It's alive!

[M|x]

athlon MPs have a tendency of running hot. dont know if that goes for a XP turned into an MP though

[Pace]

I'm also on my first AMD system. Yet still stayed clear of VIA

How are you liking the system in general?

Funny to note that you think this has been a long awaited upgrade, whereas when I went from P3-800 to XP2000 I thought it was very quick

P.

[Kruzin]

So far, so good.
The system has not given me any problems (yet).
I was going to stay away from VIA, but after going to 6 comp shops, not one of them has a single SiS board...so I caved in and decided to try the VIA.

This is my first non-intel system since my old Apple III, so I'm watching it very carefully, but have not had a reason to complain so far...

[K6-III]

I also have VIA on my Epox 8K3A+ because noone has made a SIS chipset board with its OC capabilities to date....

I think my last upgrade for socket A shall be Barton.....and then HAMMER TIME!!!!

[Nuno]

I was actually refering to Nforce2 boards. They are priced equally or less than VIA KT boards, are faster and seem to be less problematic. SiS 748 should be nice too, but the boards are taking too much time to appear.

You probably made a nice choice, but I have something personal against VIA, sorry.

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Novdid
Never IBM, NEVER!!!

Seagate's Barracuda V are good ones. As are WD's special edition series, which BTW are amongst the last HDD lines to offer a 3 year warranty.

IBM's are usually pretty good drives -except for the 75GXP series problems. The new 180GXP shows promises with the 8MB buffer (if only they'd extend it to the less than 120GB models...)

Seagates are slow right now and not really worth your time unless you want quiet drives -then again the competition is not much louder and quieter models are arriving/ed...

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Kruzin
So far, so good.
The system has not given me any problems (yet).
I was going to stay away from VIA, but after going to 6 comp shops, not one of them has a single SiS board...so I caved in and decided to try the VIA.

This is my first non-intel system since my old Apple III, so I'm watching it very carefully, but have not had a reason to complain so far...

The KT400 boards are pretty cheap (dunno who said the nForce2 were cheaper -I'd like to see!...) and run plenty fast (faster than the SIS anyway -eventhough they have an excellent PCI implementation blah blah blah ).

Their last drivers seem to be doing OK. They're still not as stable as competition but it's a nice improvement -don't use it for a windows server...

And change the damn HDD!

[Belwarrior]

Bah!.. Asus Stopped shipping the A7S333 over here (Singapore) and the other 745-based MBs are getting scarce and are being marked up Waiting for the next release from SiS or i might just go with nVidia.

[Evildead666]

i'm very happy with my NForce2. I had a via KT133A chipset, still in 2nd system.
i only changed mobo, and kept the same chip as in the via, and it made a HUGE difference.
Not sure if it was the memory bandwidth that made it go all happy, but the Graphics side of things is a hell of a lot smoother, and the whole system just runs without a hitch.
My via was unstable at best, and i had tried everything.
Still having oprobs finding a graphics card that will work in it...

\Byock: I have a BX chipset as server (eDonkey ) and it crashes every couple of days or so.
Its not a heat problem, cos it is stored in unheated garage. Very little cards installed, Network and graphics only. Plenty of ram, and no overclock. Why should it crash?
I thought it could be something to do with virtual memory or temp files not being cleared out properly. just have to hard reset every 2-7 days. Its on a UPS, so it isn't from electricity cuts/peaks either.

[Greebe]

Kurt, you wanna put money on the KT400 being faster than the 745?

[Admiral]

at 133/166 I guess VIA wins
at 133/133 or 166/166 SIS rulez

[Novdid]

Originally posted by Kurt
The KT400 boards are pretty cheap (dunno who said the nForce2 were cheaper -I'd like to see!...) and run plenty fast (faster than the SIS anyway -eventhough they have an excellent PCI implementation blah blah blah ).

The Epox 8RDA/+ boards are cheaper than most KT400 boards, and the Asus NF2 board is priced equivalently with the comparable Asus KT400 based one.

IBM's are usually pretty good drives -except for the 75GXP series problems. The new 180GXP shows promises with the 8MB buffer (if only they'd extend it to the less than 120GB models...)

Maybe true, but they are not worth the risk if you ask me. Been burned more than one time on IBM's. And the Seagate's are not that much slower, not enough for anyone to notice anyway. So I stand with my proposition, and that is that the choice is between Seagate or WD depending on what you need, silence or speed.

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Greebe
Kurt, you wanna put money on the KT400 being faster than the 745?

sure babe

I'm waiting for some new mobos then I'll run the tests you like on VIA/SIS/Nvidia.

I can use either different brands or same across the board (NPI).

I'll do a little SDRAM vs DDR test as well (on SIS only).

If you have ideas for the benchmarks be sure to let me know

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Novdid
The Epox 8RDA/+ boards are cheaper than most KT400 boards, and the Asus NF2 board is priced equivalently with the comparable Asus KT400 based one.



Maybe true, but they are not worth the risk if you ask me. Been burned more than one time on IBM's. And the Seagate's are not that much slower, not enough for anyone to notice anyway. So I stand with my proposition, and that is that the choice is between Seagate or WD depending on what you need, silence or speed.

I buy boards that are 1/2-1/3 the price of the 8RDA/+ based on SIS or VIA P4Xxxx chipsets. The KT400 are about 20-40% cheaper. Asus is priced a bit higher, but then even their SIS boards can reach the price of a regular KT400 board

Seagate is not very hot right now because of lackluster performance. If I have to buy parts that cost the same price I'll go for the better performing one. The WD special edition cost +/- 10% more than an equivalent Seagate, plus they're backed by a 3 year warranty. What more do you want?
IBM has been burnt a bit by the 75GXP problems, but I can't say I've had problems with the other lines -nor that we had that many defects with the 75GXP....
If you want to go the safe way, SCSI is still the best bet...you always get what you pay for [even with the P!]

[Greebe]

sure babe

I'm waiting for some new mobos then I'll run the tests you like on VIA/SIS/Nvidia.

You're willing to bet on something you are not sure of yet?! oki lol