Thoughts and comments on older chipsets?

[~El~Jefe~]

Hi,

I just wonder about buying an Nforce4 board. I wont ever buy the Ultra one, that just isnt in my needs, like ever. I rather spend the extra 200 dollars not on a vid card (and 50 more for the board) and just get an x2 amd.

My goal is to get an x2 core from amd and build a cool and quiet setup. I havea 754 2.0ghz 512k with 1 gig ram now, which works great... But, it could be cooler as it is on the 130nm technology.

So, I could just go and get an Abit AV8 board, that has the kt800 VIA chipset that uses passive heatsinks and AGP vid cards. I will ALWAYS use an ati all-in-wonder card, the tv add ins from other companies never are as clear as ati's. Currently, I hear that there will not be a high end aiw version for PCI-E, at least not for a good long while as there is problems with the analog inputs on pci-e.... so.... I am wondering if its stupid to do non pci-e and go a cool and stable chipset and get the x800 XT aiw card with an x2amd setup? yes its going to cost me, I know, but the chip wont be bought till like october, hopefully something will drop a 100 or so by thn?

[frostedflakes]

Not sure if you have your mind set on dual core, but there are Socket 754 mobiles that are based on the 90nm process. Might be easier since you could just purchase a new CPU and not have to worry about getting a new motherboard as well.

[ronrem]

The ECS KN-1 Extreme is an Ultra---at $100. It has a dedicated low noise PCI slot for a high end soundcard. The Chipset has room for a passive cooler. It can do SATA 2 HDDs-and the new 200gb spinright is rated quieter-faster-bigger that the spinright's loved here.-in is,alas,a PCI-e. ECS also has a Via based Extreme-again with the soundcard slot-but no SATA2..and I think it's AGP. VIVO Radeons are out in PCI-e...I'm sure ATI will have your AIW in e soon enough...just not this week.

[matt_garman]

So, I could just go and get an Abit AV8 board, that has the kt800 VIA chipset that uses passive heatsinks and AGP vid cards.

I'm kind of in the same boat; looking to build an Athlon 64 box, and being drawn to the Via KT800 chipsets, as those motherboards are usually much cheaper. Reading the benchmarks, it looks like nforce3/4 does have a slight edge, but I'm sure I wouldn't notice any difference.

One thing gives me pause, though, if you read about the K8T800 chipset, there's more than a few references to the PCI/AGP locking issue.

Of course, I cannot find the link where I originally read about that, but if memory serves (which is actually kind of rare, beware), the lack of PCI/AGP locking can lead to stability problems.

Does anyone have any more info on the Via K8T800 chipset and the PCI/AGP locking issue(s)?

Thanks!
Matt

[frostedflakes]

The lack of an AGP/PCI lock is only a problem if you plan to overclock.