Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > Do Via chipsets have comp issues with Audigy?

reply to MajinKenshin

Re: Do Via chipsets have comp issues with Audigy?

said by MajinKenshin:

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I've got to defend CodeZero again on this one

I have previously posted this link in another thread, and i do believe that it is once again warranted for this discussion:

»www.matrox.com/video/support/rtx···sets.cfm

Have a look at the unsupported chipsets, oh look, all VIA chipsets are incompatible, all the way up to the KT400(i'm sure their newer P4 chipsets still have the same problem and Matrox couldn't be bothered to list them).

For any PCI device that needs any amount of bandwidth, the VIA chipsets are deemed.....useless, unless anyone can prove otherwise, I'd appreciate it if a website could actually run some latency/bandwidth tests on everyones chipsets, that would kill this discussion completely.

There is no way in hell that I'd buy a motherboard that had any kind of VIA chipset on it.

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reply to z28kindaguy
Actually the link was regarding Matrox's higher end editing cards, which are dependent on PCI bandwidth to transfer multiple streams of Video and audio across the bus, just because your G4XX graphics card works fine(on an independent bus) doesn't really stack up to anything,

I'm not bitching or anything, but i haven't seen any reviews of any VIA motherboards use the PCI bus for anything other than 'a soundcard'. Now personally i have had just about every problem known in relation to VIA chipsets, this is why i cannot recommend one, except for the KT133a.

also on the note or other brands, Canopus, who also depend highly on the PCI bus for transferring video also do not recommend VIA chipsets(except for the KT133a), Pinnacle Systems do, which is quite strange considering that half of the boards certified don't actually work(yes, i've tested this).

Come on, be a little more open on this, VIA have a heap of problems with their chipsets, their own forums speak volumes about compatibility problems with.....everything, someone once said that because Intel/AMD/SIS don't have their own forums, that most of their problems do not get out, but i'd put money on an Intel chipset being more stable than VIA.

Everyone has problems, SIS had problems with their AGP 8X implementation, to the point that even their own card would not work with their chpset, AMD have more or less given up on chipsets, which is why i won't purchase an AMD system, if the CPU manufacturer has given up on supporting their own product line, what does that say about the company?

Hmmmm, forgot to mention Intel, hmmm, dodgy i820 chipset(how long ago was that?), dodgy i845 chipsets where every board has 3 slots and can only use two because of bank limits(but rock solid stable), strange 64bit PCI implementation where every card has to share an IRQ regardless(but rock solid stable), non standard power connectors(got a motherboard with 3 seperate power connectors(ATX block has 4 pins too many +4pin ATX12V +8pin block), hmmmm what else???

[text was edited by author 2003-02-14 12:23:29]

In 5 years of building PC's with VIA chipsets I have never had one problem that could be traced to the chipset (even when built on what I heard was a horrible chipset - MVP3). All problems were fixable (any problems were OS related slot sequence related) and all systems were/are stable. Last 4 PC's built ran Seti@Home for 3 days straight with zero errors and 2 of those systems still run Seti@Home 24x7.

Creative cards have had problems with Intel chipsets also but I have yet to hear that Intel makes crappy chipsets (in fact there were quite a bit of problems with the SB Live and Intel chipsets in the Asus newsgroup - the same problems that the VIA chipsets had).

Problem is - Codes problems were NOT related to teh chipset - it had EVERYTHING to do with the motherboard manufacturer - a fact he refuses to believe and refuses to put the blame where it belongs. He simply got a bad Epox board...
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Brian

CylonRed in the AOLL

"Just on the border of your waking mind........"
[text was edited by author 2003-02-14 12:31:14]

reply to z28kindaguy
Well, i had to revise my post as i was sounding a little pro-intel and against everybody else, there are certain board manufacturers that i have learned from experience to stay away from, one of which being Asus, I have never owned an Epox motherboard, and I never will.

True that many of the problems that people may have may either be attributed to either manufacturer or user, but there are also those exceptions when the manufacturer can only make a bad chipset so good yes?

Also granted VIA have more or less single handedly kept AMD out of the 'forgotten cpu brand pile':
("who was that company again.....A...M...Cyrix wasn't it??"
"Yeah something like that")

But to be honest, i find it hard to give them credit for that considering the amount of wasted months i've spent troubleshooting their chipsets.

P.S currently running SIS648 chipset, total crock of shite, have to get granite bay!
--
If you think things can't get worse it's probably only because you lack sufficient imagination.

reply to CylonRed

said by CylonRed:

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Nope - you did not have to repeat yourself - but it does show people that you really have problems with the company that made the motherboard - not VIA....

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said by C0deZer0:

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...the VT6202 chip that is on my current board. the latest driver (which hasn't been updated in more than a YEAR) still doesn't work right, even on a clean installation. And VIA in its infinite wisdom decides to flat-out deny any form of support for the chip, in either technical form or drivers.

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said by VIAARENA.COM:

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USB 2.0 Drivers

WinXP - Due to licensing agreements, USB 2.0 drivers are not available for download. USB 2.0 drivers are supplied on CD with new mainboards. If you have misplaced the driver CD or have questions about the USB 2.0 driver, please contact your motherboard manufacturer or Microsoft.

