KT400 vs NForce2

Ok, I understand that the Nforce allows you to lock your pci bus, letting you get much higher FSB.

The only advantage to this, I see is the northbridge talking really fast.

But doesn't RAM ussualy crap out before any PCI components?

I have had my pci bus at 40mhz and did not have any problems.

I guess what I am saying is, with the KT400, you overclock the whole system, ide-pci-agp(better for gaming) and where you would get a high fsb as long as your ram is ok, then give it faster timmings....now for cpu speed, you can still get the same cpu speed in VIA vs NForce2

You change the mult. Even if your at a lower fsb with the VIA, then raise the mult.

Can I get other opinions please?

But doesn't RAM ussualy crap out before any PCI components?

Click to expand...

Hardly, especially with todays ram.

You'll get hard drive corruption long before you'll get 450mhz FSB, which is more common today then not.

5.1 onboard sound
dual channel DDR (ok...maybe a tad pointless on an amd platform)
SATA RAID
Extreamly Stable overclocks

Nforce 2 owns anything out there man...for real.

Well, I have 5.1 audigy card, sata raid on my mobo, I have my 1.4ghz @ 1.9ghz stable stable as in prime95 for 22 hrs with no errors. I only paid $115 for my mobo also at a retail store..not even on online price.

500mhz is a pretty good oc on a 1600+ thats not even a tbred
and I am working with cheap generic pc2700 ram...You can get good overclocks with KT400. Now at the same time...my whole pci is overclocked where as Nforce would be locked.(Locking is optional correct?

Generally the components on the PCI bus will crap out before today's memory. It is pretty good that you got your PCI bus to 40Mhz without HD corruption, I never reccomend going over 38Mhz. The good thing about the nForce2 is that is will lock out the PCI bus, ley you manually adjust the AGP frequency, and will let you run your memory at insane speeds in a sync setting...letting you get the most out of high rated memory.

To a point, higher front side buses become irrelevent. Even supposing that a KT400 would only reach 185mhz, and an nForce2 reach 222mhz, what difference does this mean in real world performance? Just about nothing. Its a 21% increase in bandwidth, but what does it really mean? I tested numerous front side buses and their 3dmark scores, results here, and observed a 4% increase between 185mhz and 222mhz. For the lucky ones that get 200mhz out of a KT400, the difference becomes even smaller. The nForce2 is superior in overclocking, but not by nearly as much as most seem to believe.

Alright, I see what your saying. With that said, I still like my KT400(anyone have any reviews on the KT600?!?) I also didn't know you could set the AGP aside from the pci bus, that would be nice.

I also like to OC my pci, because my scsi hdd runs off a pci card. Its a U320 15k 18gb 3.6ms seek time hdd...super fast, limited to a U160 pci card, but the card is 33/66mhz 32bit/64bit, so the more I overclock the pci, the more I actually use my hdd. After I get the new 2500+(better overclocker I hope then my 1600+) and the XMS3200 512mb ram, I hope to get higher overclocks...

I also have a BLOWER with a slk-800, its not just a fan...its a dual shaded pole blower. I get pretty high CFM. Its an older model I got from my work, and I couldn't find the model # from Grainger.com, but other blowers with almost the same draws/current, the lowest model had 160cfm.

KT400 chipset isn't bad....It's just that the nForce2 chipsets are a bit better with their dual channel memory. If your asus board allows you a multiplier range from 5 - 18 like my aopen board then you can score some solid overclocks with a hand picked 1700/2100/2500 CPU. In the case of a 2500+ the extra L2 cache might even be usefull when used in a KT400 board.

awesome thanks..I was wondering what mults I was gonna have! With the new ram and cpu..I am hoping to hit atleast 185 fsb

as per anandtech.com review of Epox's new kt600 board...

"...One of the most disappointing aspects of the Epox 8KRA2+ from an overclocker’s perspective is the lack of an AGP/PCI lock. This feature is standard on Intel chipset-based motherboard’s
as well as nForce2 motherboards. This isn’t Epox’s fault though, it’s the fault of VIA’s KT600 chipset."


"UPDATE 7-3-2003 After testing the new Epox 8KRA2+ BIOS it is clear that application performance is nearly identical to the scores initially posted in this review. We now have a handful of KT600 motherboards in our West Coast Labs and it is, for the most part, quite clear that KT600 motherboards will be generally slower than nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards. Perhaps as BIOSes mature performance will improve enough to overtake nForce2 Ultra 400, but we won't be holding our breath."

goto www.anandtech.com to read the full article. This guy knows his stuff.

ouch lol that kinda sucks

There's anothe write up on the Asus KT600 board that will be coming out, which on their site, specifies AGP/PCI lock, but you'll be limited to a vcore of 1.85... Personally, Asus makes good stable boards, but not great one. (imho) check out the Asus web site for more info. And get ready to pay over 150.00 for this board as well.

Lack of PCI/AGP lock is borderline silly on VIA's part......Although it did dawn on them to use a 1/6 divider it seems. The board isn't junk but yet at the same time it isn't the best that money can buy. A good alternative for those that truely would never, ever, use anything nvidia thouched.

The IDE connectors on that board seem a touch out of place....My rounded cables should reach them easy but not evenone has near max length IDE cables. The DIMM slots position will get annoying. I would have rather seen an active cooler on the northbridge.

If it's a good bit cheaper than the nForce2 chipsets I would consider it....near equal prices I would have to go for the nForce2.