I've been wondering about this for a very long time. Which is the best chipset? I've tested both chipsets before, I have to say, overclocking doesn't depend on the chipset anymore, since the memory controller is built into CPU. So far, both chipsets can overclock pretty well, about the same, a tie in fact. NF3 may be able to overclock memory at 1:1 slightly better than K8T800 Pro, but not that much more actually. It really depends on what memory modules you have. So what so special about NF3 everyone loves? Honestly, I don't find anything interesting about NF3. There's no Soundstorm, most of the features can be found on K8T800 Pro also, except for the built in firewall and some other insignificant features. Is that the reason why people buy NF3? I don't think so. I know I wouldn't. Most are probably trying to refresh their memory with NF2 based motherboards, which I have to say I was particularly impressed. Does Nvidia still have the edge? What about performance difference? I think it's about the same as well. Except for one thing. If you have Nvidia graphics card on NF3, there're some 'magical' speed bump. It gets suspicious. Look for NF3 vs K8T800 Pro comparison, if they use Nvidia card, there're differences. If they use ATI card, the results are about the same. My observation might be wrong though. There are no decent NF3 Ultra based motherboard. MSI K8N Neo2? Epox 9NDA3+? Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939?
People flock to Nvidia because of the power of the Nvidia brand. I have no personally used either chipset, so I cannot comment, but I can tell you that Nvidia have a magical 'ring' to their name, especially to the general Public. A good example would have been when my bro was forced to choose between VIA and Nvidia for a mobo for his PC. When my dad heard Nvidia Nforce2, that made up his mind. He didnt even look at the VIA one (of which I cant even remember thename now). It's a result of smart marketing and years of having their brand in the news. LIke that christmas song everybody knows the words to, because stores never stop playing it.
I cant really say anything about the socket 939. But I chose the NF3 coz at that time, it did have a lead over VIA chipsets. But for the 939, I'm really not sure... I kinda don't like VIA (coz of my experience with them on the P4)
from what I can see with the reviews, nforce3 and K8T800 Pro performs neck to neck. It's true like you said, nforce3 has some driver tweak that nv has put in that help with nvidia's card. I think Via doesn't have much gimmick of firewall or teh driver enhancement with graphic card, but I think Via's chipset's mobo generally speaking are cheaper than nforce3 board. From what I have seen, either one is great chipsets and good performance, both oc quite well. I think nforce3 got a little better reputation because it has agp lock when it launched compare to the old K8T800, which does not have the agp lock. It's not until the Pro version that the agp lock appear and make K8T800 Pro a good OC board, so maybe people got the idea that nforce3 is a better oc board based on the comparision of the K8T800.
I will probably get K8T800 Pro based motherboard. Since I can only get MSI and Gigabyte, and both are pretty crap. MSI may be good though, but I'm not going to touch MSI again if possible. I wanted to get Epox because vmod is quite easy! But out of stock.
I already have some bad experince with 2 or 3 VIA chipset mainboards. I don't think i'm going to get another VIA chipset based mainboard
I have very good experience with VIA chipsets. KT133A was good, KT333 was good too. Although I haven't got a chance to test a good K8T800 Pro, I'm probably going to get one. No choice, can't get Epox now...
My K8T800(non pro) is working pretty good. I haven't tried nforce3, so I can['t really compare but it's working pretty well no major problem so far. Of course, I am not a huge OCer.
i would presonally go with the via. they are a bit cheaper, and they include just about everything the nf3 does. also, ive never tried out any via chipset, so that iswhy i would also get the k8t800pro
I think current nforce3 and Via are all good, now the next round of amd chipset, so far seems like nforce4 has the lead.
I would definitely go with the Nforce 3 instead of the VIA chipset. Not only is the Nforce 3 a good board for overclocking, but it has a lot of features that the VIA lacks. It has a built in hardware firewall on the chipset. It has Nvidia's unique gigabyte lan solution, where it all goes thru the chipset, which results in much better lantencies then any other gigabyte lan on the market. It has Any-Raid, that allows you to select any combination of drives for creating a raid. Also Nvidia has one of the best driver support for their boards and provides unified drivers for their boards. This guarantees that you will be able to get the newest drivers for this board one year, two year and even eight years from now. So you got guaranteed support for all the newest operating systems. For all the reasons listed above: overclockability, features, and support, I would always choise a Nforce chipset board over a Via chipset board. Sincerely, Bitpower
Honestly, I don't really care about those features... Asus A8V, Abit AV8 overclock very close to mot NF3 chipset level. Built in firewall? Gigabyte LAN? Do you use it? Do you even have gigabyte LAN switch? VIA don't have good driver support? They have been releasing drivers for the VIA 4in1 drivers pretty consistently... So I don't see why NF3 has 'clear' advantage over VIA.
just want to let u guys know that...VIA based board is more expensive.. NF3 is cheaper thanks to its single chip solution
i think it maybe stem back to that nvidia has a great nforce2 mobo than VIA, so people automatically think nforce3 is great. Also, the initial Via k8t800 lacks agp lock, so it makes people think all k8t800 is bad, which mean all VIA for amd64 is bad, but all these are corrected. I think true that nvidia has features such as firewall but I don't see much of use of that as many of us have a router in our house and it is probably better than nvidia's firewall (the firewall would be nice if it was like few years ago but now, it seems like a gimmick than a useful thing). Like you said, I don't see why people choose 1 over the otehr rather than a preference over 1 company over the other. Personally, I think whatever is cheaper and more feature with good performance, I would choose that one.
Maybe the initial cost is low. But so far, VIA motherboards are cheaper than NF3 based. The only NF3 based motherboard below RM500 is MSI, while we have many other VIA based mobo way below that. Even the commonly known overpriced motherboard manufacturer ASUS has a K8T800 Pro based motherboard at just RM500. It may have less features, but like I said, not everyone needs them...
that's true, not everybody is using those feature, but I would like to have them (just a tad a sucker for technologies). I don't use like half of the feature thats' included but it's a good feeling that you have them, that's all.
what's that? (i know what it is already..) i use a wireless network, going about 50mbps is good enough already...and im sure that raid is probably a bit too technical for most people, even us. not to mention the price of two hdd. of course, a one chip solution should be easier to cool than two, but they dont get that hot anyway
