First Look: VIA K8T900 - bit-tech.net Forums

The_Pope · 22nd Nov 2005, 10:00

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...preview/1.html

Tim S · 22nd Nov 2005, 11:56

Just a quick update, Scott at TechReport managed to get SLI working with two GeForce 6-series video cards. As we stated in the review - it was possible, just not with GeForce 7-series cards, and you're also limited to older drivers with less support.

Bindibadgi · 22nd Nov 2005, 13:09

Nice! Good to know.

I was confused because I thought VIA released the '51 southbridge when they released the K8T890 a year ago, because it was on their press release for it. But it seems they opted for a paper release and not actually launching it in the end which would explain why everyone used the very old '37 southbridge instead. It wasnt just the fact that the virtually only market penetration the 890 had was at mid-range so would make more sense to use the cheaper '37 southbridge.
But now they have actually released the '51 with an updated featureset by the looks: SATA2 and RAID5 etc

Sathy · 22nd Nov 2005, 13:45

And again a nice, thorough article, or a preview anyway. Pretty detailed I might even say - for a preview!
In a way it's nice to read about other choises (besides NF4) for new MB's for AMD, but still I'm too accustomed to the nf4 and SLI ideas that I would even consider anything with VIA on it at the moment. But maybe that's just because I haven't had a chance to get familiar with their solutions.
But then again, if the prices are right, this VIA stuff might not be a bad choise (atleast looking at the performance) for those who are looking for alternatives for pci-e based system.

Off-topic:
I couldn't find any section in the forum where one could suggest ideas for reviews, that is, if there is any way for the BT staff to make a difference - as in ask manufacturers if they would like their products reviewed. I just wanted to say that it would be pretty nice to read a proper Bit-Tech review of Asus's A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard.

And yes I'm aware that there are some reviews, but they're not BT! =]

Tim S · 22nd Nov 2005, 13:50

We have an A8N32-SLI Deluxe in-house, it's in the Queue at the moment.

BuuRMaN · 22nd Nov 2005, 13:59

I agree with Sathy about the review of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard.

On-topic:
Love to read such reviews/previews. It's refreshing to read about other chipset manufacturers. Only problem with this chipset (as mentioned) is the lan speed 10/100 instead of 10/100/1000.

Also read a review at [H]ardocp about the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, that chipset dont get so much credit till now.

Hopefully there will be more competitors for Nforce so there will be more choises for the public.

RotoSequence · 22nd Nov 2005, 15:12

Interesting; I dont know if this chipset will see too much use; Nvidia has gotten rather popular with enthusiast chipsets; with how popular SLI is, its unlikely 900 chipset boards will see much acceptance without the ability to run your graphics cards in parallel without extensive driver hacks.

Tim S · 22nd Nov 2005, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by RotoSequence

Interesting; I dont know if this chipset will see too much use; Nvidia has gotten rather popular with enthusiast chipsets; with how popular SLI is, its unlikely 900 chipset boards will see much acceptance without the ability to run your graphics cards in parallel without extensive driver hacks.

Yes, that's my only worry. VIA aren't just fighting against nForce4, they're also fighting against the SLI brand name.

Bindibadgi · 22nd Nov 2005, 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuuRMaN

I agree with Sathy about the review of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard.

On-topic:
Love to read such reviews/previews. It's refreshing to read about other chipset manufacturers. Only problem with this chipset (as mentioned) is the lan speed 10/100 instead of 10/100/1000.

Also read a review at [H]ardocp about the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, that chipset dont get so much credit till now.

Hopefully there will be more competitors for Nforce so there will be more choises for the public.

Thing is: who actually has gigabit switches in their house? And who would really benefit from it?? Sure it'll be faster but most SOHO or homes will survive on 100M ethernet.

I also seem to the be the only person in the world who's had continual good experiences with the Xpress200 chipsets

VIA have to offer something over SLI for people to buy a 900 board and try and hack SLI or Crossfire on to it. It's not as if the S3 division can compete with ATI or NV so VIA have to come up with something pretty special for enthusiast acceptance. Having said that, the money is in the main stream.

perplekks45 · 22nd Nov 2005, 15:48

Pretty nice preview of a pretty nice board.
But I have to agree with what was mentioned about VIA's ability to compete with nVidia's SLI. Performance seems to be not that kinda problem but no SLI? That kinda irritated me... is this a MultiChrome-only board? And what are the definit numbers of MC? Are they anyhow competitive to ATI or nVidia?
// edit: Forgot to agree with Bindi...

1 Gb/s ethernet seems to be good for LANs but at home I don't know anybody really using full 1 Gb/s.

thale02896 · 22nd Nov 2005, 17:46

Nice review. But I was wondering if any overclocking was attempted? It would be interesting to see if the board clocks up well.

Tim S · 22nd Nov 2005, 18:05

The board has limited overclocking ability with it being a reference motherboard. The tools aren't there to lower multipliers, and I don't have a CPU that clocks 'wonderfully' at its default multiplier, because it's too high and I get close to the limits of my cooling solution before I get to the limits of the CPU.

