chipsets. What's good?

[gtr]

I have no idea how does it affect performance. I just want to know what an ok/good set and what to advoid for athlon or pentium III or IV?

there is just so many. Amd 761,756,751,750 and kx133, kt133 and a's, 815. What the difference and is the higher the number better and newer? Thanks.

[elroy]

I have a Via KT133A and haven't had any problems. I've read some articles that said to stay away from Ali chipsets. But often times people have different experiences with the same hardware. If you're buying or building a new machine I'd go with an AMD Athlon.

[Ishamael]

i've got an athlon 1200 running on an abit kt7-raid mobo. since the kt7 is not the latest board (and i don't know if you can still get it) i would go for a kt7a which is mich the same as the kt7 but runs at 133 mhz front side bus.
amd is definately the better solution than intel - the athlon is much cheaper than the p3/p4 and performs at least equal.
of course there are other mobos than abit. good other brands would be asus or epox.
i hope that helped a little http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

EDIT:
ah, sorry, you asked for the chipsets http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif
the kt7a uses kt133 chipset. i would recommend this one if you go for amd.
if you are interested in p3, a friend of mine uses the asus cusl mobo and is very satisfied with that. it uses the intel 815ep chipset. perhaps you want to check http://www.asus.com.tw/products/Motherboard/Pentiumpro/Cusl2-c/index.html for the cusl and http://www.abit.nl/eng/product/mb/kt7a.htm for the abit kt7a.
cu

[This message has been edited by Ishamael (edited 08-14-2001).]

[Philip1952]

In the intel line. The BX is the fastest. The 810 stay away from. (I'm on an 810 set right now).The 815 isn't as fast as the Bx but it is close. I haven't been on a 815E chipset yet. My next board will be an 815E.
GTR I would suggest doing a lot of research into you choise of motherboards. Also examine your skill level in troubleshooting.There are known problems with AMD. A lot are being worked out by the chip set makers and oem mfg's of componets. But let your trouble shooting skills decide what you think your are capable of handleing. Intel will give you the least problems on setup and use. (Every thing is optimized for intel products). AMD will give you the cheaper and some times faster computer. But it might be more of a problem to be setup and be configured properly. So in the long run. Do some deep thought on your ability to trouble shoot. Because you are the one that will have to be on the front lines fighting it when you have problems or make an oopppsss or an oh sh$t.
What ever board or cpu you pick. The one suggestion I would make is to buy a board with raid. It will give the option to use more than four ide devices that a standard board will give you. Raid boards can handle up to eight ide devices. It might give you a longer life out of it because you can add more items when they come out.

[Ishamael]

that's right. you should think about troubleshooting. amd is not as easy-to-handle as intel. especially the kt chipsets are known to be buggy until you work around with bios upgrades (i already did 4 or 5 on my kt7). if those issues are no problem for you, i would say the kt7a-raid is your mobo.

[Kuasimodem]

AMD will give you the cheaper and some times faster computer.
Many sites have proven that AMD processors outperform Intel processors in real world benchmarks, even at "slower" clock speeds. Here's one fine example (http://tech-report.com/reviews/2001q1/p4-vs-athlon/) .

As to the "many know problems" with AMD processors, the only problems that I know of are people using "budget" peripherals. I spend the money to buy quality components like Micron, Acer, Western Digital, Linksys, etc...and this tends to repell any problems. The only reason that I upgraded the bios on my KT7-RAID was to get the fan safety feature, that shuts down the system if the processor fan quits.

make a note...need spellcheck.

[This message has been edited by Kuasimodem (edited 08-15-2001).]

[Philip1952]

Kuasimodem-- GTR was asking about chip sets. In both brands of cpu's on the market. Each one has some good chipsets and bad. If the wrong choise is made on a chipset upon purchase of a mother board. The system won't run like one with the better set. This doesn't matter which cpu you use. I told him of the intel sets.The AMD people need to tell him the same.
He is the one that will be there with it if it has problems. We here at the boards can help to a certain extent. But if his troubleshooting skills or knowledge isn't up to the task if he buy's a board or componets that is on the loose side of production tolorances. Then his joy of building a new computer won't be very good. From the nature of his post I gather this might be his first build he is thinking about.
This was the first thing I started looking at when I was getting ready to build. Then the next thing was to decide which cpu after I found what chipsets were the best. Then after cpu choise. It was time to find a board that would do what I wanted. So on and so on down the rest of the list of parts needed. I call it doing the home work.
I try not to show any brand choise in my posts. This is something I don't get into is brand wars. I think it is a waste of typing.

[gtr]

Philips1952, What do you mean when you say skill of troubleshooting? You mean stuff like hardware conflicts and/or bios upgrades to fix problems? I have always build computers since it's a lot cheaper and i can customize it to the stuff i want but i don't really know the details like chipset and how important role it plays? Or what the different between two motherboards both have about the same spec, slots, chipsets, but different brands. I just alway assume that the name brand like asus and abit crash less often or less hardware conflicts? Computers are buggie but they are tons better those in the past.

