VIA KM 266 Video- Open GL Support?

[tkistre]

I was planning on building an extra computer for my home office. I was considering using the Gigabyte 7VKML motherboard or the MSI 6390 motherboard. Both use the VIA KM 266 chipset with onboard Video, Sound and LAN. It is possible that the computer will occasionally be used to run Counterstrike or Medal of Honor from time to time. I thought I read in one of the Forums here that the onboard Savage 4 video did not support Open GL in Windows XP. Does anyone know? I looked around online last night and didn't see anything about this subject. If not XP, does it support Open GL in Windows 98? Thanks for any help!

 

[vss1980]

The Savage4 has problems in Windows XP with OpenGL but that is mainly because there are not really any new drivers for Windows XP for the Savage4 that support OpenGL very well. The KM chipsets however are a different matter and do have OpenGL support like the Savage chips had anyway - but bear in mind that it isn't pretty. It isn't a gaming platform in terms of graphics so while Counter-Strike may be playable I think Medal Of Honor will have to run at fairly low detail and resolution.

In all honesty, in terms of integrated graphics chipsets, nvidia 420 based boards are pretty much the best at the moment.
You should also keep in mind that a normal KT266A motherboard with cheap low-end graphics card like a SiS 315 based card or an ATI Rage 128 or Radeon VE/7000 based card will at least equal the graphics performance of the KM266 (and easily surpass it in most cases).
As an office workstation or a DivX/DVD player machine, the Savage would be fine but its 3D performance will easily depress you.

 

[tkistre]

I appreciate the help. I actually have a MSI board with the nVidia 420 chipset on one of my systems now and am very pleased with it. I was hoping to cut cost by getting the KM 266 board. I may very well get a board with the KT266A and a low end card or go ahead and get another nVidia 420 board. At least I know exactly what I'd be getting. Thanks again.

 

[RobsTV]

From what I've gathered, the Savage 4 portion is used in KM133 SDR memory based systems, and coupled internally with KT133.

With the KM266, it uses ProSavage 8, (including built-in 8x AGP), coupled with KT266A internally, and is based on DDR memory.

The biggest drawback to the original KM133 was SDR, as non-DDR killed performance.
Now with full DDR support, it looks like the KM266 should compete well in low end market.

My Epox KM266 based board should be here in a day or so, and I am not expecting GF2 GTS performance, but MX400 performance would be nice.
Will post with test results.