A little something to shake Tea's tree

[LiamC]

VIA VT8237 & VT8237R not forward compatible with SATA-II hard drives. VIA readying VT8237R+. Whatever happened to the VT8251 (or whatever it was going to be called)?

..."If you connect S-ATA II drives to an old Via chipset which includes the VT8237, VT8237R, VT6420 and VT6421L, the devices won't be detected."...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24910

Not a dig Tony, but I have been reading the Merc/Tannin "battles" with a little mirth.

 

[Buck]

I've seen this with WD drives; plus on SIS chipsets. I'll have to try a Samsung SATAII on one of those VIA chips. Lately I've been using the nForce4.

 

[time]

So let me get this straight: buy Via and get no support for either dual-core CPUs or SATA-II, plus have to accept inferior gigabit LAN solutions?

Via appears to be at least a year behind at the moment - no wonder Tannin likes them.

P.S. I've read that the Hitachi SATA-II comes set to the old speed to avoid such compatibility issues.

 

[Buck]

P.S. I've read that the Hitachi SATA-II comes set to the old speed to avoid such compatibility issues.

WD let's you change a jumper to switch to the old speed, but it <cough>doesn't</cough> always work. :roll:

 

[Mercutio]

I've attached Hitachi SATAII drives to KT600-based systems. They have worked fine.

 

[CityK]

So let me get this straight: buy Via and get no support for...dual-core CPUs

My K8T800 Pro supports dual core just fine.

 

[LiamC]

So let me get this straight: buy Via and get no support for either dual-core CPUs or SATA-II, plus have to accept inferior gigabit LAN solutions?

Via appears to be at least a year behind at the moment - no wonder Tannin likes them.

While it is damning of VIA, it isn't really of Tannin. There is method in his madness. Tannin only uses tested and time proven combinations of hardware--and that means no bleeding edge stuff without thorough "field testing", so it is no wonder Tannin doesn't run into these "forward" compatibility glitches. And IMHO, that's a very astute business move, as after all, he is trying to minimise support issues--and customers appreciate that too.

Also, VIA isn't alone. I tried a WD1000BB-SE (OK, JB if you prefer) and had to RMA the drive because it would not work on the nForce2 chipset. Same model with updated firmware worked just fine. Again, a forward compatibility issue, just like the VIA KT890 PCI-e chipset and X2's--which is a combo that Tannin would avoid for aforementioned reasons.

Having said all that, VIA does seem to have more of these issues than most, but they do tend to work them out in the end after a stepping or two.

PS What happended to the forums this morning/day/evening? I haven't seen this action since Adolf's lightning tour of Europ circa '39.

 

[OT: Polizei]

PS What happended to the forums this morning/day/evening? I haven't seen this action since Adolf's lightning tour of Europ circa '39.

Wir bak.

 

[LiamC]

*Sigh*

should read as ..." this much action"...

 

[CougTek]

PS What happended to the forums this morning/day/evening? I haven't seen this action since Adolf's lightning tour of Europ circa '39.

A posting hurricane "qui n'existe pas", still wet behind the ears and with a fondness for smashing through barriers, came from Houston, Tejas, to shake up the forums and everything in its path.