DDR333 For Athlon: VIA KT333 vs. KT266A – THG.RU

VIA KT333: AGP 8x, Ultra-DMA/133, DDR333 And USB 2.0

This Taiwanese chip-manufacturer is maturing – even the critics must admit that it has succeeded in transforming itself from a wallflower to a recognized opponent for the formidable Intel. However, in the past, VIA was not so much known for its groundbreaking innovations as for its ability to satisfy the needs of the mass market. In any case, it was able to do this better than its competitors ALi and SiS, both of which weren’t able to sell high quantities or achieve a consistent company strategy. And this still holds true – ALi and SiS only sell because of prices lower than those of VIA chips. After having built a successful foundation upon KT133A and KT266A, VIA now introduces a new star, the KT333. The nomenclature serves to highlight the fact that it supports the new DDR SDRAM memory, which has recently come to be known as DDR333. This makes VIA’s goals quite clear – to associate the high-bandwidth memory module with its chipset. After all, the memory module is currently the component that holds the greatest potential for increasing the performance of PC systems. So obviously, the data transfer rate will be further optimized and above all the speed will be increased. To top it off, the VIA KT333 chipset offers more new features than all previous models from the Taiwanese manufacturer.

Comparison of the two building-blocks, VIA KT333 and VIA KT266A – above is the Northbridge and below is the Southbridge.

Comparison: VIA KT333 vs. KT266A

The following table lists all of the chipsets that are currently available for the AMD Socket 462 platform and support DDR SDRAM. Older models with SDRAM support (such as VIA KT133A) are not taken into consideration here, because for a while now, boards with such chips have no longer been produced and offered on the market.

Structure Of The VIA KT333

Schematic structure of the VIA KT333 chipset with Northbridge and Southbridge.

Comparison: 4 Boards With The VIA KT333 Chipset

The reference board from VIA with the KT333 chipset.

The MSI KT3 Ultra with the KT333 chipset.

Comparison: 4 Boards With The VIA KT333 Chipset, Continued

The retail packaging of the MSI boards.

Accessories included with the MSI KT3 Ultra.

There’s no shortage of interfaces.

The Gigabyte GA-7VRXP.

AMD Makes A Change: 166 MHz FSB Clock In The Future?

The MSI KT3 Ultra offers an FSB clock of 166 MHz, which can be synchronized with the memory clock.

By changing the memory clock incrementally from 133 MHz to 166 MHz, and when used together with the KT333 chipset, the performance can be increased accordingly, at least in theory.

The clock speed of the VIA KT333 is still not read correctly by the popular tool WCPUID.

Ultra-DMA/133: Currently Supports Maxtor Only

Mainboards with the KT333 chipset can be set to different modes – even RAID is possible if an additional controller is installed.

The new Southbridge VT8233A (recognizable by the added “A”) has an integrated Ultra-DMA/133 IDE controller, among other features. This means that technically, a data transfer rate of 133 MB/s is possible, but an overhead of about 10% data should be deducted. Current hard drives with 7200 rpm just barely achieve a data rate of 50 MB/s, so with ATA/133, you’ve got enough reserves to keep you up-to-date for the next two years. However, there is one restriction: modern hard drives are equipped with 8 MB cache, so the physical limit of 133 MB/s is quickly reached. It can be determined that Ultra-DMA/133 hard drives only make sense starting from a specific minimum size of the internal cache (from approx. 4 MB), as well as high read and write speeds for the ATA/133 interface. For the traditional CD ROM, DVD or CD RW drives, an Ultra-DMA/133 interface is superfluous. In the end, even the fastest 16x DVD drives can achieve a maximum of 15 MB/s. An important note: compared to Ultra-DMA/100, all connections, including the cable connection, are the same.

IDE interfaces with Ultra-DMA/133 support.

AGP 8x: Currently No Graphics Cards Available

Specifications for the AGP-3 standard.

In the next few weeks, VIA will be quietly replacing the Northbridge KT333 with the KT333A. This chip is compatible with the pin of the previous model and supports the new AGP 3.0 graphics standard. Compared to the AGP 2.0, there’s one significant new feature: using an identical mechanical structure of the AGP slot, AGP 8x graphics cards are supported, and the 66 MHz clock speed remains the same. The only change is that a modified transfer protocol will allow more data to be transferred at this clock speed. However, there are currently no graphics cards available on the market that support AGP 8x.

Basic specifications for motherboards with AGP support.

Specifications for graphics cards with AGP support.

USB Ad Infinitum: 6 Ports Are Standard

External USB 2.0 controller from NEC.

