AMD Athlon 64 Chipset Comparison - ATi, ULi, NVIDIA, SiS, VIA

With at least four platforms to choose from, the Athlon 64’s PCI Express chipset lineup finally has some depth. But between the latest core logic options from ATI and ULi, NVIDIA, SiS, and VIA, which chipset has the most desirable blend of features and best performance? Join us as we sift through spec sheets and pour over a slew of benchmark results to find out.

..So we’re left with the Radeon Xpress 200/M1573, which is a clear winner for integrated graphics platforms, and the nForce4 Ultra, which has the benefit of widespread availability at a range of price points. Both platforms have their problems, but at least for now, I’m inclined to favor narrowly the nForce4 Ultra. The Radeon Xpress 200/M1573 combo is still rare in the wild, and its poor USB and command queuing performance can’t be as easily sidestepped as the nForce4 Ultra’s high ActiveArmor CPU utilization. In the Athlon 64 world, we don’t have a juggernaut like Intel who generally gets chipsets 100% right. Here, we have to settle for who gets the most things right. Right now, that’s the nForce4 Ultra.

The Tech Report