Why is the K8T890 being ignored by PC tech sites?

[Lukozer]

This is becoming a real pet peeve of mine. I recently bought an Abit AX8 mobo and am EXTREMELY pleased with it... yet i haven't found a single review of it anywhere. This motherboard has been readily available for a month or so now... yet not a single tech site has done a review of it.

Asus have a dire K8T890 chipset mobo... and to date i have only found one review online. Soltek and Albatron both have very good K8T890 mobo's out, but to date i have only found 2 reviews of each. Finally Gigabyte have a somewhat average K8T890 chipset mobo which is clearly aimed at entry-level systems and to date i have only found 2 reviews of this board (one was a very negative review but this seemed to be because the reviewer was expecting this board to be a high-end piece of hardware).

I have found more in-depth reviews and comparisons of SiS760GX chipset boards than i have of those using the VIA K8T890. Why is this chipset being ignored so much by both the PC enthusiast market and the PC tech/hardware sites such as Anand, HardOCP, ExtremeTech, THG and almost every other major tech site... all this despite the fact that the K8T890 performs at least as well as the Nforce 4 Ultra. Surely the "handicap" of not being an Nforce 4 chipset isn't so severe that tech sites deem it necessary to completely overlook which is in fact an extremely good chipset??

Does anyone have some insight into this?

 

[Justin343563611]

probably cuz of the nforce4

 

[Gerbil333]

I've been wondering the same thing, as I'm considering a K8T890 board myself.

 

[cornholio2]

I've read somewhere that NF4 is next best to Intel chipset.

 

[Thurgo0dy]

Originally posted by: cornholio2
I've read somewhere that NF4 is next best to Intel chipset.

AMD>Intel

 

[slpaulson]

Some people really hate all things via, justified or not.

 

[Lukozer]

Originally posted by: Justin343563611
probably cuz of the nforce4

Well that might explain why PC enthusiasts who are looking at using SLi are ignoring it, but that doesn't explain why so many tech sites are, or why those who are not planning on SLi are. The K8T890 is cheaper than the NF4 Ultra yet performs identically. It also runs much cooler, due to it continuing to use seperate north and south bridges where the northbridge only needs passive cooling and the southbridge needs no cooling at all...

 

[REDtoLINE]

Originally posted by: Lukozer

Originally posted by: Justin343563611
probably cuz of the nforce4

Well that might explain why PC enthusiasts who are looking at using SLi are ignoring it, but that doesn't explain why so many tech sites are, or why those who are not planning on SLi are. The K8T890 is cheaper than the NF4 Ultra yet performs identically. It also runs much cooler, due to it continuing to use seperate north and south bridges where the northbridge only needs passive cooling and the southbridge needs no cooling at all...

They actually dont perform identically...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8ve-deluxe.html

 

[Demo24]

Originally posted by: REDtoLINE

Originally posted by: Lukozer

Originally posted by: Justin343563611
probably cuz of the nforce4

Well that might explain why PC enthusiasts who are looking at using SLi are ignoring it, but that doesn't explain why so many tech sites are, or why those who are not planning on SLi are. The K8T890 is cheaper than the NF4 Ultra yet performs identically. It also runs much cooler, due to it continuing to use seperate north and south bridges where the northbridge only needs passive cooling and the southbridge needs no cooling at all...

They actually dont perform identically...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8ve-deluxe.html

thats because that is a horrible excuse for a board. It hardly shows that chipset at its finest. Look at the soltek and even its better. I know the Abit is right up with them

 

[dwdty9]

But the K8T890 chipset doesn't hold weight with the nForce4 Ultra or SLI. And you can get cheap Ultra boards like the Chaintech or EPoX ($113 after instant rebate at newegg) that perform better than K8T980 boards

 

[Painman]

One word: VT8237

OK, that's not really a word, but that's a big reason for a lot of folks to pass on the current KT890 boards.

 

[Demo24]

Originally posted by: dwdty9
But the K8T890 chipset doesn't hold weight with the nForce4 Ultra or SLI. And you can get cheap Ultra boards like the Chaintech or EPoX ($113 after instant rebate at newegg) that perform better than K8T980 boards

of course not to SLI. And the Via boards are cheap. Go look for the Abit one, and its a good bit better than a Chaintech Nf4

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

You can't compare an ABIT board with the Chaintech VNF4.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Painman
One word: VT8237

OK, that's not really a word, but that's a big reason for a lot of folks to pass on the current KT890 boards.

And the reasoning being...?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Well how do I know that the NF4 is the BEST chipset out there for my system? Huh? I remember when I went Intel long time ago. It was between an 820 and a Via Apollo 133. I went VIA. I was satisfied. Then the 815 came out which kicked my ass around but so what. I got what was good at that time.

My AMD system? KT133A. Man, that thing was sweet for its time too. We need REVIEWS and BENCHMARKS here to work with so we can determine whats best....

 

[Demo24]

maybe if enough ask for it (like via email to anand) then we may get them here

 

[Painman]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: Painman
One word: VT8237

OK, that's not really a word, but that's a big reason for a lot of folks to pass on the current KT890 boards.

And the reasoning being...?

The reason being that VT8237 is yesteryear's southbridge. VT8251 is still as of yet MIA. NF4 has SATA2, 8237 has SATA1. NF4 has gigabit LAN, 8237 has 10/100. Given that mobos based on either NF4 or KT890/VT8237 cost about the same, wouldn't you consider it more prudent to choose the more future-proof feature set of the 2?

