Nforce better than VIA?

[kinney]

Are the Nforce chips more compatible and stable than VIA chipsets? I have problems with the game Dungeon Siege, which my friends without via chipsets dont have (mainly intel chipsets for p3s), my digital camera (aiptek pocket dv USB) locks up the computer occasionally when I try to use it in software, and my audigy (i think) is locking up the computer or at least has in the past.
Will moving to a nforce board be a good move, or is it generally a more stable board? I realize not all my problems are related to the mobo but it seemed my SIS735 chipset board didnt have the same problems as my via kt266a.

I know moving to a intel board will probably fix all my problems but i dont want to pay intel. I try to stay away from sis.

Athlon XP 1700+,KT266A,Geforce3, Audigy.. 'nuff said.

 

[Crashman]

Hard to say exactly, but I haven't seen any PCI issues with the nForce. And for sure you neededn't have problems with the Audigy on the nForce, because the integrated audio in the nForce should be at least as good as the Audigy

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[kinney]

hehe, i know you are not a audigy fan.
I love my audigy and i just want to get a platform that is going to be rock solid with it. Basically building around the audigy. Mine is rock solid since i got the new compaq drivers but I have other system issues also like the aiptek camera (which i am thinking is more the uncertified xp drivers) and an exception error in dungeon siege (which i cant replicate on any intel based motherboard).

Basically I have problems that I feel switching from via would fix. As far as the audigy it was more stable (with the old drivers) on the sis.

Athlon XP 1700+,KT266A,Geforce3, Audigy.. 'nuff said.

 

[Crashman]

Well, MSI makes the 745 Ultra, Asus makes the A7S333, both use the SiS chipset, and yes, it is more stable.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[cakecake]

I'm convinced now that the extra 5-7% of extra performance offered by Via chipsets is really a non-factor. Over time all the 4-in-1 driver troubles, PCI latency issues, troubleshooting, and bad motherboard revisions just wear you down. In the future I think I'll probably just buy a SiS or maybe an Ali if they come out w/ something not-so-oem and with OK performance.

This little cathode light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

 

[Scout]

I've got an XP1700+ running on an nForce board for a short while now and so far, I'm impressed. It has been absolutely stable and fast! Setup was a breeze and all the integrated goodies seem to work flawlessly!

I'm not sure I would say the nForce is "better" than the KT266a you've got... sort of sounds like you have some driver/software bugaboos. The nForce is so new, we don't really know what might be wrong with it... yet!

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[Crashman]

I doubt it's even as much as 5-7% overall performance difference when you use PC2700 on both.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[bluzbrother]

my MSI nforce board is faster than my KT266A..with all the same components I scored 500 points higher with the nforce than my Shuttle KT266A board.

these were the shared components:
Gainward Geforce 3(23.11)
512mb PC2100 DRAM
Athlon XP 1800+
... ok is the other stuff really relevant?

KT266A 3dmark2001 7751
Nforce 415D 3dmark2001 8211

AOL-For people who like to pay extra for their SPAM

 

[ksoth]

The next time you get the Exception error (I'm assuming blue screen) write down what it is and go to support.microsoft.com and search the database to try and find whats causing the problem to see if you can fix it. If you don't find anything there, try a goodgle search. Or, if you get just what file is causing the problems (a certain driver) just try getting updated drivers, as that may solve the problem. I am using an nForce, but am having problems with it, more than my VIA KT133 board ever had. I think it is due to a driver issue with Windows 98 though (which I have read about), so I'll probably pick up XP soon to try and fix the problems.

"Trying is the first step towards failure."