motherboards - VIA or nForce chipsets

[null]

I am making a shopping llist of components to give my favorite hardware vendor. So far, they are getting me an AMD xp2800+ barton processor.

 

They mostly sell MSI boards, but also ASUS. They gave me a couple of MSI choices - one has the VIA KT400A chipset, DDR400, audio, LAN, 8x AGP and USB 2.0.

The other MSI is an nForce2 board with the same features - except it also has SATA

 

The KT400A board is quite a bit cheaper (half the price of the nForce board).

[bvc]

I can't say really, I've never had an nforce. I have this one and it's great.

[null]

thanks bvc. I specifically asked them if they sold abit, but they don't anymore. I prefer to buy all my components from this place, cause later if I have problems, they are helpful - especially if I bought everything from them. Plus any hardware bought from them gets a one-year free replacement if any problems.

 

Therefore, since your abit board has the 400 chipset, I think I'll tell them to get me the MSI with the kt400A chipset. I don't know what the diff is between the KT400 and the KT400A though.

 

edit: I googled it, and found out the diff is that the KT400A added support for DDR400.

Edited May 16, 2004 by null

[mtweidmann]

Only had personal experience of VIA chipsets under Linux, but never had any problem with them.

[bvc]

edit: I googled it, and found out the diff is that the KT400A added support for DDR400.

mine also supports ddr400

[DragonMage]

Usually, Via chipset is easier to work with linux as it requires no special drivers whatsoever. But that doesn't mean NForce Mobos are bad, just a bit more hassle to work with.

 

Anyway, regular KT400 may support DDR400, but in benchmarks, the memory performance under DDR400 is not that much improved over DDR333, even worse in some benchmark.. KT400A improves the Northbridge (the memory controller) so at least there is some improvements in switching from DDR333 to DDR400.

[Ixthusdan]

I have always used via, and would look for a kt600 chipset if I were buying one now. I currently have a kt400 chipset. Do they get Epox? I have used two of these and I love them. They are not quite as pricey as Asus or Abit, and are not dangerous like kcs or pcchips!

[Guest buddcar]

:unsure:

 

Have seen considerable talk of problems experienced with Mandrake 9.2 and nForce chipsets. A very annoying tendency to lock up solid, no way out except for hard reset. I happen to have an ABIT NF7-S and experience these same problems on occasion under Mandrake 10.0. Sometimes several in a day, other times with longer spaces but almost always when heavy disk use is under way, such as copying a large file from one disk to another. I have not seen any specific solution or for that matter cause.

 

I suggest avoiding the nForce if you are a Mandrake user until the problem is resolved/explained.

[null]

thanks, guess I'll stick with VIA. I'll ask about an MSI board with the 600 chipset, as Ix suggested. Since this place gives the 1-year warranty on any hardware they sell, they basically just stick with a couple of brands of each item. The brands that have given them less problems over the years. They had quite a few Abit boards returned by their customers (I myself had 2 bad abit boards in the last couple of years - they replaced each one for free). That's why they recently dropped abit.

 

They mostly sell MSI now, but they will also sell Asus.

[Gowator]

Good choice.

MDK 10 uses the forcedeth driver for the nforce which seems much better/stable than the 9.2 one.

However, 9.2 & nforce left me wishing I had a different chipset :D

[SoulSe]

So long as you are packing a 2.6 kernel, either are fine - prior to 2.6 VIA would've maybe have been a better option.

 

Of course, the other things on your MoBo (integrated LAN, etc.) will also make a difference... I'm using an ASUS board with 3COM on-board gigabit lan and VIA chipset (including sound) - happiness all the way, but I need a 2.6 kernel for the Lan card...

[Sarissi]

The mobo I am currently using, is a Gigabyte GA-7N400-L. Middle of the K7 Triton series. This replaced my Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe Apogee (which I am still going to use), only for the reason that it did not like my ND-2500A all in one DVD burner (at least as an internal eide).

 

Interestingly, I have no problems with the nforce2 Gigabyte mobo and mandrake 10.0 CE powerpack. I didn't have any problems with Via chipset mobos, either.

 

Mobo brands I have used:

 

Epox (super socket 7 only)

Tyan (ss7 and slot A)

Gigabyte (socket A)

Chaintech (socket A)

ASRock (socket A)

[Gowator]

No Either 10.0 or forcedeth or 2.6 have solved this prob for me too.

 

However, it left a scar... specifically I stopped me using Mandrake for a while... !!

[Crashdamage]

I'm using an Asus A7N8X n-Force2 board with 8.2 - no problem. Had to manually enable DMA of course, but as stable as it gets. My current uptime is 103 days of heavy use, and was something like 87 days before that when I purposely shut it down to rearrange all the friggin' cables connected to this thing. It seems it'll run 'til a power outage gets it.

 

On the other hand, at work I have an A7V8X VIA version of the same board running Win2kPro. That doesn't apply to Linux use, but and it is the best Winshaft machine I've ever had. Almost makes Windows act like a real OS.

 

Both boxes use AMD Barton 2.5 processors, but note that neither of these boards is the "Deluxe" version. Maybe it's just coincidence, but seems all the problems I've heard about with lockups on the Asus n-Force2 boards were Deluxe versions.

 

At any rate, I've used Asus boards almost exclusively for years. I must've put a couple dozen boxes together with Asus boards by now and I know of several still running after years of use. Never had any problems at all. I have had problems with other boards. Chaintech, Abit, maybe a Tyan, I can't remember for sure now. Bottom line is I'd buy either chipset as long as it sits on an Asus motherboard.

[null]

So long as you are packing a 2.6 kernel, either are fine

 

thanks for all the pointers regarding chipsets. Guess I should''ve mentioned in the original post that this question is pertaining to the 2.6 kernel. I am putting a new box together for one of the new distros (no windoze dual boot). Haven't decided between mdk 10, suse 9.1, or ???