say i'm apposed to Nvidia coming into the chipset business

i think nvidia coming to the business will force via to make better chipsets

 

[Daovonnaex]

Personally, I'm praying that nVidia tries its hand at a DP chipset. The AMD 760MP and 760MPX have awful I/O subsystems and memory performance is nothing special. With nVidia's use of dual-channel memory (plenty of memory bandwidth for UDMA) and HyperTransport (multiple tunnels, anyone?) as well as the outstanding memory performance, we'd have a real solution for the Athlon MP. Currently, if you want a high-performance I/O subsystem with SMP (which most do, since most SMP machines are servers), you have to turn to the Intel Xeon (hideously expensive) and the ServerWorks GC-LE or Intel E7500 chipsets (i860 phased out), which do not have AGP slots (there's the ServerWorks GC-WS chipset, but I have yet to see it). It seems like nVidia could probably appeal to not only the server market, but also to video editors and 3D animators who need fast disk systems AND high-powered graphics acceleration.

 

[The Sauce]

You should never have bought a VIA motherboard in the first place. Its been apparent to many since the first nForce (and before that) that VIA does not offer the best performance and has buggy chipsets, but prior to nForce2 if you dared state that publically you were shot down in flames as being a nVidiot and VIA hater...

Well it is no longer "prior to nForce2" and here I am still calling you an idiot. There is no other way to retort than to say that this statement is pure and utter ignorance. My last 3 chipsets have all been VIA and they have been nothing but stable. I just bought the ASUS nForce2 offering only because I accidentally destroyed my old KT266 mobo (heatsink mishap)...otherwise I would have waited to see what KT400A was going to bring to the table.

VIA chipsets are both stable and offer good performance. Anyone who says otherwise either is postulating or had one bad experience which could easily havebeen attributable to another component.

 

[chizow]

Anyway, I'll try and fight my way through the flames to the poster's original question:

No, 4-in-1's and BIOS updates won't give your KT333 dual-ddr support...that's coming with KT400A.

Chiz

 

[Macro2]

The way I see it is that VIA got off the snide about the time nVidia came out with the nForce and SIS came out with the 735. VIA knew they couldn't get away with putting out slow, buggy chipsets anymore. Up until then it appeared most of VIA's resources were going into developing Intel chipsets to compete with Intel. Ain't competition great?
Now that nForce2 is here, it isn't any surprise that VIA is scrambling to follow with a dual DDR Athlon chipset, the KT400a.
OTOH, I have a couple KT133a (K7t-pro2a) based computers out there still running fine although setting them up was a pain.

Mac

PS...When will we see a nForce2 with Video onboard?

 

[Cerb]

The KT133 and KT133A...oh wait, the KT266, too, were PITAs of the first order (except for the Iwill KK266). The KT266A and KT333...nice. Quick to set up, run just fine. While the first nForce was nice on performance, it was too expensive, and only slightly better than VIAs offerings in compatibility. The nForce2 mobos are about the right price now (starting at $120-$160...figure the $90-$120 range by spring), and I'd love to have one

 

[Macro2]

Cerb,
Yeah man.
Wasn't it about the time the 735 and nforce came out that VIA upgraded to the KT266a which was a much faster chip than the KT266? Oh Yeah!
VIA suddenly realized they couldn't ship beta chipsets anymore.
Appears now, they have fallen behind nVidias nforce2 dual DDR chipset by a few months.
I'm sure a few people are crying crocodile tears for poor ole' VIA hahaa
Mac

 

[wizdum]

VIA makes good chipsets and will continue to make good chipsets. Otherwise they wouldn't be in business. But the nForce2 chipset will force them to make even better chipsets. SiS hasn't put out anything that has caught my attention. Anyway, back to the original posts. You will have to wait to get a different chipset such as the nForce2 or the KT400a to have Dual-DDR.



































































































La.

 

[AbRASiON]

Originally posted by: Chronic321
I recently built a new setup, AMD Athlon 2400+, Geforce 4 Ti4600 etc... However with the recent nforce2 launch I feel like an idiot. Granted, I purchased my motherboard back in July but still why did VIA release the KT333 chipset if it was extremely slow? The nforce2 scored 1000 more 3dmark points than the Kt400 when paired with dual DDR! Just look at the recent gamepc.com review. Is there a possiblity of a BIOS update or 4-1 driver update to bring the performance of the KT series and nforce closer? Thanks

Hence me being patient and waiting for the right hardware to come out at the right price.
Strike to early and you regret it.

I'll never buy another via product again - I wouldn't even have considered their boards - but that's another story.

I got a feeling the "next big thing" will be either thoroughbred b 1800's or thoroughbred b 2200's - both @ 166mhz fsb (but 133mhz "normal" speeds) - nice little boost I think.