 

[Lukozer]

Originally posted by: Painman
One word: VT8237

OK, that's not really a word, but that's a big reason for a lot of folks to pass on the current KT890 boards.

I have to admit the VT8237 is the weak link in the K8T890 chipset boards... Although both Soltek and Abit have made up for this by including an extra controller to allow 2 more SATA channels and an extra IDE channel. They both also have gigabit LAN and firewire controllers, which again make up for the lack of those features with the VT8237 southbridge.
The 150mbps speed vs 300mbps speed of the NF4 isn't really an issue since i think it will be a considerable time before any SATA drives can begin to make use of 300mbps, so buying an NF4 board purely on that strength is pointless... the term "future-proof" is extremely overused in PC's, and is next to impossible to achieve at the rate of technological improvements today...

 

[Lukozer]

Originally posted by: REDtoLINE

Originally posted by: Lukozer

Originally posted by: Justin343563611
probably cuz of the nforce4

Well that might explain why PC enthusiasts who are looking at using SLi are ignoring it, but that doesn't explain why so many tech sites are, or why those who are not planning on SLi are. The K8T890 is cheaper than the NF4 Ultra yet performs identically. It also runs much cooler, due to it continuing to use seperate north and south bridges where the northbridge only needs passive cooling and the southbridge needs no cooling at all...

They actually dont perform identically...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8ve-deluxe.html

I was wondering how long it would be before someone used the Xbit Labs review of the Asus A8V-E Deluxe board as an example of how bad the K8T890 is. It's widely known though that this board is an absolute stinker, possibly Asus' worst in many years. This board is a terrible example of this chipset and shouldn't even enter the equation. The Soltek and Abit boards are much, MUCH better... Hey, you can actually have your RAM run at 1T command rate on those, so that's something they have over the Asus effort!

If only there was just ONE review of the Abit AX8... The total lack of any reviews of it is ridiculous...

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

"NF4 has SATA2, 8237 has SATA1. NF4 has gigabit LAN, 8237 has 10/100. "

You're right about SATA, but the Gigabit LAN is not important in the 8237 vs 8251 comparison. VIA decided a PCI-E solution is the way to go (same as ATI).

VIA K8T890+VT8237 are priced to compete with vanilla nForce4 motherboards, not nForce4 Ultra motherboards.

 

[furballi]

I'm also interested in the Abit AX8 or the Soltek 890Pro.

AV8 and AX8 have thermal temperature reporting issue since mid 2004. There are no new BIOS update since the release of the AX8. Some on the Abit forum have expressed the need to use high-end powersupply and RAM with the AX8. This may be fine if the user wants to overclock the board by 20% or more. At the default settings, the AX8 may not run well with the "average" powersupply and "value" RAM. I cannot confirm the validity of this last statement. Just hear says from others.

Price wise, AX8 and 890Pro are within a few bucks. Yet the AX8 has 3 yr factory warranty vs 1 yr for Soltek. It also has a parallel port at the back. The AX8 appears to be a better buy. The Soltek has quite a few positive reviews.

 

[dwdty9]

Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR
"NF4 has SATA2, 8237 has SATA1. NF4 has gigabit LAN, 8237 has 10/100. "

You're right about SATA, but the Gigabit LAN is not important in the 8237 vs 8251 comparison. VIA decided a PCI-E solution is the way to go (same as ATI).

VIA K8T890+VT8237 are priced to compete with vanilla nForce4 motherboards, not nForce4 Ultra motherboards.

When the Chaintech VNF4 is cheaper than the Soltek, that seems to me like a better deal than the VIA chipset, since the Chaintech is nForce4 Ultra. So your point being? Why would anybody buy the Soltek for the same price as the nForce4 Ultra board??

 

[Lukozer]

Originally posted by: dwdty9

Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR
"NF4 has SATA2, 8237 has SATA1. NF4 has gigabit LAN, 8237 has 10/100. "

You're right about SATA, but the Gigabit LAN is not important in the 8237 vs 8251 comparison. VIA decided a PCI-E solution is the way to go (same as ATI).

VIA K8T890+VT8237 are priced to compete with vanilla nForce4 motherboards, not nForce4 Ultra motherboards.

When the Chaintech VNF4 is cheaper than the Soltek, that seems to me like a better deal than the VIA chipset, since the Chaintech is nForce4 Ultra. So your point being? Why would anybody buy the Soltek for the same price as the nForce4 Ultra board??

Looking at the latest Anand price guide for motherboards, i'd say that is no longer the case...

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Originally posted by: dwdty9
When the Chaintech VNF4 is cheaper than the Soltek, that seems to me like a better deal than the VIA chipset, since the Chaintech is nForce4 Ultra. So your point being? Why would anybody buy the Soltek for the same price as the nForce4 Ultra board??

The Chaintech has enough cons that I would not consider it, unfortunately. The bug with the Vcore setting for one is a big one.

There are $180 boards based on the nForce4 Ultra, and there are $100 boards. Same with the VIA K8T890 (and every other chipset), there are cheap boards (Gigabyte, ECS) and there are more enthusiast-oriented boards (ABIT).

I would only consider buying an nForce4 Ultra board if I had $135 or more.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Painman
One word: VT8237

OK, that's not really a word, but that's a big reason for a lot of folks to pass on the current KT890 boards.

What's the delay on the long awaited upgrade to the 8237? I saw mention of it months ago and still 2 new NB chipsets later and they're still using the same old SB chip...