most stable current chipset for AMD?

[Loke]

Was just wondering which would be the best chipset if one wanted to
build a pc today with an athlon xp.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Was just wondering which would be the best chipset if one wanted to
build a pc today with an athlon xp.

I've had good luck with the SiS 735 chipset. Nvidias are good too I hear. I
have a personal bias against anything VIA though. Choose a VIA if it's
absolutely the cheapest solution available, there's no other reason to
choose VIA.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Kai Harrekilde-Petersen]

I've had good luck with the SiS 735 chipset. Nvidias are good too I hear. I
have a personal bias against anything VIA though. Choose a VIA if it's
absolutely the cheapest solution available, there's no other reason to
choose VIA.

Any particular reasons for disliking VIA?

Thanks,


Kai

 

[Bjorn-Ove.Heimsund]

Any particular reasons for disliking VIA?

Apart from the numerous stability problems, flaky drivers and an
interesting PCI implementation? No, not really.

 

[Rob Stow]

I've had good luck with the SiS 735 chipset. Nvidias are good too I hear. I
have a personal bias against anything VIA though. Choose a VIA if it's
absolutely the cheapest solution available, there's no other reason to
choose VIA.

Personally, I like NForce2 better than SiS. I do, however,
second the motion against Via.

 

[Rob Stow]

Any particular reasons for disliking VIA?

For me it is just that VIA-based motherboards have a proven
track record of instability and features that don't work as
advertised. I build two or three systems a week - a hobby,
essentially - and it is only the people who have me a build
a system around a VIA-based motherboard that end up reporting
problems. SiS and nVidia are not perfect, but they are much
better than VIA.

I'm *not* in the business of supporting systems that I've built.
There is only so much I'm willing to do in exchange for dinner
and a few beers. I want to put the pieces together, install the
OS and drivers, hand it over to the user, and be done with it.
I can do that with an nForce2 motherboard. I can seldom do that
with a VIA motherboard.

 

[Kai Harrekilde-Petersen]

For me it is just that VIA-based motherboards have a proven
track record of instability and features that don't work as
advertised. I build two or three systems a week - a hobby,
essentially - and it is only the people who have me a build
a system around a VIA-based motherboard that end up reporting
problems. SiS and nVidia are not perfect, but they are much
better than VIA.

I'm *not* in the business of supporting systems that I've built.
There is only so much I'm willing to do in exchange for dinner
and a few beers. I want to put the pieces together, install the
OS and drivers, hand it over to the user, and be done with it.
I can do that with an nForce2 motherboard. I can seldom do that
with a VIA motherboard.

OK, three is a quorum

I'm planning to build an AMD64 based system (which socket type is
still open), and it's always nice to learn from the mistakes of those
that have walked down the path before you.

What's the concencus on the AMD chipsets (8xxx)? I have been looking
at the Tyan Tiger K8WS which uses the 8111/8151 combo.

Thanks,


Kai

 

[Rob Stow]

What's the concencus on the AMD chipsets (8xxx)? I have been looking
at the Tyan Tiger K8WS which uses the 8111/8151 combo.

I've built three Opty dualies using the Tyan S2885 and
one using the S2875 and all use that chipset. No problems
so far.

Downside is that the S2885 natively only supports USB 1.1,
so you have to get a PCI card for USB 2.0 support.

The S2875 and S2875S have recently added a couple of
USB 2.0 ports and cut down the number of USB 1.1 ports.
Be careful when ordering so that you don't get stuck with
an older version that has only USB 1.1.

 

[Kai Harrekilde-Petersen]

I've built three Opty dualies using the Tyan S2885 and
one using the S2875 and all use that chipset. No problems
so far.

Downside is that the S2885 natively only supports USB 1.1,
so you have to get a PCI card for USB 2.0 support.

As I read the AMD errata, it's a bug in the 8111.

The S2875 and S2875S have recently added a couple of
USB 2.0 ports and cut down the number of USB 1.1 ports.
Be careful when ordering so that you don't get stuck with
an older version that has only USB 1.1.

Thanks, I appreciate your information.


--Kai

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Any particular reasons for disliking VIA?

