[NEWS] - KT400A review at Tech-Report

[CougTek]

Tech-report.com had a reference design motherboard from VIA and they, of course, pit it against an nForce2-based mainboard : an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe for the occasion.

The KT400A's only real change from the KT400 is a reworked memory controller in its north bridge chip. If you followed the rumors, you were probably expecting that. The surprise is that KT400A does not have a dual-channel memory configuration. The chipset just supports a single channel of DDR333 or DDR400 memory, very much like its predecessor.

Before you go writing off the KT400A as a non-event, though, listen up: VIA claims the KT400A is an nForce2-killer even without the second memory channel. They say because the Athlon XP's front-side bus is limited to 333MHz, there's no need for dual channels of DDR333 memory. The KT400A can supposedly perform just as well without the extra expense and trouble of a second memory channel.

So, are VIA's claim founded or not? Read the review to find out.

 

[Mercutio]

Just to spoil things for everyone, the two chipsets might as well be identical in terms of performance. The nforce2 "wins" more comparisons but usually a tiny fraction of a margin.

KT400A will be cheaper, performs just as well. Makes the decision easy for me.

 

[Clocker]

Anybody who has a clue about overclocking an nForce2 set-up knows that the FSB and RAM should be running synched for performance. I'd like to see some results with the nForce2 set-up at 400MhzFSB&400Mhz DDR memory since that is what the overclocking community is doing....

C

 

[Clocker]

It would have been nice if the review included results with the system at 400mhz FSB and 400Mhz DDR like most overclockers are running their systems.....Any fool knows that the best results with the nForce2 are produced when the FSB and memory are in-synch.

C

 

[Clocker]

Whoops...I thought the first post didn't go through...
C

 

[blakerwry]

and there it is... yet another performace leap.... not!

looks like consumers are winning here, with the competition between intel, VIA, SiS, and Nvidia we are seeing alot of new features and tweaked out boards on the market for a reasonable price.

 

[zx]

It's safe to say that both chipsets are at the same level in terms of performance.

This review shows that dual channel DDR for athlon is way overrated. I see many people that think that Nforce's dual channel technology will give them a big boost of some sort...