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are VIA chipsets still a PITA?
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pillage2001
Lifer
Ever wonder if the problem is between the pc and the chair?? My housemate has been using the A7V for 2 years now and he refuses to change the board because of the stability of the board.
After going from a BX based intel board, to a via based A7V board, back to an intel based 850 board, I don't think I'll ever go back to Via. I had more hassles and problems than all of the other boards combined. The intel boards just seem to 'work' and they require much less effort. I had the dreaded A7V and SB Live! issues and thankfully, due to the work of the community, I was able to take advantage of the A7V faqs that are out there and get the system to become extremely stable, even with the SB Live. So yes, my VIA setup is rock stable after hours and hours of wasted time tweaking, whereas the Intel system was stable right out of the box.
ahah, believe me or not, i've been using a7v with win ME (believe it 😀 ) for er.....ever since a7v was born.
well,i use practically every day, super stable......(well, it does hang when the blue moon turn full. 😉.....) been running for 2 years without any reinstalling windows.....
hehe, i cannt belive it too....🙂
so, too bad for u 😉
pillage2001
Lifer
I believe what you said is true but he was saying that in 1 stable system, there will be 20 unstable ones which is total BS. Almost all my friends are on AMD/VIA systems and NONE, I repeat, NONE has any stability problems. My friends are more than 20, not 1 or 2. Gohanson is my housemate whom I was talking about and there're 4 AMD/VIA systems in this house running with no probs. All have Creative sound card in them too.
True...And you'll probably find the same 20 people trolling in forums and throwing anti-VIA FUD all around the place.
I've used VIA chipsets since early 1997 (the VIA VP and VPX) and back then just a fraction of the folks knew that VIA was a company designing core logic for x86 CPU's... Till date I've dealt with many generations of VIA chipset based mobos and haven't had any stability issues. And neither have any of my friends who use VIA chipsets. True, some VIA chipsets may have bugs aka errata, but so do chipsets from other companies, Intel included.
If it wasn't clear in the original, these sentences go together:
"
I have never had a system that was problem free for very long. Just keep adding and changing things, and at least every couple of changes will bring an unforseen difficulty (which I generally solve).
"
My normal mode of thought is "What else can I do with my computer? What have I never tried? Can I make two unusual things work together at the same time." My idea of changing something is not just going from MediaPlayer 6 to MediaPlayer7.1, although even that can bring screwy surprises.
If I leave it alone, everything works fine. Certainly everything is stabile. When you change things...
But you are right. If you want a sure thing, VIA or Intel, make the system identical -and I mean identical- to a known good one. Don't "tweak" it, don't "upgrade" a part. Then don't change anything. This may be where people get the idea that VIA chipsets are a PITA. People who never change their system read about somebody else changing something and having a problem. They imagine that if they themselves changed something, it would go fine. Wrong. I mean, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. Why does VIA get the bad rap? VIA people like to mess with their computers. Intel people sit aroound all day long, sip wine, savor croissants, and recite Zen poems. They don't want to foul themselves on computer stuff. Orr is it he MAC people? Whatever,
Sometimes changes go OK. I went from a Geforce2 MX to a Geforce2 Pro with not a wimper. I didn't even change drivers. It worked in both 98 and XP.
Other times ...
When I installed Netmeeting 3, so I could use a remote desktop, I couldn't get games to operate full screen. (This is when I am NOT using the remote desktop.) I didn't know Netmeeting was the cause. It seemed to be a video problem. I thought it had something to do with the video driver or the games or DirectX or... g*d knows. I didn't associate the two things because I don't play games very often or use the network very often. It took me a long time to figure that one out. I suppose I could have cursed VIA for their problematic chipset. Only thing was, a computer on the network, the one I wanted to run remotely, had exactly the same no-full-sceen problem, and it had an Intel 810e chipset. I had to mention this because otherwise the Intel people would put this on their list of VIA bugs. They are probably adding it anyway.
I wasn't exagerating when I said I could go on for hour after boring hour listing problems of this type that I have worked through. If you don't try different combos of things, you will never know about them. This one was simple to explain.
This is just normal for anybody who is around a variety of computers. I'm nowhere close to being an extreme techy.
Anybody ever have a keyboard -a normal keyboard- that will not work with one computer, allthough the keyboard has worked with many over the years, and still works with 3 other computers? I have. Any other keyboard works.
Anybody ever have a nice video board conk out that has worked for years; won't boot in 3 computers, but works flawlessly, in full 3D railgun-pellet-flying glory on a fourth? I have.
Do you have two versions of Linux, three versions of XP and two versions of W98 on your computer? Do you have three other computers in the basement with likewise oddball setups?
The more changes you make, the more problems you run into, the more problems you know of. This idea of a problem-free computer is delusion brought about by an extreme low familiarity with a variety of hardware.
Don't get me wrong. If Intel put out a chipset for Athlons -which we all know is exactly contrary to Intel's goal of killing AMD- I'd consider it. Not because I have had less problems with Intel in practice. It just is easier to go with the flow, which is Intel. Intel has something like 4 times the users out there. That means 4 times as many people with the same problems as you that you can go to for help. Four times as many people working on the same problem. Maybe fifty times as much time that manufacturers put into making a given product compatible.
