Tom's "Via In Shape" Article

[pvsurfer]

Sorry to say this Tom, but I was disappointed in your current "Via In Shape" article on the KT133A boards.

After reading reports that IDE subsystem performance suffers when running Win 2K on KT133A systems with the new 686B Southbridge, I expected some further insight in your current "Via In Shape" review.

If you did not intend to present any test result comparisons (or observations, at the very least) as to how Win98SE AND Win2K performed with these boards, why did you bother including both of them in your test configuration?

 

[lrmv]

Just for the fun of reading...

 

[Guest]

They couldent say any more because Via are not in shape, its fair to say that 75% of all the probs with Athlons can be attributed to Via chipsets, the sooner you can get a wider range of chipsets for the Athlon the better

 

[Bubba]

I agree, VIA sucks.

I'm sure Crashman will agree with us.

*Warning*
This was posted solely to increase my post count and may not contain any relevant info

 

[IntelConvert]

"They (Tom) couldent say any more because Via are not in shape, its fair to say that 75% of all the probs with Athlons can be attributed to Via chipsets, the sooner you can get a wider range of chipsets for the Athlon the better"

Well I sure disagree... IMHO, Tom could have (should have) stated in no uncertain terms that Via's Win2K compatibility problems have not gone away! As one of the first to identify these problems about a year ago, he is certainly well aware of them. Some of us do prefer the stability of Win2K over Win9x, so I guess if you want to run Win2k without problems, it's still a Wintel world!

 

[rcf84]

Give ME ATHLON w/ Micron chipset & L3 cache!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and one the side P4 w/ ati chipset & sdram !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cel 533 - 256mb sdram
15gb HD - ati radeon 32mb ddr (200/200)
SB live! mp3+ - win98 Beos

 

[IntelConvert]

Say what?????

 

[Guest]

I would like to see a follow up article where they compare the AGP Performance of a KT133 + VT82C686B @100Mhz with a KT133A
+ VT82C686B @ 100Mhz. This will test to see if the 686B bug only shows up when paired with the KT133.

Also, I'd like to hear VIA's thoughts on this issue.

 

[Guest]

"Well I sure disagree... IMHO, Tom could have (should have) stated in no uncertain terms that Via's Win2K compatibility problems have not gone away! "

Toms have gone over this territory before, Do you not feel that as soon as a solution is reached, Toms will be one of the first to tell you about it, It may be that the fact that they did not mention it again means that the problem is still current and the status quo is maintained.

 

[pvsurfer]

If well-respected sites (like TomsHardware) don't keep hammering away at Via, they will never get it right!

 

[Guest]

Do really believe they will anyway?



Life is a lesson, You learn it when youre through

 

[Crashman]

Bubba smart. Me agree with Bubba. Me being brainwashed by Intel now. Me be smart when this is done?

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Crashman]

LOL, Bubba, I don't feel like putting up a rant right now, and am just not rude enough to cut and paste from another one of my post like some hobbits have, but I must agree.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Guest]

There will be an update within the next few weeks (4 more boards). I'm going to mention the performance bug and also add the results for those 6 boards as well.

I had two reasons to leave out the Win2k story:
First the finding has been revealed only some days ago by Tom. It's pretty clear that most of you seem to read the technology/platform articles before studying any product review.
Second the Win2k benchmarks will not give you another picture of those boards except the fact that they obviously perform worse altogether.
Again, I will add the numbers next time.

Best Regards
Patrick

 

[pvsurfer]

Patrick:

First off, I really appreciate your reading and replying to my post.

Not to beat a dead horse, but a year ago, this site first reported (article: Motherboard Comparison Epox EP-7KXA vs. Asus K7V) a serious problem that Win2K has with the CPU to AGP bridge of Via's KX133. Later that year, AnandTech reported (article: Via's KT133A Sochet-A Chipset...) the 686B Southbridge isn't properly identified under Win2K, and under Win2K the performance of the IDE subsystem was slower than that of a KT133 with the 686A Southbridge. I can't count the scores of posts that I have read in forums complaining of Via-related problems, especially in connection with Win2K.

Seems to me that popular and respected sites, such as this one, need to come on stronger than just a few passing remarks buried within an article!

 

[IntelConvert]

pvsurfer~ I say "Amen" to your post - your point is well taken!

 

[Guest]

Re"There will be an update within the next few weeks (4 more boards). I'm going to mention the performance bug and also add the results for those 6 boards as well.

I had two reasons to leave out the Win2k story:
First the finding has been revealed only some days ago by Tom. It's pretty clear that most of you seem to read the technology/platform articles before studying any product review.
Second the Win2k benchmarks will not give you another picture of those boards except the fact that they obviously perform worse altogether.
Again, I will add the numbers next time.

Best Regards
Patrick

"

Was this subsequent article ever published? If so I missed it. Anything further on this topic? I was planning to build T-bird 1200 system w 686B & run W2k on it until this problem (and the interference with Northbridge problem of Tom's 1/17 article) came up.

 

[IntelConvert]

Yes it was and it can be seen at:
<A HREF="http://www4.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010221/index.html" target="_new">http://www4.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q1/010221/index.html</A>

Patrick did show comparative benchmark results between Win2K and Win98 (as he said he would). However, he did not provide an update (or any discussion whatsoever) speaking to the VIA-Win2K problems that were mentioned in prior articles.