So here I am with a new Althon64 powered system - running on a Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M.. all great and groovy right? Wrong.
Via apparently still some way to go before ironing the same issues that have plagued their chipsets since the very beginning - specifically, reliable AGP slots. The same problems keep surfacing, again and again - video support that is lacking in the extreme. See, that’s what I like about Apple, they at least understand the importance of getting underlying chipset support to be reliable. It’s something manufactures within the PC platform could learn from.
So far I have feed the above a bunch of nVidia cards, none of which work within DirectX. OpenGL? Great - smooth as butter.. DirectX? Shh, don’t mention it to VIA - of the huge range of chipsets released, I have only come across but a tiny percentile that actually work as advertised.
Apparently the K8VM800M will support an increased number of cards - at, wait for it.. 4x. Although, whether it works for all boards, is apparently open for debate. Given the board has supposed support for 8x with all the bells and whistles the product, in short, is complete and utter shit.
.. and why does this piss me off so much, you ask incrediously? Right, that’s simple - I like Counterstrike Source. The K8VM800M, apparently does not. At all. Period. I didn’t pay $110AUS (~$95 US) for something that renders my system about as affective as attempting to cut glass, with a potato.
Now, I realise that some of this will be sailing somewhere overhead for some - that’s quite acceptable in my book. The upshot of the above is that the board is about to go back to the somewhat helpful vendor, photech for an exchange on an ABIT Nforce 3 powered beast board. At least that is guaranteed to support an nVidia graphics accelerator. It’s also had a few good reviews, which is promising.
So, a word to the wise - if you’re thinking of going to a 64bit PC platform - steer clear of the VIA 64bit chipsets. They’re far to ‘new’ (which is ironic, as 64bit Athlons have been in release for quite some time now). I’ll post my experiences with the nForce3 chipset after I’ve replaced the board tomorrow (Monday).
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of technology.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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