Let us refresh our memories. AMD processors used to plug into Intel motherboards. In that era, Intel arranged their legalistics to alllow general use. It worked well for them and they prospered, growing into the phenominal giant we know from an obscure controller chip maker. In that era Intel created the PCI bus, which is really the Pentium bus. Partly because of Intel's policy, PCI rapidly superceded the previous standard bus, VESA local buss. Then Intel decided to kill off AMD, its cross-liicense partner since the 8080 days. In order to do that, the marketing department created a new processor interface (slot 1) and arranged the legalistics to be totally exclusive to Intel. Analysts have claimed it to be technically inferior to what had gone before in every way. AMD's stategy was to shadow Intel by using the same connectors and other parts as Intel, although employing a different processor bus licensed from DEC. Shadowing Intel this way meant that mobos could be nearly the same for AMD processors as for the Intel versions and had nearly the same cost of production. Licensing a pre-existing buss from DEC meant Intel could have no legal grounds to stop AMD. Getting the glue chips, the chipset, to interface the mobo to the processor was a problem. Intel sure wasn't going to do it! The whole point of this maneuver was to bump off AMD. So that is why we are left with non-Intel chipsets for AMD processors.
PCI, from the point of view of Intel's maketing department, is a failure. It allows AMD processors to work with cards designed for Intel equipment. A minor bright spot is there are some proprietary things about Intel's own PCI version that it can still withhold. Its not much, because manufacturers have gotten around it.
Exactly which part of my post indicated that the AMD platform is crap and that everybody should buy Intel? Isn't that what a fan boy would say?
I mean is it that difficult to understand that comments of the nature "my machine is fine" "my machine is stable as a rock" are completely useless unless somebody asks specifically for a component such as a motherboard model or a graphics card? When somebody wants to decide whether to get A or B he doesn't want 10k people that own A to post "A OWNS" and another 10k people that own B say "B OWNS". What that somebody wants is to find out what the problems of A and B are and whether they are going to affect him.
Now tell me, is that really that hard to understand??
The poor guy asked if VIA was still PITA and I posted the problems I've had with my VIA motherboards. How is you posting "VIA RULES" going to be of any help? Whether it is good or not will be determined by the number of problems posted, not by the number of happy users! What would happen if every single Intel user of this board posted that his system is fine? Chaos.
If you honestly believe that my post was about excluding anything that has ever caused you a problem then either your understanding of english or my ability to express thoughts in english is lacking.
Yes, that exactly what I said in my post. VIA is crap because it requires drivers to work. Unlike almost any other piece of hardware out there, including graphics cards, sound cards, monitors, keyboards, mice, etc.
Was that supposed to make me look bad?
deerslayer
Lifer
Maybe 😉
I have an Epox 8k5a2+, no problems here till I try to overclock past 166fsb. So I stop at 166fsb, problem solved.
Used to have problems with my Iwill kk266-r, went back to win2k, problem solved.
Both are stable and run 24/7.
Had problems with my ECS k7s5a too which is not a VIA board. Went back to win2k, no more problems.
<----had bad luck with winXP
Mem
Lifer
All chipsets have some sort of drivers. WinXP has native VIA driver support,as for sound cards ,video cards etc,I think you`ll find 99% of members here install those drivers for thier PCs,what`s the big deal with drivers? They are normal part of install with any OS and one of the many things which most users update all the time.
🙂
That's it, I've had enough. I was worng, you are all right. When somebody asks for an opinion anybody that has something bad to say should STFU and everybody with a stable system should reply ASAP. This way we can have 100 posts threads every day. Actually, now that I think about it I should be banned for even thinking otherwise.
I have had 2 VIA chipset motherboards ( KT266 and now KT333 ) over the years and I haven't had really any problems. Have ran an Audigy and SBLive fine. With Windows XP, I haven't had much to mantain. Just have installed VIA 4.38A drivers, and the latest video card drivers. Nope, imo Via is not a PITA....... since when did they become bread ? 😉 😛
Mem
Lifer
Lol I bet,where was your sarcastic icon ? And you did say
As to being thick, in your case I`m intelligent enough to build VIA boards without any problems can you say the same 😀.
Getting back on topic about stability and VIA ,the chipset is only a small part of the equation,you`ve to remember things like quality of the other components & even different brands can effect stability, even those that use the same chipsets,user skill also plays an important factor.In the end stability is more then just the chipset .
🙂
On 01/13/2002, in a thread about IDE problems with Via chipsets, I wrote:
I searched other boards, I posted here, I tried everything; never found a solution.
I ordered myself a K7S6A (SiS chipset) and have lived happily ever after. Not a glitch. Stable, simple, inexpensive, no messing with 4in1's, no IDE problems. My SO's K7S5A is also running perfectly.
Apart from a recent and regrettable experiment with a Via Epia mini-ITX system, I've steered clear of Via ever since. I can't generalize about all Via-based boards, but mine was a serious PITA. I wouldn't build a system with one now if you paid me.
I searched other boards, I posted here, I tried everything; never found a solution.
I ordered myself a K7S6A (SiS chipset) and have lived happily ever after. Not a glitch. Stable, simple, inexpensive, no messing with 4in1's, no IDE problems. My SO's K7S5A is also running perfectly.
Apart from a recent and regrettable experiment with a Via Epia mini-ITX system, I've steered clear of Via ever since. I can't generalize about all Via-based boards, but mine was a serious PITA. I wouldn't build a system with one now if you paid me.
I just wanted to add my share of FUD... I've been burned by every AMD and VIA chipset I got, which made my life hell when I got them for other people who trust me. I am talking about countless hours of my life gone, never to be recovered. Those of you who know me realise I'm not a moron when it comes to building computers. Maybe VIA & AMD make better chipsets now, but their repeated betrayal of my trust will take long to heal. Yes, I used a VIA system for 1.5 years with rock stability, but that's because I took some 15 hours at first to eliminate the kinks which caused instability under multitasking stress (that most people never bother to test.) Over and over I heard during the past two years how VIA or AMD make great chipsets now, and I actually believed it. At this point, I cannot help my skepticism. That's my opinion for what it's worth, don't expect me posting any more in this thread.
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