The new A7n8x?

[Evdawg]

the asus a7n8x was the standard for amd xp processors for a lot of people.... whats the new best board for the 64 bits? i see that via came over the top of nV this time.

Im looking to buy a 3000/3200 (64) and i wanna get a good mobo. Thanks

 

[coolred]

Not quite sure what you mean by via came over the top of nV this time. IMO the 250Gb chipset has a better feature set then the via chipset. With the on chip memory controller, performance differance is not much. I like the MSI K8N Neo Platinum, but I hear the Epox is also a good board.

 

[Evdawg]

what i mean is, the Via chipset did better in a lot of tests ive seen... better than the nforce3 that is.

is this not correct?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Evdawg
what i mean is, the Via chipset did better in a lot of tests ive seen... better than the nforce3 that is.

is this not correct?

The nForce3 150 series was badly hurt by its lack of native SATA support (in this enthusiast/built-it-myself niche we're in). It didn't have the attraction of nVidia SoundStorm audio like nF2 did. Its Hypertransport bus ran slower than VIA's (although VIA's V-link from northbridge to southbridge is slower yet, a fact that people failed to notice).

nForce3 250 series brings very high network performance, native SATA and any-drive RAID along, and has full-speed Hypertransport, although still no fancy audio processors. The network performance is interesting for certain situations. But the real kicker is operational PCI/AGP frequency lock, allowing overclockers to play with the CPU's speed without affecting the speed of the PCI and AGP buses. And so I'd say the nF3 250 will help nVidia pick up steam against VIA.

As for the heir apparent to the A7N8X, it's a little early to tell, partly because there are two types of sockets (754 and 939). Asus K8N-E Deluxe is a possibility if it OC's well and turns out to be a solid board, or the MSI 250Gb board maybe.

 

[Evdawg]

so are you saying that the nforce chips are ahead of VIA chips now? or whats the better performance buy?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Evdawg
so are you saying that the nforce chips are ahead of VIA chips now? or whats the better performance buy?

If you're going to overclock to the ragged edge, or if you want to set up a RAID array that comprises both PATA and SATA drives, or if you have real uses for extra-high-performance networking, then nForce3 250 and/or 250Gb could be just what you're after, and the 250 boards start below $100 so it's not like the price is too wild either.

VIA is working on a new southbridge that will put them back on par with nVidia as far as the network aspect goes, and they're working on PCI/AGP lock too, so it's not like they plan to be a stationary target.

Speaking for myself, I like the looks of nF3 250Gb and will probably buy an Asus K8N-E Deluxe to replace my Asus K8V Deluxe (VIA K8T800).