VIA K8T890 and PT894 Posted on 24/09/2004 at 10:54 by Marc
VIA has announced today their PCI Express chipsets. In fact nothing changed since our news published last August and the official announcement only confirm the rumours.
The PT894 for Pentium 4 characteristics are:
- P4 FSB800/1066 - Two channels memory - DDR-400 and DDR2-667 - PCI Express (x16 et x4 or 4x1) - Ultra V-Link at 1066 Mo /s
Unfortunately, the characteristics show that VIA has left their Northbridge managing simultaneously the PCI Express x16 and AGP. However in compensation the PT894 has nice functions like the official compatibility with the FSB1066 and the DDR2-667. This chipset will also have a Pro version.
If the standard version only manage one PCI Express port 16X, the Pro version, compatible with the DualGFX Express technology, will be able to manage two. So the VIA chipset Pro version should be able to use the NVIDIA SLI technology. Now we have to see if it is really a 16X port or if VIA has reused the 4 PCI Express 16X line included in the standard PT894 to create one 16X with a reduced bandwidth.
Unlike VIA indications during the CeBIT, the K8T890 for Athlon 64 isn’t also compatible with the AGP. The Chipset characteristics are:
- Athlon 64 HyperTransport 1 GHz - PCI Express (x16 et x4 or 4x1) - Ultra V-Link at 1066 Mo /s
We remind you that the memory management is made by the processor only and that the chipset has no influence on this parameter. Like with the PT894, a pro version managing two PCI Express Port is also expected.
Finally for the Southbridge, the next novelty is the VT8251. It will manage 4 Serial ATA ports, the Native Command Queuing, two PCI Express x1 ports and the High Definition Audio. It should be released with a few months delays compared to Intel. All these chipsets will be available during the last quarter.
VIA has announced today their PCI Express chipsets. In fact nothing changed since our news published last August and the official announcement only confirm the rumours.