If you talking about software troubleshooting like regedit i'm lacking. I usually can get hardware to work but i haven't tried numberous boards to know how chipsets affect the computers. I usually go with the best number meaning slot, Mhz, ram support in a motherboard but never took the chipset as a basis to choose a board. I just want to do it right this time.

thanks everyone for your help.

[Philip1952]

Yes I mean all the trouble shooting skills. Hardware and software. Some chipsets are more of a problem than others. I'll speak from the intel line up. The 44BX is the fastest so far. The 810 is the slowest. If you happen to get a board with built in video. It will do for surfing. Not very good for games (even low end games). 815 is better than the 810. It is a little faster. Built in video is a lot better. 815E has better video than the others listed. I haven't been on a 815EP yet. My next board is going to be based on it. I have not had any dealings with a P4.
The chipset can make or break the mother board. A slow or buggy chipset isn't one you want. Right now I'm on a P3-500 on a Abit WB6 board 810 chip set. It is slow. Can't play games with the built in video. If this cpu was in a BX board it would play the games I do with no problem. (But I have built this as a xmas gift for someone that doesn't have a computer. Plus they have no experence with one eather. For learning to surf and get used to using a computer it is stable so it will make a good platform for them learn on). Plus with it going to be 750 miles away it makes it kind of hard to troubleshoot if it has problems. Got one more to build also. Giving two away this year.
I wish the AMD people would jump in here and tell you the differences in the chipsets they use. I watch a lot of the posts. but there is so many on the market for AMD that I don't remember what each one can and can't do.
Build your own is the best way as far as I'm concerned. Seeing as this isn't your first computer. You sould be able to handle a build on any brand of cpu on the market. Just do the home work like your doing now. Be picky on the componets and you sould do fine.

[Carol]

Philp 1952
Your answers to GTR were great.
I am cursed with a little knowledge.. got my A+ certification..but confused with not experience.
The chip sets are driving me crazy.
Any suggested articles or sights on them??
I have found some.. but the go in circles.

I am looking to build a system to run.
Multiple applications fast
(Word / excell / Web acces & access databases.. small in size)
Fast web surfing for research ( looking into cable or dsl)
No gaming but am thinking about viewing videos with word & web acess..

I am told a PIII at 933 + would do..
but the chip sets have hung me up.. on deciding on a board..

Any suggesstions??

[Carol]

GTR

I found this on another posting...
Multiple search options for MB options..
and info on chips..

Hope it helps..
http://iceberg.pchomeworld.com/cgi-win/mobotGen/mobot.asp
http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd.html/aid=17/pg=1/

[samwichse]

I'm right now waiting for my new parts to come in. I didn't even think about an Intel system really. I just can't justify any part of it. I ordered a 1.0ghz T-bird and an ECS K7S5A with the SiS 735 chipset. Right now, it's the fastest chipset availible for DDR and AMD (and hence, the fastest one availible). Every review I read said it was rock solid, and (gasp) a great product from SiS.

[Philip1952]

Carol the 440Bx chip set still has the best memory use of all the sets for the P-2 or P-3. The 933 would do real well for what you want. But I have never done video editing on a Bx chip set.
I just gave my girl my 933 on an Abit BE6-2 board. She is in colledge. When I had it. I did a lot of gameing and light photo editing. But not video. The only problem I had. (Never figuered it out eather). When I was on a web site with a video feed and a chat room after 20 minutes it would lock up. If I didn't log in on chat it wouldn't. Plus before lock it would show 60 percent resources free. I think this was a problem with the BX chipset. But I couldn't confirm it. This 810 chipset I'm on right now doesn't lock up on the same site the BX would.
I would look for something with an 815E or higher chipset. It will have the more advanced features for the P-3. But would be just a little slower. If you haven't used a BX chipset on a high end P-3 you would not notice the difference. I'm looking at a ABit ST6R board next. It has the 815EP chipset for use with the tualatin or the P-3
GTR sorry about turning this into a P-3 forum. LOL

[Philip1952]

Carol go here and look in the achives you will find his test against different chipsets. Or I hope they are still there. I didn't look. He did a test a while back on all the current chipsets. Up to the 815E If I remember right. He also sould have some for the AMD's also. (I lost some more book marks for this type of sites. I had when my raid setup droped a stipe on a power failure. This was the only one I had on a floopy. ( Note to self-Remember when you have raid. Backup all book marks every week).
http://www6.tomshardware.com

[gtr]

Thanks, i went with the sis735 chipset due to the review and bang for buck. I guess i'm waiting till pentium 4 changes thier sockets and prices to go down.

[Carol]

Phillip 1952
Thanks.. I was there the other day..
but could only find Athlon..
It appears that Via Apollo Pro 133A
is rocking for the PIII copermine..