best non-Athlon64 mATX board...KM400 or nForce2?

[Danime]

I'm looking to build a micro ATX system based on an Antec Aria case and an Athlon XP 2600. I'm trying to decide between a DFI KM400-MLV (KM400 northbridge, 8237 southbridge w/SATA) and a Chaintech 7NIL1 (NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 + MCP) motherboard on Newegg. Has anyone had any experience with either of these motherboards or have any better suggestions? I'm not really interested in an nForce2 IGP chipset.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Vette73]

If doing soem gaming then get a nForce2 IGP board and use the dual ch memory. If you juts want a basic machine and maybe play videos on it etc... then get a KM400 board.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but for the XP platform, there isn't that much of a performance difference between the KT333 and nForce2.

If you can get a KM400 / KT400 / KT333 motherboard cheaper, go for it. I'm running 2 mobile Barton 2400+s @ 2.3GHz on 2 Soyo K7VME motherboards that I got free after rebates, and have no complaints whatsoever. Blew my old P4 Willy 1.7 setup clear out of the water

 

[Danime]

I was originally considering an nForce2 IGP board, but I read a lot of articles in different places which seemed to indicate that the IGP was pretty darn picky about memory. And, the IGP is
<DIV>adequate for 3D gaming, but still performs well below a true AGP GeForce4 MX. I'm not much of a PC gamer anyway, so I'm quite happy with my old Radeon 7500, which does awesome tv-outin theatre mode. The mATX nForce2 IGP boards are a bit more expensive and I'd probably want to buy higher quailty RAM to keep it stable. I guess my main concern/question was what anyone's experience was with the VIA KM400 chipset.</DIV>

 

[Vette73]

If you already have a video card then why not juts get a KT600 ? Cheap and fast

But I built a system with e Biostar KM400 board and it went together just fine. Used the onboard video, sound, and ethernet and had 0 problems.

 

[Danime]

I'm not familiar with the KT600 chipset. I assume this is a successor to the KT400A? Are there any microATX KT600 boards?

 

[Vette73]

Sorry forgot the mATX part.

BUT if you don't need video look at the....

Chaintech 7NIL1-SUMMIT
Uses the nForce2 chipset but without the onboard video. So it will not affect your ram as badly.
Only cost $62 shipped at newegg.com

 

[Danime]

Yeah, the Chaintech 7NIL1 was one of the boards that I was looking at. But, comparing this to a KM400/KM400A w/8237 southbridge, I'm wondering if the slight performance increase from the Ultra 400 chipset is worth it from SATA and 8 USB ports. That's my dilemma!

These are the boards of note that I've found with the 8237 southbridge
KM400A
-DFI KM400-MLV
-Biostar M7VIZ(Only PCB v5.1 supports SATA)
KM400A
-ECS KM400A-M2 Deluxe
-MSI KM4AM-L

I was originally looking at an nForce2 IGP, but so few of them have tv-out, and even fewer of them are actually on the board, instead of as an add-on for a PCI slot.

 

[Danime]

Well, I'm now running an Aria with an MSI KM4AM-L, 512MB PC3200 RAM (Mushkin Green), an Athlon XP 2600+ (333 MHz FSB), and my old Radeon 7500. It's been working like a charm for the past week.

 

[coolred]

Well since you already got your questioned answered, I will hijack your thread.


How do you like the aria? I am considering one, and am looking for as many user reviews as I can get.

 

[Danime]

Personally I think the Aria is great! I was seriously considering a Shuttle, but they are a bit pricey and use a proprietary form factor for the cases/mobos. My only complaints would be that putting in new cards requires removing 6 screws. Two hold the bracket directly on the back, but you also have to unscrew the three PCI cards and AGP one to physically remove the bracket, allowing you to insert another card. Also, it is a BITCH connecting the IDE and power cables! The drive cage is easy to take out, but once you put it back in, you have very little space to reconnect everything. I have a CD burner and two hard drives installed. The Aria comes with one rounded IDE cable and I recommend buying another one. The extra flexibility will make a difference.

The pluses would be that it looks awesome, and it's just slightly wider than a Shuttle case! There are two blue leds in the front, one on each side. The case is simple to take apart. One screw in the back, and the top slides off. Both sides just have a tab to press on, then they just slide forward and pull right off. The front panel perfectly covers the tray to your optical drive, and the eject button lines up with the drive's button perfectly. The card reader is a plus too...who needs a fdd these days anyway. My next challenge is figuring out how to make my pen drive bootable...