The VIA KT333 chipset has 3 USB channels, and the test candidates from Asus, MSI and Gigabyte are equipped with an external USB controller (NEC and VIA) according to USB 2.0 standards. Compared to the older USB 1.5 standard, USB 2.0 has the following advantages: the data transfer rate is increased from 1.5 MB/s to 60 MB/s maximum. This makes it possible to use external CD burners, hard drives or DVD drives, and suitable peripherals are already available on the market.

Asus A7V333 contains a total of 6 USB ports.

Asus A7V333 includes an additional USB cable as well as a FireWire cable (IEEE1394).

Asus builds upon its own dhips.

A 6-channel audio chip on the Asus A7V333.

DDR333 Memory Modules Compared

Various memory modules compared, including four with DDR333.

After the DDR266 memory module with CAS latency CL2.0 has been made available on the market, new memory is being introduced to go along with the KT333 chipset. This is indicated with the label “DDR333”, and it runs at 166 MHz clock speed. However, the first modules are only available with a CAS latency of CL2.5, and it will take some time before fast memory with CL2.0 is available. Our benchmark results prove that the new DDR333 with CL2.5 can barely keep apace with DDR266 with CL2.0 and thus brings no advantages in terms of speed. In a few benchmark disciplines (video encoding), even the dual-channel DDR266 from Nvidia is faster than DDR33 with CL2.5 when used with the VIA KT333.

DDR333 memory with CL2.5 from Micron.

DDR333 memory with CL2.5 from Kingmax.

DDR333 memory with CL2.5 from Nanya.

DDR333 memory with CL2.5 from Kingston.

DDR333 with CL2.0 from Corsair holds the record for speed.

DDR333 memory with CL2.5 from Samsung.

Test Setup

Benchmarks Under Windows 2000

We wanted to avoid the automatic resource management feature integrated in Windows XP, so as in the past, we opted to use Windows 2000 to test this group of chipsets. The only reason for choosing Windows 2000 over Windows XP is that the newer version of Windows optimizes how background applications run. This new feature would have prevented us from obtaining accurate benchmarking results.

We performed a total of 26 different benchmark tests in order to obtain the most complete, well-balanced view of how the new VIA KT333 performs. You can get a clear overall picture from the benchmark results for a total of 9 different platforms, all of them for AMD CPUs. We ran four different Quake 3 tests to determine OpenGL performance. The different MPEG-encoding benchmarks provide a comprehensive testing environment – the Lame MP3 Encoder was used to encode a 178 MB WAV file into MPEG-1 Layer 3 format. Still am established standard, our MPEG-4 test converts a file from a commercial DVD-ROM into MPEG-4 format using Xmpeg 4.2a and the Divx 4.12 codec. We also created an MPEG-2 film using the video-editing software “Pinnacle Studio 7.” A regular in our list of benchmarks is determining rendering performance using Newtek’s Lightwave (version 7b). We also ran WinACE 4.1 to test file archiving, a standard and practical application in the computing world. Compiling the latest Linux kernel, 2.4.13, has long been a standard benchmark in our repertoire. In order to determine office performance, we used Sysmark 2002 benchmark for the first time. SPECviewperf provides a comprehensive suite of 3D benchmarks.

OpenGL-Performance: Quake 3 Arena

In the four Quake 3 Arena timedemo runs, all of the boards with the KT333 chipset and DDR333 memory are ahead of the competitors equipped with DDR266 memory and based on KT266A, Nvidia nForce and AMD 760. The performance of the VIA KT133A reference board was weak by comparison – the reason for this lies with the conventional SDRAM (PC-133). All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

DirectX 7 Games: 3D Mark 2000

3D Mark 2000 gives you the Direct3D performance from DirectX 7 under Windows 2000. The charts show that all boards with VIA KT333 are in the lead. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

DirectX 8 Games: 3D Mark 2001

3D Mark 2000 gives you the Direct3D performance from DirectX 8 under Windows 2000. Here, the results are comparable to the 3D Mark 2000 tests – the boards with the VIA KT333 chipset lead the pack, although Asus and Gigabyte switch their top positions. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

MP3-Audio-Encoding: Lame MP3

The Lame MP3 Encoder under Windows 2000 was used to convert a 178 MB sound file from a WAV format to the MPEG-1 Layer 3 format. The diagram clearly shows that the VIA KT133A chipset takes last place. Nvidia nForce is the leader of the pack, just slightly ahead of the VIA KT333 boards, and it shows the advantage to having dual-channel DDR SDRAM. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

MPEG 4 Video Encoding: Xmpeg 4.2a and Divx 4.12

Again, the Nvidia nForce is able to take the lead, thanks to its dual-channel technology. Following on its heels are the boards with the KT333 chipset and DDR333 memory. Boards with the AMD 760 as well as the VIA KT266 chipset are left completely in the dust. The VIA KT133A brings up the rear – it performs more than 20% slower than the nForce.