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reply to C0deZer0

said by C0deZer0:

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said by CylonRed:

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Nope - you did not have to repeat yourself - but it does show people that you really have problems with the company that made the motherboard - not VIA....

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Did you even read the whole post, Cylon?

It's not Just the motherboard I have had problems with, but also the VT6202 chip that is on my current board. the latest driver (which hasn't been updated in more than a YEAR) still doesn't work right, even on a clean installation. And VIA in its infinite wisdom decides to flat-out deny any form of support for the chip, in either technical form or drivers.

If this doesn't show an overall lack of respect towards supporting hardware (considering a simple chip that is there for only ONE function), I don't know what is.
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Free SAT review: VIA is to chipsets as AOL is to ISPs.
[text was edited by author 2003-02-14 16:20:47]

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reply to C0deZer0

said by C0deZer0:

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Well, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to repeat myself, but here goes.

In my experiences, VIA has shown that it is a company that shows complete and utter disregard for its users. Not only do they make some extremely horrid, unstable chipsets, but they can't even support their own stuff or keep up to date the drivers they put out.

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First, long, drawn-out and overly painful example: Epox 8KHA (VIA KT266 chipset).

This is the board that will live in infamy for me, and nearly scared me away completely from ever building my own computer, it was so bad.

First day I got it, and finally was able to set it all up, it wouldn't recognize the processor correctly, so it wouldn't finish POST.

The BIOS updating was also a nightmare on that machine compared to every other motherboard I've worked with. It apparently didn't like it the first time, and it in the end needed to be flashed three times in order for the processor to be recognized correctly, and for the thing to work.

Secondly, the overall stability of the thing to begin with was terrible. Its IRQ assignments were all farked, and even with freeing up about 5 by disabling most (if not all) of my legacy ports, there was IRQ sharing galore. It wouldn't even run the memory at stock. I had to scale it down to using PC1600/DDR200 spec in order to get it to let me finish POST and move on to booting the OS.

Finally, when I could get into the OS Setup and actually booting up into it, my problems were far from over. First, i was told that I shouldn't need to install the 4-in-1 drivers, because "XP Pro has them built in." WRONG. Tried to install Audigy without the 4-in-1's, and I get this lovely message showing up on my screen only a mere two reboots later:

said by system w/o 4-in-1 drivers:

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Registry Hive:
/Software/**
is either corrupt or missing,
or its backup or alternate.

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This is where the real fun began, for I could never have the machine up and running more than a week, all because of all the millions of other conflicts.

The 4-in-1 drivers installation was a horrid routine, and would hang constantly. The only thing they ever did was keep that registry meltdown from happening when I installed my Audigy. It caused many other conflicts beyond that.

•Instability running games•still couldn't run memory even @ stock•Conflicts With Roxio's GoBack (this was the first and only time I've ever seen GoBack complain about anything

The list went on. Epox's support was absolutely non-existent, and I had tried everything recommended to me in the MS help forum and here, and still no luck. I couldn't even find a single driver revision at the time that would let the Ti200 work right on that motherboard. Then it had to go let my system overheat when running Jedi Knight II demo.

In its glorious finale, the board decided to kill itself, and take the hard drive with it (60GB WD Caviar HDD, bought @ Circuit City). Needless to say, after the long problems I had with both WD and this board, I was sure I wouldn't be giving either anymore business. The HDD was returned, so I could get my $$$ back and get a fresh new Maxtor. The only thing left of the motherboard is the northbridge fan.

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Second, now very glaring annoyance: VIA VT6202 USB2.0 chip

I was glad to finally have a working board when I got my NV7-133R. At first, I was very weary to see the "VIA" chip on there, being there to handle USB2.0. But then I thought to myself, "Surely, they could at least make a proper chip for one function, right?"

Big mistake. Driver that came with the cd doesn't work. Had to go online to find a working one for it. Its last revision was almost 2 years old.

Went to VIA's many different sites for any sort of updated driver, but alas, VIA in its infinite wisdom decided to drop support and quit making anymore updated drivers for their own chip. Nice move there.

Even now, I still can't use the USB2.0 ports right, because the only thing that can work with them right now is my HP Printer.

I plug in my Logitech Gamepad on them, and it prompts a reinstall of the drivers everytime. Also, the apps and such that I would put it to use with don't recognize it when it's on those ports. It's fine on the 1.1 ports, but not these.

I plug in my Intel PC-cam on the USB2.0 ports... I get a hard lockup (requiring a power-off), and at worst cases, a BSOD.

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VIA is the most worthless company I've seen. Their driver support is horrid, their chips are absolute garbage and even their newest crap still has compatibility problems out the yin-yang.

If I have to choose between VIA and Intel for my next machine, I'm buying a Mac. I love AMD for their CPU's, but I refuse to put another VIA product in my machines again.

Does this explain my POV for you?

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reply to z28kindaguy
I've never had a problem with Asus boards that have VIA chipsets...mainly the A7V333 and the A7V8X. These boards run wonderfully and are quite stable, but who really knows how stable a board actually is since Windows is what causes many spontaneous restarts. As far as hardware compatibility, though, Asus boards with VIA chipsets have been nothing but good to me. Go Asus!
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