Nforce or VIA

[Dorkenstein]

Which chipset is better? I ask because I bought an ARM Systems silent case kit www.armsystems.com and the recommended motherboard is the Asus K8V for the built in cpu duct in the case because of the cpu's location on the board. Is the location the same on the K8N (nforce)? If it isn't the same and VIA is better I will go with the K8V, if VIA is worse I will bite the bullet and go with nforce. Thanks.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Asus itself can answer the part about where the processors on the two boards are located related to each other. Or you can download the photos of the two boards and scale them to the same size before printing, then measure the images' locations for the socket.

There are a lot of Overclock-conscious folks on the AT forums, for whom the nForce chip sets are the end-all and be-all with the support for overclocking activities. nVidia also has a well-earned high reputation for making available usable drivers for their products, and rapidly released imnprovements to that software. Via has had more difficulty with good driver software for its chipsets. I've had one good Via motherboard, and one not-so good. But my own current bias is pro-nVidia, for both their motherboard chip sets and their video chip sets.

 

[Gamingphreek]

My advice is to wait. The Nforce 4 (ie CK8-04) is right around the corner and is supposed to beat the stuffing out of all available.

-Kevin

 

[Arcanedeath]

I belive the Nforce 3 250GB chipset is better than Via's solution and the cpu socket is in the same spot on the K8N-E Deluxe as on the K8V system board

 

[BW86]

nforce3 is better, but i agree with gamingphreek. Wait until the nforce4 boards come out

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: BW86
nforce3 is better, but i agree with gamingphreek. Wait until the nforce4 boards come out

That's what I've been waiting for, too. NF3 was never an option.

 

[Dorkenstein]

When does NF4 come out? I don't have much time to waste here.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

nForce4 comes out before X-mas, but the boards will be more expensive than current nforce3. You will also need a PCI-E video card.

If you're not overclocking the K8V is good board.

 

[CJP]

Is that nforce firewall difficult to set up? I use Zonealarm which seems to do the trick but more security is always better.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Well I was actually thinking of the K8N since I like Nforce more, it looks like the cpu is in the same spot on both boards as well so that's good. I sent an email to ARM Systems tech to see if the DFI lanparty will fit so we'll see about that as well. I think I'm going to go with NF3 as I just bought a 6800GT, no way in hell am I buying a new video card already.

 

[prometheusxls]

Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR
nForce4 comes out before X-mas, but the boards will be more expensive than current nforce3. You will also need a PCI-E video card.

If you're not overclocking the K8V is good board.

You guys are crazy. The boards don't come out for atleast 2 months. Its never a good idea to move to a new chipset until the reliablity / performance is proven, at least 1 month. And there is never guranteed availability at launch. It maybe 3-5 months before you can actually buy one at a reasonable price. In addition this will require all new CPU, ram, video, case, etc... Thsi is a massive upgrade.

Was underimpression this will require BTX case.. am I wrong here?

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: prometheusxls(snip ...) This is a massive upgrade.

Was under impression this will require BTX case.. am I wrong here?

I think not; and yet I think we might get to to see an interesting variation on the slide-in "MB Tray" idea from a number of case manufacturers (at least one is already making such announcements). The trays would swap from "left" to "right" depending on whether the MB is ATX or BTX. What I haven't seen is how close the placement of slots and the output port block is going to be to a 180 degree flip of the ATX. If it's not similar, this dual-use case proposal just won't fly.