MSI KT4 ULTRA (VIA KT400) review!!

[Mem]

Review can be found here .

 

[Mem]

Nice to see the CNR slot has gone,6 PCI slots are more useful IMHO,which Epox have being doing for awhile now.

 

[Insane3D]

Overclocking may not be one of the strong features of this mainboard as we already have seen the DDR 400 performance hampered for what ever reason. Using an unlocked processor to take advantage of the lower multiplier factor which allows a better FSB performance to enhance memory and video rates. These days it does not take much to determine the outcome and has we see here our actual maximum stable FSB overclock was 160 FSB at the multiplier of x 10.5 that is below the default 12.5 factor which we could not raise above 145FSB, increasing Vcore to 1.85V did allow us to hit the 160FSB mark with stability anything above 160FSB came to a halt with random reboots and screen locks with in the desktop.

The usual for MSI...

This board really doesn't impress me. As usual for MSI it has a ton of features, which is nice, but the newer KT400 chipset gets beat in a lot of the tests by the faster KT333 boards, and the ones it wins it [/i]barely[/i] wins. I really can't see the point to upgrading to a KT400 board from a nice KT333 board unless you just want bragging rights..

 

[Macro2]

RE:" I really can't see the point to upgrading to a KT400 board"

Only for the extra features. Certainly not the performance. But it's early...too.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Macro2
RE:" I really can't see the point to upgrading to a KT400 board"

Only for the extra features. Certainly not the performance. But it's early...too.

What extra features? AGP 8X? All that extra stuff on the MSI is not part of the chipset...just add on controllers... The USB 2.0 and upgraded V-Link are on the newest KT333 boards..

 

[Mem]

Pete I agree with you,however MSI are known to be feature packed and excellent stability at normal clocked speeds,overclocking wise has always been their weakness , OC wise Epox is still king,wait for the Epox KT400 board, it will be interesting to see the overclocking results .

 

[Insane3D]

however MSI are known to be feature packed and excellent stability at normal clocked speeds

No argument there..I totally agree.


My point was the KT400 really doesn't offer any more features by itself than any of the higher end KT333 boards....other than AGP 8X. All that extra stuff like S-ATA and Firewire are things that can be added to any PC with a PCI card.

 

[CraigRT]

KT400 is bunk.. the board is nice, especially if you want a quick stable board in an office box or for a non-enthusiast.... but there is no reason to upgrade to a KT400 even from a perfectly good KT266A rig. I felt the same way about KT333 and still do.. 266A is good enough until the next big jump is released.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Yield
KT400 is bunk.. the board is nice, especially if you want a quick stable board in an office box or for a non-enthusiast.... but there is no reason to upgrade to a KT400 even from a perfectly good KT266A rig. I felt the same way about KT333 and still do.. 266A is good enough until the next big jump is released.

I mostly agree with that except for one thing. Most KT266A boards do not have the 1/5 divisor @ 166mhz, this is the main reason I see for a 266A --> 333 upgrade. Running an XP at a 166mhz FSB / 166mhz memory bus over the standard 133/133 266A setup can offer a significant performance increase...though it's nothing earth shattering.