SiSoft Sandra 2002 Benchmarks: CPU und Multimedia

In the SiSoft Sandra Pro Benchmark 2002, VIA KT333 proves its high memory performance. Still, all results should be taken with a grain of salt. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

3D-Rendering: Newtek Lightwave 7b

The high clock speed of 166 MHz with the DDR333 modules is reflected in the results of the Lightwave benchmarks: the Asus A7V333 takes first place, followed by MSI and Gigabyte, all of which are equipped with VIA KT333. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

3D-Rendering: Cinema 4D XL 7

All boards with the VIA KT333 chipset occupy the top ranks. The VIA KT133A chipset with SDRAM and 133 MHz memory clock is surprisingly slow. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

Office-Performance: Sysmark 2002

The new Sysmark benchmark makes a small debut with version 2002. In all three test segments, the Gigabyte board with VIA KT333 is in the lead. All other test candidates with KT333 caused errors in the benchmark test. The three charts show just how weak the VIA KT133A chipset performs when used with SDRAM memory.

Linux Compiling: Suse Linux 7.3 / Kernel 2.4.13

Basically, all motherboards with the VIA KT333 chipsets take the lead in compiling the Linux kernel. All other competitors (AMD 760, Nvidia nForce, VIA KT266 and KT266A) do not perform as well, with the exception of the VIA KT266A reference board. The VIA reference board with the antiquated KT133A chipset takes the very last place. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

Archiving: WinACE 4.1

Archiving is a very practical application. WinACE 2.1 was used under Windows 2000 to archive a 178 MB WAV file while the clock was running. In this discipline, the Asus A7V333 with the KT333 chipset takes first in the ranks. Next to the Nvidia nForce, all KT333 boards end up at the top spots. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

Video-Encoding MPEG-2: Pinnacle Studio 7

In creating an MPEG-2 video with Pinnacle Studio 7, the boards with the VIA KT333 chipset and DDR333 memory are clearly faster than the competition. The slowest candidate is, once again, the VIA reference board with the KT133A chipset combined with the SDRAM memory. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

3D-Rendering Performance: SPECviewperf

3D-Rendering Performance: SPECviewperf, Continued

The results measured by the SPECviewperf benchmark suite could be clearer: in all of the tests, boards with the VIA KT333 chipset take the lead, although the differences are quite small. The performance of the VIA KT133A chipset is quite weak – in the DX-06 test, it attains only half of the performance level. Despite its dual-channel technology, the Nvidia nForce cannot really keep up with the VIA KT333. All boards with the KT333 chipset are indicated by the red bars.

Conclusion: Many New Features With KT333, DDR333 Performs To Full Potential Only With CL2 – Fastest Chipset For AMD CPUs

Never before has VIA produced a chipset with such new functions as the KT333. Significant improvements include the increased memory clock (166 MHz), which supports DDR 333 and DDR266 modules as well as DDR200. However, optimal performance with the VIA KT333 is only attainable when used in conjunction with a fast DDR333 module and CL2.0. In our laboratory tests, however, we were unable to get the hand-picked memory module (PC2700) from Corsair (CM64SD256-2700CX2H) to run in CAS latency mode CL2.0 at 166 MHz memory clock, regardless of the motherboards we used (Asus A7V333, MSI KT3 Ultra, Gigabyte GA-7VRXP and the VIA reference board VT5615A). When set to CL2.5, there were no problems.

Compared to its direct predecessor, the VIA KT266A, our benchmark results show that the VIA KT333 is currently the fastest chipset for AMD Duron, Athlon and XP processors. Among the interesting features is the Ultra-DMA/133 interface for both of the IDE interfaces and USB 2.0 support. In the next few weeks, VIA will replace the Northbridge KT333 with a pin-compatible KT333A, which automatically provides AGP 8x. Which of the big graphics chip manufacturers (ATI or Nvidia) will be the first to introduce the appropriate card for this is a question that is yet to be answered. A further aspect is related to the Front Side Bus of the AMD Athlon XP: for the first time, the VIA KT333 is capable of asynchronous as well as synchronous operation of the system clock with 166 MHz. This makes it possible to run an Athlon XP at 166 MHz FSB clock, if AMD allows for it. The advantages here are the higher transfer rates of the Northbridge and the Southbridge, as well as a synchronous connection to the memory bus. We are definitely all for the introduction of a 166 MHz FSB clock for the AMD Athlon XP!

A total of 26 various benchmark tests clearly shows that the VIA KT333 chipset the best and most capable chipset for AMD CPUs. With only a few exceptions, not even the Nvidia nForce with its expensive dual-channel technology (DDR266) can put up a real fight against the newcomer KT333. With the launch of the KT333, the KT266A will become a thing of the past – you simply won’t want to miss out on all the new features such as ATA/133, USB 2.0 or DDR333 support.