chipsets

[bowhunter]

Does the chipset in a board make it faster? What is the latest chipset? What is a good chipset? Is one brand of board faster than another with the same chipset and processor?

The combo I'm considering now is the Gigabyte GA-7VTXH and the Athlon 1.3GHz/266FSB. Would this be a good combination? Or is there a better one.

[[shawn@localhost /home]#]

yes chipset makes a HUGE difference, im not big on mobos because they way i see it is, if they have the same chipset then whats the difference? here is a link to see some stats about chipsets, it's an article around the new nForce chipsets by NVIDIA but it has graphs of how other SOCKET A chipsets compare

dont touch that (http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1535)

[NDD]

Just a three days ago I assembled computer with Gigabyte 7VTXH :)
Fine mobo, I really like Gigabyte for making stable and fast mobos, ever since the 7ZM (mATX KT133).
But I used Athlon XP 1500+ (1.33GHz) with that one (7VTXH uses VIA KT266A chipset, Athlon XP fully compatible), it was only about $20 more expensive but since it got SSE and the overheating problem has been solved for a while (only 52C full load with stock 4500RPM fan - that's what I getting with my 1GHz T-Bird and 7000RPM Delta :( ).
All other components very pretty much usual (256MB DDR Crucial, 40GB 7200 WD, Gigabyte GeForce3 Ti200, Live! Value, etc).

Haven't heard a single complaint for three past three days :)

Best Regards ...

[PIETRO]

Research research research...you pretty much have to look at all your options for the platform you are buying and look at the board that you are buying. Alot of times there is not that huge of a difference but if you doing something that needs the speed you'll need to choose the one that is the best for you.

AMD Athlon:
VIA K266A, NForce, SIS735, AMD 760

P4
SIS645, Intel 850, VIA P4X266

Check out these articles at Toms Hardware:

13 Boards with KT266A and Nforce chipsets (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q4/011126/index.html)

The Best Thing That Could Happen To Intel's Pentium 4 - (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q4/011008/index.html)

A Lost Chance? SiS 735 Motherboard Review (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q3/010924/index.html)

Pricey Foundations: (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q4/011002/index.html)

That should give you a good start...happy reading