Kipman725 · 22nd Nov 2005, 18:45

shame NVIDA won't release an unsuported "open" SLI driver (like coolbits with nice dire warnings).

RotoSequence · 22nd Nov 2005, 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigz

The board has limited overclocking ability with it being a reference motherboard. The tools aren't there to lower multipliers, and I don't have a CPU that clocks 'wonderfully' at its default multiplier, because it's too high and I get close to the limits of my cooling solution before I get to the limits of the CPU.

Bring back the phase change!

Noggin2k1 · 22nd Nov 2005, 19:17

Cant see it competing with nf4 in real world sales tbh, everyone knows top end board goes to dfi, and dont think theyre going to change it for a chip thats probably not even as fast, missed the high end sli band wagon me thinks!

frodo · 22nd Nov 2005, 23:05

sli and crossfire on one board... now that would be sexy!

shame about the time its all coming out, cause im upgrading after ********* *unless this appears to be a sure hit* to an sli-d and a single 7800gt (and will get another at a later date :P)

[-Stash-] · 23rd Nov 2005, 03:12

I think it's really nice to see VIA with a completely competitive chipset. Wish it had come about earlier, but I for one am *really* happy to see RAID5 in a mainstream mobo solution. The fact that this ref board keeps up with or beats an NF4 is very impressive, and if they really can bring these in £20+ cheaper than the NF4s then I reckon they could see them selling well.

If ATI really do allow Crossfire to work on this chipset (would be cool) then NVIDIA are going to come under pressure to allow SLI to work under other chipsets eventually as well. Of course, that requires both the chipset and GPU 580 chips being out the door with tangible goods ASAP, cos atm crossfire's a joke.

This Xpress 200 board I'm using until my DFI NF4 board comes back sucks in performance and the USB is horrible, just horrible. Really.

The_Pope · 23rd Nov 2005, 08:06

I have a little more info for everyone. Basically, if you weren't already aware, NVIDIA added some extra code to their graphics drivers recently that locks out SLI if the chipset ID doesn't equal nForce. If you use older, pre-block drivers, SLI should work, as Tech Report found. However, this is why Tim couldn't get 7800 SLI to work.

For everyone who thinks this is a MAJOR downside, stop for a second and think hard about just how likely it is that you're going to spend £700 on 7800 SLI before you dismiss this chipset. If you say "ah, but I might want to run 66GT SLI" then true, you'd be stuck, but then, why not just get a single 7800 instead?

I'm not allowed to reveal any more, other than to say that obviously VIA are just as aware of these drawbacks as we all are, and I'm sure will be working to figure something out, if possible.

Nature · 23rd Nov 2005, 09:06

Does anyone else think the Sli slots look a wee bit too close together? Looked to me like there'd be no way to get dos 7800 512's on there...

Tim S · 23rd Nov 2005, 09:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nature

Does anyone else think the Sli slots look a wee bit too close together? Looked to me like there'd be no way to get dos 7800 512's on there...

They won't work in SLI anyway, so it's a non-issue issue.

22nd Nov 2005, 10:00	#1
The_Pope Geoff Richards Moderator Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: UK Posts: 2,089	First Look: VIA K8T900 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...preview/1.html

22nd Nov 2005, 11:56	#2
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Just a quick update, Scott at TechReport managed to get SLI working with two GeForce 6-series video cards. As we stated in the review - it was possible, just not with GeForce 7-series cards, and you're also limited to older drivers with less support. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

22nd Nov 2005, 13:09	#3
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,259	Nice! Good to know. I was confused because I thought VIA released the '51 southbridge when they released the K8T890 a year ago, because it was on their press release for it. But it seems they opted for a paper release and not actually launching it in the end which would explain why everyone used the very old '37 southbridge instead. It wasnt just the fact that the virtually only market penetration the 890 had was at mid-range so would make more sense to use the cheaper '37 southbridge. But now they have actually released the '51 with an updated featureset by the looks: SATA2 and RAID5 etc __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

22nd Nov 2005, 13:45	#4
Sathy Multimodder Join Date: May 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 163	And again a nice, thorough article, or a preview anyway. Pretty detailed I might even say - for a preview! In a way it's nice to read about other choises (besides NF4) for new MB's for AMD, but still I'm too accustomed to the nf4 and SLI ideas that I would even consider anything with VIA on it at the moment. But maybe that's just because I haven't had a chance to get familiar with their solutions. But then again, if the prices are right, this VIA stuff might not be a bad choise (atleast looking at the performance) for those who are looking for alternatives for pci-e based system. Off-topic: I couldn't find any section in the forum where one could suggest ideas for reviews, that is, if there is any way for the BT staff to make a difference - as in ask manufacturers if they would like their products reviewed. I just wanted to say that it would be pretty nice to read a proper Bit-Tech review of Asus's A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard. And yes I'm aware that there are some reviews, but they're not BT! =] __________________ Using: Core 2 Q6600 \| 2GB Corsair XMS \| GeForce 8800 GTS 512\| Antec Phantom 500

22nd Nov 2005, 13:50	#5
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	We have an A8N32-SLI Deluxe in-house, it's in the Queue at the moment. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

22nd Nov 2005, 13:59	#6
BuuRMaN What's a Dremel? Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Netherlands, Nieuwpoort Posts: 1	I agree with Sathy about the review of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard. On-topic: Love to read such reviews/previews. It's refreshing to read about other chipset manufacturers. Only problem with this chipset (as mentioned) is the lan speed 10/100 instead of 10/100/1000. Also read a review at [H]ardocp about the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, that chipset dont get so much credit till now. Hopefully there will be more competitors for Nforce so there will be more choises for the public.

