PCI 32/66, what motherboards are available and other questions

[Bozz]

I'm after a board that supports PCI 32bit 66MHz that preferably supports an Athlon 64

I've been doing some research and found out a bit of info but would like clarification.

PCI 2.3 is low voltage 3.3v and natively supports 32/66, right? If so, that means virtually all motherboards support this.

Am I right or can someone help out?

 

[MichaelD]

AFAIK, there are no A64 motherboards out right now that support 32-bit, 66MHz cards.

Personally, I'd love to see an A64 mobo with a 64-bit slot...I'd buy it in a heartbeat...even if it had a Via chipset. :Q

 

[Bozz]

What I seem to be reading though is that the PCI 2.3 standard **is** 32/66, going through google seems to suggest so at least...

So I take it virtually all motherboards for A64 will only be 32bit/33MHz then We have a 32/66 RAID card and would purchase a suitable NIC, hence I would prefer the faster IO system...

There are many Tyan boards I've found for the Opteron however these are too expensive for our needs (Simply need a high IO fileserver) and some of the Tyan boards support PCI 64/66 which would be optimal...

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
AFAIK, there are no A64 motherboards out right now that support 32-bit, 66MHz cards. Personally, I'd love to see an A64 mobo with a 64-bit slot...I'd buy it in a heartbeat...even if it had a Via chipset. :Q

What's so bad about VIA? They have the best K8 chipset as of this post.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: MichaelD
AFAIK, there are no A64 motherboards out right now that support 32-bit, 66MHz cards. Personally, I'd love to see an A64 mobo with a 64-bit slot...I'd buy it in a heartbeat...even if it had a Via chipset. :Q

What's so bad about VIA? They have the best K8 chipset as of this post.

Heheh, that was kinda a cheap shot. Via's later boards...talking KT333-chipset era, were pretty good. I just think back to the days of Via Southbridge/Creative SBLIVE conflicts and I get the shakes....

True statement: Via currently has the best A64 chipset out right now.

True statement: There are only two chipsets to begin with and the NF3150 stinks...a very poor first effort IMO from a company that is more than capable of getting it right the first time, which they obviously did not.

Hopefully true statement: The NF3250 will blow Via out of the water, just like they did with the NF2

BUMP for a more definitive answer to Bozz' question.

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: MichaelD
AFAIK, there are no A64 motherboards out right now that support 32-bit, 66MHz cards. Personally, I'd love to see an A64 mobo with a 64-bit slot...I'd buy it in a heartbeat...even if it had a Via chipset. :Q

What's so bad about VIA? They have the best K8 chipset as of this post.

Well, their memory controllers used to kinda suck when compared to Intel controllers, which hurt AMD platforms a lot on benchmark comparisons back in the day before the nForce2. Of course that's no longer an issue now with the A64, so Via is definitely back in the game again.

I just want to know where the heck Soundstorm went with the nForce3? It's one of the best things about my NF2 board and one of the main reasons I bought it. I don't think the 250-series is going to have it either, which really hurts the NF3 platform in my eyes.