Ok, you can go buy those KT266A boards now...

[Nuno]

... because they´re faster that the nForce 420! So, no, Nvidia hasn´t got ´da bomb this time...

http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1535

Pretty good performance nonetheless. 128-bit memory bus unfortunatly doesn´t do much for the Athlon Despite useless integrated Graphics (slower than a MX) the integrated sound seems to be a good solution...

[Wombat]

I hate to be viewed as supporting nVidia, but the nForce is NOT released yet. From my understanding, the reference boards that are being reviewed are not even release candidates. And that says nothing about the drivers.
The KT266A is just a drop-in replacement for the KT266. And VIA, well, it's still VIA.

I think it's too early to make the call.

[Novdid]

Yhe via board is also a reference board, it will also get faster. Just like you said, sadly VIA is VIA.

But hey their products get better and better in the reliability department so you can always hope that they got it together this time.