KM 400 vs. SiS 741 GX

[speedingAZ]

I am wanting to upgrade my computer. I am not a hard core gamer. Mostly internet and business apps. I am still using dialup and plan to get cable modem after I upgrade.
I am thinking of either a Abit va-10 (Via KM400 chipset w/ S3 Unichrome integrated video) or ASRock K7S741GX(SiS 741 GX chipset w/SiS Real 256E integraded video). I don't really play games that often, I have UT, Starcraft, Quake3 and games of that vintage. I bought GTA 3 last year and it doesn't run very well on my computer. I was originally going to upgrade my computer last year but I broke my arm. I was looking at Motherboard with Intel Extreme Graphics and a Celeron. The computer I would be upgrading is a generic AMD K6-2 450 with PC100 ram, ISA 56K modem, and a 13 GB hard drive. Not much is usable so I would need to buy a new processor, motherboard, memory, hard disk, and modem. I like these 2 motherboards because they have onboard video and an AGP slot. I could probably see getting a $30 video card and a <$60 motherboard, but I would rather wait on video card until I find a game that I can't play (GTA should work with either of these MB's). I am leaning towards the KM400 because I have had good luck with VIA, but this SIS 741 GX seems to come with an AMR modem. I have heard that the new SiS chipsets are faster but I am not sure on their stability.

SAMSUNG 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model SP0802N $67.00
Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM $93.00
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ "Thoroughbred" 266 FSB, 256K Cache Processor- Retail $72.00
Zonet V.92 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem, Model ZFM5620-CF -Retail $12.50

ABIT KM400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "VA-10" -RETAIL $53.00

ASRock SiS741GX Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "K7S41GX" -RETAIL $48.00
(prices are at newegg.com)

 

[Harvey]

A lot of folks like nVidia chipsets. I've had a lot of success with VIA chipsets, but I avoid SiS chipsets. I've seen them work, but there always seems to be something a little shakey about them, but that's just my experience

You don't say where you are, but if you have a Fry's Electronics in your town, they run a rotation of specials on Athlon XP2200+, 2400+ and others with this ECS motherboard for about the price of the chip, itself. For example, I put together a system for a friend. I bought the 2400+ (OEM) and motherboard for $69.99. Add $10 for a decent HS/fan, and you've got a great start on a very inexpensive system.

The board uses the VIA KT333 &amp; VT8235 chipset and includes onboard LAN. It's not the most rocking gamerz board, but based on my experience with this one, I'd outfit a large business office with them in a heartbeat. If you happen to find Rev. 8 of the board, it supports AGP 8, as well.

 

[speedingAZ]

The closest Fry's Electronics is in Tempe AZ. I live in Tucson AZ. It's about 120 miles. I try to stop by there when I am in Pheonix for other reasons, but I have never seen a sale like you describe. If I get an ECS K7VTA3 (or the like) what video cards would you suggest. I would prefer newegg/mwave. My other option would be MSI KM2M Combo-L with 168 pin SDRAM slots so I can reuse my PC100 RAM, but I am leary using that with integrated video. I am also consurned about my 300 W power supply being able to power a MB , CPU and Video Card, etc.

 

[Vette73]

Look at the Biostar KM400 board. It has the newwer southbridge and I used one for a customer and it worked VERY well.

I would pass on ANY SiS graphics, even the stand alone cards. The UniChrome is a very good video card. It has a built in Mpeg decoder, and some other things I can't remember that makes it a great 2D and video player very well.

Juts get some PC3200 Ram (or at LEAST PC2700)

Also get a MOBIL Athlon XP-M 2400+. Set the FSB from 266 to 333Mhz and you will be a little over 2.2Ghz easy.

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: speedingAZ
The closest Fry's Electronics is in Tempe AZ. I live in Tucson AZ. It's about 120 miles. I try to stop by there when I am in Pheonix for other reasons, but I have never seen a sale like you describe. If I get an ECS K7VTA3 (or the like) what video cards would you suggest. I would prefer newegg/mwave. My other option would be MSI KM2M Combo-L with 168 pin SDRAM slots so I can reuse my PC100 RAM, but I am leary using that with integrated video. I am also consurned about my 300 W power supply being able to power a MB , CPU and Video Card, etc.

Using PC100 RAM limits you to an OLD Duron (1.3GHz or slower) since you'll have to have the CPU bus at 100 MHz then too. Besides, running a shared-memory-VGA chipset on SDR RAM is going to really stink.

 

[speedingAZ]

Originally posted by: Peter
Using PC100 RAM limits you to an OLD Duron (1.3GHz or slower) since you'll have to have the CPU bus at 100 MHz then too. Besides, running a shared-memory-VGA chipset on SDR RAM is going to really stink.

I thought the MSI KM2M would allow for a 200 Mhz FSB with PC100 RAM. I could under clock a T-bred 266 FSB @ 200. Or I can try to overclock PC100 RAM. This was really just a "go cheap" scenerio.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=411

I have currently scraped all efforts to upgrade using shared video and I am currently weighing options for a Intel based system. By increasing my budget substantially. I find that I can build a nice PC for under $1000. Or I can use this setup with a K7VTA3 (or similar) and a low-end video card (GF FX 5200/ ATI 9600SE) for less money.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=29&amp;threadid=1304812&amp;enterthread=y

 

[tcsenter]

100MHz = 200MHz DDR FSB
133MHz = 266MHz DDR FSB
166MHz = 333MHz DDR FSB

SIS 315 graphics driver seems to have some flaws according to reviews of integrated SIS video, failing to run or complete benchmarks and the like. The VIA/S3 Unichrome drivers may be more mature and stable. I don't have any first-hand experience with the SIS 315 graphics core myself.

I'm using a KM2M Combo-L as I type with an XP1800+, 512MB (2x256MB) of PC133 SDRAM, and Radeon 8500 128MB AGP. ATX PS with 12v 4-pin connector is required on the KM2M. Seems to be a very stable board, except that other boards offered the option of enabling only one of the dual USB controllers through BIOS, while its 'all or none' with the MSI board. So I have like six USB ports (and two controllers) occupying four IRQs but I only need two ports. Not a major complaint since IRQ sharing works pretty well these days.

 

[Iron Woode]

My second system uses the KM4M-L from MSI and it works quite well. The system is very stable.

MSI also makes the KM4aM-L using the KT400a chipset.

Abit and DFI make them too.

 

[Kenazo]

have a flip through this thread It was about NF2 vs KM400, might help you out a bit too. I've used both chipsets, KM400 is nice and stable, not as good for gaming though, however it has SATA, even on most of the cheapest boards, while NF2 doesn't.