I am not sure what to buy, i have a budget of around 9.5 K, planning for a an AMD64 system, what’s the best buy for this price for just the mobo/cpu alone ?
I was looking forward to A64 2800+ and K8V-X as the K8N goes a little more than 1000 bux more than the K8v-x and does not offer any performance advantage.
Any advice ?
Now I am a AMD fanatic, and will always recommend AMD but Amol, your budget is a bit limited for a AMD 64 solution. If you don’t mind, do consider a P4 based system with a 915 board, which offers PCIe, and the Tech Lords of this forum will tell you the difference in performance.
Also with the 915, you get DDR2 memory slots but with the K8V-X, I think you will get only DDR 333 (not too sure).
It is up to you now, do a quick search around the net for more info.
Ok..
one thing i have DDR400 Hynix D43 Ram, 9700 PRO agp - which i dont want to sell ATM to buy a PCI-E card. I think a 2800+ K8v-x or K8N combo should come under 9.5 K. i dont want to spend anymore.
@Amol: the 2800 and K8n combo’s are available in the market which are offered some discount than what you would get if u would buy them separately. Just scout around and i m sure you will be able 2 squeeze in the K8N. Also if ocing is not a priority u can go for the K8V-X. One more factor is that the K8N’s based on the nf3 chipset while the K8v is based on the via k8t800 chipset, however if you are not too finicky abt chipsets choices as well then go for the K8v to save some dough.
@Anish: An equivalent performing intel setup will be expensive than the AMD one 
Besides there’s support for DDR400 so dont worry abt that.
even if you get the k8n and the a 64 2800 separately it will be within your budget.
asus k8n = 4700
athlon 64 2800 = 5100.
9.8k…close enough
i would definitely reccomend and nvidia chipset over via.
Ok, cool then I wasn’t sure of the prices and the DDR400 RAM.
Plus I thought that you might want to upgrade your GFX card later, but the Athlon 64 2800+ with the K8N will be great for you.
I agree with what the rest have said above.
You should be able to easily fit an Athlon64 2800 and the Asus K8N in your budget.
True, there is no performance difference between the nVidia and Via chipset at stock speeds, but it is preferable to have the nVidia over the Via chipset.
An important feature is, the nVidia chipset has AGP/PCI locks while the Via chipset does not. This is crucial from the aspect of overclocking as you wont get very far on the Via based board without AGP/PCI locks.
If you’re looking to operate completely at stock speeds and want to save a few bucks, the K8V-X is a good choice too 
Do keep in mind neither of the boards have any form of onboard graphics and you will need an external graphics card.
A 915 based system will be even more expensive, nothing less than 14-15K.
Also DDR2 isnt really worth it at the moment.
Uh, I am using a Via chipset albeit the higher model, but i am not sure if it has PCI/AGP locks. The BIOS gives me the option to set the speed at 33.33/66.66 Mhz. That is the lock isn’t it ?
I have set it to this, I should’nt have any problems OC’ing right ?
Unless youre ocing there is no need to get the nvidia chipset..the peerf difference in minuscle.
I also feel that Nvidia driver support is a lot better.
The reason why I’d buy K8N over Via is purely cos of driver support. Via sucks in driver support compared to nvidia. I had major issues with a K8V conflicting with my Audigy. Changed to nvidia cos of that and no problems.
I will second stalker on this.Nothing compares with nvidia’s unified nforce driver sets.
The Asus K8V-X comes with the K8T800 chipset, while your board - the Asus A8V Deluxe comes with the K8T800 Pro chipset. So we’re not talking about the same thing here.
It is the Pro chipset alone that has working PCI/AGP locks(that too it has been implemented only on a few boards). What you have mentioned is indeed the lock.
Yep Chaos is right, the Audigy conflicts with the additional Promise SATA controller on the K8V for some reason. If you disable it and use the SATA controller integrated on the Via southbridge alone, you should be fine. So thats one more issue to consider (though its more of a board issue rather than a chipset issue).
i am having no probs with audigy2 on the k8v-x & sata.
anyways as i had told u b4 amol. u cant oc high on the k8v-x. max around 10%. if u want to oc then get the k8n. it will come easily in 9.5k
Yes, but which SATA controller are your disks plugged into?
If you’re on the Via SATA controller, you shouldnt have problems like I mentioned.
yes i am using it on the via sata controller. i dont think there is any other on this board. works fine in raidx0 with aud2.
Using VIA chipset here had no problems so far also about the driver support in wind x64 all the sound and n/w card drivers got autodetected
The problem occurs on K8V not K8V-X. The X lacks the second promise raid controller that the K8V has. It conflicts with any audigy/sb live card no matter what port you put it on. Well its my bad that I didn’t realize he was talking abt the K8V-X and not K8V :(.
Yup, thanks Crazy_Eddy, I am using the A8V Deluxe. Everything seems to be fine as of now, I am using the native VIA southbridge SATA controller, but onboard sound for the moment.
VIA chipsets are not bad, although Nvidia is better. But looking at the prices, its not a bad deal. When Socket 754 was newly launched in India a year back, only Via k8t800 were available after a while Asus K8n-e delux retailing for 12k !!! So am K8V at nearly half the price was not a bad deal at all.
I have an Asus K8v, apart from the PCI/AGP locks issue, havent had a prob. But yes I would definitely rate nforce chipsets and their driver support superior.