Via KT333 boards

[tboneuls]

Anyone have some info on the new Via KT333 boards? I was going to get a KT266A board, and I am wondering if the new chipset is worth the wait. What boards will have the chipset? Should I wait? Thanks for any info.

 

[tuan121]

from wht i heard its about a 3-5% faster. so not worth the wait. u shouldnt really wait b/c better boards are always around the corner.

 

[AGodspeed]

<< from wht i heard its about a 3-5% faster. so not worth the wait. u shouldnt really wait b/c better boards are always around the corner. >>

3-5% faster is probably a little optimistic too. There's no point in getting these boards, since no real/official DDR333 memory is selling on the market right now, and the KT333 only brings DDR333 to the table, nothing more and nothing less.

Get a KT266A instead of KT333 if you're going to go the VIA route. Otherwise, wait for SiS 745 (a good mainboard maker instead of ECS) and nForce 415-D motherboards to start popping up in the next couple weeks.

 

[MrBumpy]

I'm also curious to see how the new ALi MAGiK 2 is going to perform against the others.

 

[WhiteWizard]

The BIOSTAR one is first one, its allready shipping and should be cheap, take a look in their site. I have installed 2 BIOSTAR, and despite a neddfull BIOS update to stabilize 3D mode, their work very nice, so much that I brougth one for my spare machinne!.

 

[SnowPunk98]

I have a few that should be here in the coming weeks I will be reviewing at my website, link in my sig

 

[frobnitz]

<< Get a KT266A instead of KT333 if you're going to go the VIA route. >>



Actually, the biggest reason to get a KT333 seems to be that it supports a 5/1 PCI divider that should allow the PCI bus to run in spec at 166 Mhz for overclocking. Running at that speed on the KT266a with a 4/1 divider makes me pretty nervous about the long term health of my hard drives and other components.

According to posts at tbreak and ocworkbench.com in their reviews and comments of both the Asus and MSI KT333 boards, their appears to be a 5/1 divider. While not as nice as locking the PCI bus to 33 Mhz the way the Nforce boards seem to support, this would appear to be pretty darn good.

Add to the fact that no KT266a board seems to use the on-die thermal diode the XP's support, and that at least 2 KT333 boards do, this also seems to be a good reason to wait for the KT333 series to ship.

Personally, I am waiting to hear how the new Abit KT333 board shapes up. If it has the OC capability of the KR7A and has a 5/1 divider, and also uses the thermal diode the way the A7V333 does, that will be a sweet board. And when the .13 T-bred come out, with any luck, it'll OC as well as the Northwoods, and so that new divider will come in very handy. I just wish it supported a 6/1 divider for that!

 

[LED]

I'm with frobnitz on this 1 plus you'll save yourself the cash on a USB2 card later (unless you buy the MSI Mobo) and an increase (albiet small) is still an increase. For anyone without a 266A MoBo an upgrade to the 333 would be a wiser choice IMO as it has everthing plus some that the 266A chipset Mainboards have.

 

[GiveMeDeals]

There are some interesting reviews/comparion with KT333 reference board vs KT266A and NForce motherboards. Take a look and see if you think it's worth it
AMDMB.COm
TechReport

BTW looks like the KT333 is about 10-15% faster than KT266A IF you are using some HIGH quaility PC2700 DDR, Cosair, Kingmax, etc.

 

[NFS4]

<<

<< from wht i heard its about a 3-5% faster. so not worth the wait. u shouldnt really wait b/c better boards are always around the corner. >>

3-5% faster is probably a little optimistic too. There's no point in getting these boards, since no real/official DDR333 memory is selling on the market right now, and the KT333 only brings DDR333 to the table, nothing more and nothing less.

Get a KT266A instead of KT333 if you're going to go the VIA route. Otherwise, wait for SiS 745 (a good mainboard maker instead of ECS) and nForce 415-D motherboards to start popping up in the next couple weeks. >>


1) There's the 1/5 PCI divider. That's good enough for me so that I can overclock the FSB of the Athlon to 166MHz
2) Why go KT266A if you can get a KT333 for a little more money and get native ATA133 and USB 2.0 support (I wouldn't need my USB 2.0 PCI card then).
3) What makes the SiS745 any better than the KT333? It's also using DDR333 and isn't quite as feature-filled as KT333. Also, there won't be as many SiS745 boards as KT333 boards to choose from. KT333 is a drop in replacement for motherboard makers that already have KT266A boards
4) Also, VIA is quietely going to drop the KT333 northbridges and slide in KT333CE Northbridges which support AGP8x.
5) nForce 415-D? Too little, too much $$$, too late. Still haven't seen them for sale yet. Also, since you can get 745 and KT333 boards now with DDR333, why take a step back? nForce 415-D is just showing up too late in the game to sway many people. SiS746 should wipe out any 415-D aspirations unless you MUST have the nForce audio.