Inspired by Saphalline to fall into the hardware abbyse :eek: , I've grown to love technical stuff. So my question is on MOBO chipsets.

In the thread about DDR (http://pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41119) I started to ask about chipsets, but since I don't want to hijack anyone's thread I started my own :p .

So, I'm only really familiar with nVidea chipsets since ther are numerical. Intel's I know something about -955x is the bomb ;) - plus the numerics. But there are other manufacturers out there. Saphalline taled about VIA and ALi ones in the referenced thread, but I have no clue as to how they compare. So, how do those companies compare? What are their newest and greatest chipsets? Or are they junk?

A discussion on chipsets. Cool! :cool:

We await your wisdom oh great guru of hardware. :)

*grabs a lay-z-boy and snacks* Will there be a Q & A session after this?

The one I wonder about--you see it allot these days--is SiS.

The land of chipsets has sort of leveled out like CPU's. There are really only a couple contendors these days. At least, only a couple that I watch. I'm all about maximizing performance, and I learned years ago that mobo's with bad chipsets cost just as much as mobo's with good chipsets! :p So, taking that to heart, I only recommend mobo's that use the best performing chipsets at any particular time.

Right now, Intel and NVidia rule the roost. VIA and SiS are still second-tier. ALi is... well I don't know what happened to them. Last I heard they were still alive, but ALi is/was a much smaller company with limited resources, so they don't have a chipset for each platform (can't afford to).

Intel has been in the chipset business for a loooong time. They learned back in the days of the 486 and Pentium that having a chipset to support your latest CPU is extremely useful! Old chipsets like the i430TX and i440BX are the stuff of legends. Their latest chipset series are the i915, i925, i945, and i955 (of which only the i925 series I no longer recommend).

NVidia burst onto the scene relatively recently. For those who don't know, Intel and NVidia have a rocky history together, so in an anti-Intel move a few years ago, NVidia created their first PC chipset series: NForce. The original NForce didn't fare as well as VIA's chipsets at the time, but with NForce2, NVidia hit back with a vengeance! Ever since then, NVidia has been a big name for AMD CPU chipsets. Their latest chipset series is the NForce4 - NForce4, NForce4-4X, NForce4 Ultra, NForce4 SLI, and NForce4 SLI Intel Edition (this last one was an Intel-appeasing move). The original NForce4 is out of production in favor of the nearly identical NForce4-4X.

VIA is a more interesting story. They were a second-tier chipset company for many years through the PentiumII and K6-2 era, creating such relative gems as the MVP3 series of chipsets (for SS7). But when AMD hit the market with K7, VIA also made a bold move. They made a name for themselves as the chipset company for AMD-based systems, with chipsets like the KX133 and the KT133A. They ruled the roost of AMD CPU chipsets for quite some time, until the later AthlonXP era when NVidia's NForce2 chipset finally displaced them. Ever since, they've been making mediocre chipsets with older technology, like the P4M266A chipset for Pentium4's. They've had relative success with their new PT8xx series of chipsets for Intel and AMD systems, but it would take another major change for them to regain their old AMD glory days.

SiS is one of those companies that consistently makes chipsets that I would say are "pretty good". They make chipsets that look like "me, too" products. Probably because they are also a smaller company with few resources like ALi, but their chipsets always seem a step behind the major players. With non-groundbreaking performance, it's nearly impossible for SiS's chipsets to penetrate the enthusiast market so I almost always see their chipsets in OEM systems. They also have confusing names for their chipsets - for instance, can you tell what platform is supported by the SiS748 or SiS761GX or SiS649FX chipsets? Very few of the big tech sites will even invite SiS to one of their chipset round-up articles, and for good reason. When Intel, NVidia, and VIA all had dual-channel chipsets ready to go, SiS was late. I don't know what sort of company goals SiS has, but they must be modest in comparison to the others.

ALi is an old chipset company, dating way back to when computers were either IBM, IBM-compatible, or Apple. ;) But a quick look at their website tells me that they got out of the chipset market a long time ago. They are most famous for the ALLADiN name for their chipsets (way before the Disney movie!) and were quite popular back in the Pentium/PII days. Their last big stab at the gut of the chipset industry was their impressive MAGiK1 chipset for SlotA/SocketA Athlons. They enjoyed several months of enthusiast favoritism! Until VIA released their KT133A chipset. :rolleyes: It seems that was the last straw for ALi's chipset division...