22nd Nov 2005, 15:12	#7
RotoSequence Lazy Lurker Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: 'States Posts: 4,529	Interesting; I dont know if this chipset will see too much use; Nvidia has gotten rather popular with enthusiast chipsets; with how popular SLI is, its unlikely 900 chipset boards will see much acceptance without the ability to run your graphics cards in parallel without extensive driver hacks. __________________ Technology Schmecnology

22nd Nov 2005, 15:48	#10
perplekks45 BSc... finally Join Date: May 2004 Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 3,349	Pretty nice preview of a pretty nice board. But I have to agree with what was mentioned about VIA's ability to compete with nVidia's SLI. Performance seems to be not that kinda problem but no SLI? That kinda irritated me... is this a MultiChrome-only board? And what are the definit numbers of MC? Are they anyhow competitive to ATI or nVidia? // edit: Forgot to agree with Bindi... 1 Gb/s ethernet seems to be good for LANs but at home I don't know anybody really using full 1 Gb/s. __________________ "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." Blame it on Cheaps! [now a social group]

22nd Nov 2005, 17:46	#11
thale02896 Minimodder Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: US Rhode Island Posts: 36	Nice review. But I was wondering if any overclocking was attempted? It would be interesting to see if the board clocks up well.

22nd Nov 2005, 18:05	#12
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	The board has limited overclocking ability with it being a reference motherboard. The tools aren't there to lower multipliers, and I don't have a CPU that clocks 'wonderfully' at its default multiplier, because it's too high and I get close to the limits of my cooling solution before I get to the limits of the CPU. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

22nd Nov 2005, 18:45	#13
Kipman725 When did I get a custom title!?! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,753	shame NVIDA won't release an unsuported "open" SLI driver (like coolbits with nice dire warnings). __________________ Sn45g game server mod My Electronics Site Hardware: 3400+ Sempr0n, 1GB RAM, 1.28TB local storage, x1950pro,Razer Viper,M$ comfort curve 2000,L70S + 17", Fujitsu 17" CRT Audio: HD-650's, PE congress amp, Sound Blaster AWE64, Soundblaster 24bit

22nd Nov 2005, 19:17	#15
Noggin2k1 What's a Dremel? Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Notts, UK Posts: 15	Cant see it competing with nf4 in real world sales tbh, everyone knows top end board goes to dfi, and dont think theyre going to change it for a chip thats probably not even as fast, missed the high end sli band wagon me thinks!

22nd Nov 2005, 23:05	#16
frodo Ultramodder Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Guildford, Surrey, UK Posts: 1,095	sli and crossfire on one board... now that would be sexy! shame about the time its all coming out, cause im upgrading after ********* unless this appears to be a sure hit to an sli-d and a single 7800gt (and will get another at a later date :P)

23rd Nov 2005, 03:12	#17
[-Stash-] What's a Dremel? Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Woodnesborough, Kent Posts: 7	I think it's really nice to see VIA with a completely competitive chipset. Wish it had come about earlier, but I for one am really happy to see RAID5 in a mainstream mobo solution. The fact that this ref board keeps up with or beats an NF4 is very impressive, and if they really can bring these in £20+ cheaper than the NF4s then I reckon they could see them selling well. If ATI really do allow Crossfire to work on this chipset (would be cool) then NVIDIA are going to come under pressure to allow SLI to work under other chipsets eventually as well. Of course, that requires both the chipset and GPU 580 chips being out the door with tangible goods ASAP, cos atm crossfire's a joke. This Xpress 200 board I'm using until my DFI NF4 board comes back sucks in performance and the USB is horrible, just horrible. Really.

23rd Nov 2005, 08:06	#18
The_Pope Geoff Richards Moderator Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: UK Posts: 2,089	I have a little more info for everyone. Basically, if you weren't already aware, NVIDIA added some extra code to their graphics drivers recently that locks out SLI if the chipset ID doesn't equal nForce. If you use older, pre-block drivers, SLI should work, as Tech Report found. However, this is why Tim couldn't get 7800 SLI to work. For everyone who thinks this is a MAJOR downside, stop for a second and think hard about just how likely it is that you're going to spend £700 on 7800 SLI before you dismiss this chipset. If you say "ah, but I might want to run 66GT SLI" then true, you'd be stuck, but then, why not just get a single 7800 instead? I'm not allowed to reveal any more, other than to say that obviously VIA are just as aware of these drawbacks as we all are, and I'm sure will be working to figure something out, if possible.

23rd Nov 2005, 09:06	#19
Nature Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Jinan, China Posts: 417	Does anyone else think the Sli slots look a wee bit too close together? Looked to me like there'd be no way to get dos 7800 512's on there...