Via is back on the Intel platform; Tuesday, they launched their PT800 northbridge chipset, coupled with their VT8237 southbridge.
The PT800 supports Intel’s Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading, up to 800 MHz FSB, up to 8 GB of memory (ECC supported). For this, it uses VIA’s FastStream64™ DDR400 Memory Controller; optimalised for maximum performance, although it remains a single channel solution.
The southbridge, VT8237, features VIA DriveStation™ Advanced Connectivity Suite. Which is a very nice way to state that it enables 2* SATA, 4* IDE and support for RAID (0,1,0+1). Another nice marketing name is VIA Vinyl™ Multichannel Audio Suite. Which is an integrated 5.1 – 7.1 sound solution. A 10/100Mb network controller is also included, together with support for 8 USB 2.0 devices.
South- and northbridge are connected through VIA’s V-Link 533 MB/sec connection.
Read the official press statement here.
Previews and reviews:
