Summary
Which is the fastest Socket A DDR SDRAM chipset currently on the market? Is it ALi, AMD or VIA? Well I’d say it’s pretty much a draw. ALi does appear to constantly come in second as VIA and AMD swapped honors for best and worst, leaving ALi with the best average. VIA does seem to come in last more often than not, but did shine in a couple of tests.
I would not be too worried about which chipset gives the best performance. As shown with the above results, they are really very close and at times one may come in first but at other times it may come in last. I would look for a motherboard that meets your needs in other areas, such as slots, options & features, price, dealer or brand, and not worry about which chipset is used. I would not shy away from an ALi MAGiK1 based Mainboard just because of the ALi chipset, and I would think twice about buying a VIA KT266 based one just because of the VIA brand name.
If AMD 760 based motherboards stay at the upper end of the price range and remain geared toward the OEM market with a limited number of manufactures using it, then I would put that on the bottom of my list. If VIA KT266 based boards stay more expensive than ALi based boards, and performance stays the same as it is, I would put that as number two on my list. But if the ALi stays the price leader, with its consistently good performance results I would personally put it at the top. It appears to have the best all around performance, and also has the best price to performance ratio.
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