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Without voltage adjustments, we didn't expect too much from the SK41G and we didn't break any records either but, surprisingly, we were able to run rock solid at 146 MHz bus speed which translates into 2200 MHz real clock frequency. Not bad, not bad at all. For those who are interested in increasing the Vre, RichTek has the pinout decode table for the different voltages on the RT9241 posted on their datasheet.

Conclusion

The VIA KM266 chipset is not the hottest contender in the chipset arena of today, in fact, it is somewhat outdated compared to whatever else is currently available on the chipset market. Leaving out the nForce2 chipset, though, what other possibilities are available for the AMD platform featuring integrated graphics and an AGP slot. Intel doesn't make Athlon compatible chipsets, even if they would love to. SIS has the 740 chipset but we have not seen or heard much about that one in the last months, which leaves VIA.

The ProSavageXXXX integrated graphics controller used to be rather competitive in the days of the i810 / i815 chipset but it clearly has seen better days. That does not mean that it is completely useless, actually, as far as integrated graphics and office machines go, it is not a bad solution. Anything beyond that or playing "Frogger", Solitaire or MahJong will require a different graphics solution.

All these nitpicks aside, paired with an appropriate graphics card, the SK41G turned out to be a solid performer after all, including some rather solid overclocking capabilities. Granted, it is not the ultimate performance machine but the difference to any high end system where the mainboard by itself costs almost as much as the entire XPC is almost irrelevant for 95% of all users. Add the ease of installation along with the stealth, er, whisper mode and this is one terriffic little box for under $300. And that is hard to beat.

The performance oriented user and AMD afficionado will still have to wait for the nForce2 version available shortly but for most mortal humans, the SK41G is already more than what they will ever need.

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