And of course, a discussion of chipset companies wouldn't be complete without introducing the new entry: ATI. With NVidia's success in the chipset market, and with their Crossfire system ready to go, they had to have a piece of the pie, too! Recently, ATI began tentatively by making some good bread-and-butter chipsets featuring onboard video (always a decent cautious way to test the waters). But now with Crossfire, they want to hit the enthusiast market just like NVidia did with SLI. And they have a sporting chance, too, considering that there are quite a few differences between NVidia's SLI and ATI's Crossfire. We'll see how they do...

As we stand now, VIA and SiS appear to be alive if not exactly big and well-known. ATI is still too early to tell. Intel and NVidia are the current chipset champs, but there's no guarantee NVidia will survive this fight. The mere fact that NVidia has a chipset division at all suggests their dislike for Intel, and I'm quite sure that SLI was a major stab in the side of Intel for all those months that Intel didn't have it. In any case, that one move right there solidified AMD as the gamer's CPU company of choice (even if it was an unintentional side-effect of NVidia's move). Regardless of whatever else may come, the chipset companies/divisions are all at the mercy of the CPU designers. If Intel or AMD go off in a different direction, no one else is going to argue, they're just going to provide a good chipset. None of them are so big as to ignore the almighty CPU, nor are any of them audacious enough to try it again...

WOW! thanks for the great info. I have to run, but I'll probably think of another question when I get a chance to digest your post. Thanks again. Hockey.

I have an immediate and pressing question in response to this:

of which only the i925 series I no longer recommend


Don't throw a grenade like that without explaining WHY.

Obviously, I have a vested interest: Asus P5AD2-E Premium w/925XE

pop pop, how long ago did you buy that? Wasn't it before Intel released their new dual-core compatible chipsets, the i945 and i955? And hasn't the i955X replaced the i925XE chipset as the uber-expensive Intel one?

Come on you guys! You can't compare your 5-month old purchases to the current market! Computers move too fast for that!

In your mind which would be better, nForce 4 SLI Intel edition, or i955X and why.

Overall, I'd have to say the i955X. This chipset is made by Intel for their CPU's. It supports all the latest technologies for them, and has slightly higher system performance vs the NF4 SLI IE. The only reason I discount the NF4 SLI IE is because the major benefit of it is SLI, and that only applies to a small amount of gamers. If the performance benefits don't work for everyone, it can't really be a contendor, IMO.

You could make the argument that the i955X is a high-end chipset in and of itself and that those who buy it will be high-end gamers, but I don't buy that. There are plenty of people out there who might be looking for a high-end system with a high-end Pentium4 or Pentium D, and who just happen to pick an ATI-based vid card. The Radeon X1800 is no slouch! So in this case, SLI wouldn't make a bit of difference. But the chipset selection does... ;)

Their latest chipset series are the i915, i925, i945, and i955 (of which only the i925 series I no longer recommend).

Wasn't it before Intel released their new dual-core compatible chipsets, the i945 and i955? And hasn't the i955X replaced the i925XE chipset as the uber-expensive Intel one?

My confusion is due to the exclusion of the i925 but not the i915?. If you had thrown a blanky over it and just said you don't recommend anything that's not capable of dual core support (like MaximumPC does), I would have immediately understood that.

You can't compare your 5-month old purchases to the current market! Computers move too fast for that!

I think my purchase was top notch for about two months...maybe :rolleyes: In my eyes, it still is. :)

but not the i915?.Budget concerns. Some people don't need support for dual-core because they have no intention of ever going beyond a Celeron. If the NForce4-4X chipset didn't offer dual-core support, I would still keep it around for the same reason. Upgradability isn't everyone's concern (contrary to the reader audience of MaxPC) but cost-effectiveness is timeless. ;)

In short, that's why the i925X got kicked but the i915P/G is still on my list of keepers. Once mobo's based on the i945P/G come below $90, the i915P/G will be out. But the i945 series remains oddly beligerent. It just refuses to be labeled a "value chipset" just yet...

Hey, when you spend that kind of money on a mobo, 2 months is all you can expect! :p At least when someone buys a $80 mobo they can be reasonably certain that's it's already out-of-date and they don't have to worry about it. ;)

At least when someone buys a $80 mobo they can be reasonably certain that's it's already out-of-date and they don't have to worry about it. ;)

Good point. Budget seekers aren't looking for the newest and greatest-they're looking at cost.

At least when someone buys a $80 mobo they can be reasonably certain that's it's already out-of-date and they don't have to worry about it
Not worrying about my first build made it a great project and gift! :)