Any one here have problems with the Via KT880 chipset ??

[Rat1x]

I'm planning to buy a Mobo.. and i was thinking on a Gygabite or Abit with a KT880 Chipset.. so i wanted to know if any one here have a real experience with the mobo ??? not based on reviews or benchies???

Any issues ?? problems.. tips.. ..

 

[Zap]

Here's my review on the MSI version of the board:
REVIEW: MSI PT880 Neo-LSR, very good board but voltage impaired

I still have this board in my primary gaming machine. It continues to be very stable, fast and reliable. Only two negative things I've noticed since my review. One is that the onboard audio picks up some system bus noises. Not nearly as bad as my Abit IS7, but noticeable under certain conditions. Second is that I wanted to try out some SATA drives. They worked great on the onboard (Southbridge) SATA controller... as long as I didn't overclock. A single MHz up on the FSB would get occasional errors. Two MHz up and the drives were no longer detected. Don't know if it just didn't like my Maxtor drives or not, so I bought a generic PCI SATA RAID card using the Silicon Image chipset that is favored by motherboard manufacturers. No matter default speed or overclocked, Windows install would decide the drives were corrupted. The PCI card with the two Maxtor drives worked fine in two other systems. Oh well, currently I run the system with a single 250GB ATA133 Maxtor. I'm still satisfied with the value I got since at the time boards with these features but with "better" chipsets were costing much more.

I have not owned the Gigabyte or Abit boards with that chipset. From what I've heard the Abit board was a real mess when it first came out. It wasn't working properly with a lot of ATI video cards, had problems with onboard sound, had problems with stability, had problems with... had problems with... dunno if it got all fixed up, but I personally wouldn't consider that board just based on all the horror stories. I've not heard anything about the Gigabyte board, good or bad.

Is there a particular reason to get the PT880 chipset? I don't have an issue with the chipset itself, but it does seem that the board selection is kinda slim. Budget 865PE chipset boards can be had for around $60 and the SiS 655TX chipset boards seem very competitive.

 

[MDE]

PT880 != KT880. The PT is for Intel, KT for AMD Socket A. Honestly, I'd skip the VIA chipset and go for an nForce2 based board.

 

[Zap]

Whoops, my bad... too much pr0n... need glasses...

I think the KT880 is gonna miss the boat for Socket A since I think AMD is intent on shifting the market to A64. Actually the only KT880 chipset board I've heard about lately is one made by Asrock. Costs $43 at Newegg and actually does have some basic overclocking features, plus the reviews said it was a decent board. It won't be the overclocking badass like some other well known NF2-400 Ultra boards, but it is really budget.