Just a lot of driver issues. This may have also been because back then I was
using Windows 98 and earlier on those systems, where drivers are just so
finicky to install and uninstall. If you ever change your processor or
motherboard to any other brand after you've had a VIA, you're going to have
a wonderful time with getting your OS back in working order again.

But I have installed VIA based systems since those days for friends, but I
usually tell them strongly to avoid them if at all possible. If it's a
matter of cost, then I can't argue with them, VIA boards do often tend to be
cheaper than Nvidia, and more available than SiS.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Personally, I like NForce2 better than SiS. I do, however,
second the motion against Via.

SiS chipsets aren't the sexiest things in the world, but they work as
advertised.

Yousuf Khan

 

[gimp]

I'm planning to build an AMD64 based system (which socket type is
still open), and it's always nice to learn from the mistakes of those
that have walked down the path before you.

well for several months for digital content creation i've been running
an Athlon64 with VIA Albatron board, K8X800 proII - no problems so far
and yes this is my first VIA but i read the reviews that AMD64 boards
with VIA appeared to be much better than the previous generation...
here's hoping...

 

[Stacey]

For me it is just that VIA-based motherboards have a proven
track record of instability and features that don't work as
advertised. I build two or three systems a week - a hobby,
essentially - and it is only the people who have me a build
a system around a VIA-based motherboard that end up reporting
problems. SiS and nVidia are not perfect, but they are much
better than VIA.

Exactly. Seems like anytime someone brings me a VIA system, it's got some
weird flakey problem, a driver conflict with their "4in1" drivers etc. I
have better things to do with my time.

 

[Stacey]

SiS chipsets aren't the sexiest things in the world, but they work as
advertised.

I've been real happy with all the SIS systems I've built using AMD XP's. All
have been REAL stable. Both my brother and sister in law heve them and it's
been a year with no phone calls about their machines!

 

[Nate Edel]

I've had good luck with the SiS 735 chipset. Nvidias are good too I hear. I
have a personal bias against anything VIA though. Choose a VIA if it's
absolutely the cheapest solution available, there's no other reason to
choose VIA.

I couldn't find a SiS735-based motherboard at a decent price at a local
retailer, and wanted to avoid the NVidia chipsets, so I ended up with a
VIA-based MSI. Seems tons more stable than my last experience with Via,
which was on a pair of much older Athlon (pre-XP) boards ... some FIC board,
now long gone, and an ASUS A7V.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I couldn't find a SiS735-based motherboard at a decent price at a
local retailer, and wanted to avoid the NVidia chipsets, so I ended
up with a VIA-based MSI. Seems tons more stable than my last
experience with Via, which was on a pair of much older Athlon
(pre-XP) boards ... some FIC board, now long gone, and an ASUS A7V.

Well, the old SiS 735 chipsets have been replaced with 745's now. And the
AMD64 versions are called 755.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Nate Edel]

Well, the old SiS 735 chipsets have been replaced with 745's now. And the
AMD64 versions are called 755.

At the time, I was just looking for SiS in general, but the point is noted.

 

[RusH]

Was just wondering which would be the best chipset if one wanted to
build a pc today with an athlon xp.

sis


Pozdrawiam.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

At the time, I was just looking for SiS in general, but the point is
noted.

BTW, you said you couldn't find a decent priced SiS-based motherboard? I
thought one of the all-time most famous decent-priced motherboards was
SiS-based, the ECS K7S5A. It wasn't available in your town?

Yousuf Khan

 

[Mannr]

sis


Pozdrawiam.
--
RusH //
http://pulse.pdi.net/~rush/qv30/
Like ninjas, true hackers are shrouded in secrecy and mystery.
You may never know -- UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE.

I know it is expensive, but how about building based on AMD762 chipset, on a
dual board like Tyan 2462. These are pretty cheap now (approx $200) and
provide a *very* stable solution. I am using these, but mainly because I want
ECC support. The AMD chipset IDE controller is also stable under Linux. I've
got two of these boards and cannot break DMA even under very high disk load.

Note: these are only good up to 266MHz FSB, so the fastest chip you can run is
XP2400 or MP2800 or something like that.

Richard