VIA Q3 2004 Chipset Roadmap Updates
by Jarred Walton on October 16, 2004 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
VIA South Bridges
Finally, we come to VIA's South Bridge offerings. Due to the proprietary V-Link interconnect, VIA's South Bridges can only be used with VIA's North Bridges and vice versa, but that is nothing new or unusual. Let's take a look at the options.
| Summary - VIA South Bridges | |||
| VT8235 | VT8237 | VT8251 | |
| IDE | 2 Channel ATA 33/66/100/133 | 2 Channel ATA 33/66/100/133 | 2 Channel ATA 33/66/100/133 |
| Serial ATA | N/A | 2 SATA | 4 SATA with Command Queueing |
| PCI Express | N/A | N/A | 2 PCIe lanes |
| RAID | N/A | 0/1/0+1/JBOD | 0/1/0+1/JBOD |
| Chip Interconnect | 8X V-Link | Ultra V-Link | Ultra V-Link |
| Network | 10/100 MAC | 10/100 MAC | 10/100 MAC |
| PCI | 6 PCI Slots | 6 PCI Slots | 7 PCI Slots |
| Audio | 6 Channel Audio | 6 Channel Audio | High Definition Audio 192K/32-bit 8 Channel |
| Sampling | Already Available | Already Available | Now |
The VT8235 is a slightly older South Bridge, as you can see by its lack of support for SATA and RAID. It is still in use on many socket A and earlier P4 motherboards, though, as well as in embedded systems that use VIA's low-power, low-cost C3 processor. (We won't bother with the details on VIA's socket 370 of socket A chipsets as those have both been available for some time now.) These days, the VT8235 is a low-cost, no-frills South Bridge that goes into budget systems as well as embedded devices.
VIA's VT8237 South Bridge is the updated version of the VT8235 and it adds the "missing" support for up to 2 SATA devices and basic RAID. Depending on the North Bridge on the motherboard, the VT8237 can use the Ultra V-Link connection or the older 8X V-Link. Performance with RAID and Gigabit Ethernet may benefit slightly with the faster V-Link, although generally the 533 MB/s transfer rate of the 8X V-Link should be more than sufficient. Both the 8235 and 8237 can be paired with either a standard AC'97 codec or the enhanced 24-bit VIA Envy chip and codec. VIA Envy is a good quality audio solution that is used on several add-in cards, but unfortunately not many motherboard manufacturers are willing to include it as it increases costs slightly.
The third South Bridge VIA offers is their new VT8251. It is a substantial upgrade in features from the others, as it includes not only RAID and SATA support - this time with native support for 4 SATA drives - but it also adds in some other goodies. For starters, the SATA controller now supports Native Command Queuing. There are also two PCIe lanes, allowing either two X1 PCIe connections or one X2 PCIe connection. Here, the faster Ultra V-Link will definitely help out. On the audio side, the VT8251 adds support for 8 channel High Definition Audio (192 KHz/32-bit sampling). AC'97 audio is still supported as well, as is VIA's Envy 24-bit audio chip. Finally, the ACPI controller is 2.0 compliant, which allows for additional power saving features.
Closing Thoughts
In addition to all of their North and South Bridges, VIA also manufactures a wide variety of companion chips to add additional features to any motherboards. These chips can be used in boards both with and without VIA chipsets. There are no new additions to their companion chips, but just to provide a quick overview, the following technologies are covered. Networking in both 10/100 and GbE options, IEEE1394/Firewire, SATA, PATA, USB2.0, Audio, TV Out, and DVI connections. Chances are pretty good that if there is a technology that is used in computers, VIA makes a chip that supports it.
So, that's what VIA has in plan for the near future as far as chipsets go. We look forward to testing out products using these chips in the future, and we'll be sure to keep you posted on availability and performance. We should hopefully see some competition for Intel in the PCI Express chipset arena before the end of 2004, and competition is good.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
12 Comments
View All Comments
Jii - Monday, January 17, 2005 - link
VT8251 has support for PCI-e, but not for 10/100/1000 LAN?There must be an error on the southbridge chip comparison table - at least I hope so.
quanta - Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - link
#7, it is possible count PCIE device as PCI. After all, PCIE software is supposed to be software compatible with PCI.Fluff - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 - link
Give us RAID-5 dammit.Regs - Wednesday, October 20, 2004 - link
I believe the VT8251 has 7 because of SLI. 2 slots that could be programmed to 8x PCI-Express. The remaining 5 are normal.JarredWalton - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
Pete, I must admit that I sort of wondered the same thing. With PCIe being the future and most people currently using at most three PCI boards, adding yet another PCI slot seems pointless. It may have something to do with the integrated PCI devices counting against that total. Just a guess. I doubt that we'll actually see any 7 slot PCI boards ship, regardless.Pete84 - Monday, October 18, 2004 - link
Any idea why the VT8251 has 7 PCI slot support? What board would use so many? With even three or four add in cars, the bandwidth would be so low it wouldn't be funny . . . so why??TrogdorJW - Monday, October 18, 2004 - link
#4 - I mention the overclocking not because some of the K8T800 Pro motherboards can't overclock - i.e. the Asus - but because we have had a few more issues getting reasonable overclocks out of the VIA chipset boards. Anyway, the NF3 250Gb still comes with better Gigabit Ethernet, as well as a hardware firewall. All things being equal, I still prefer that chipset. It's close, so if the K8T800 Pro comes with a less expensive motherboard (from a brand you trust), more power to you. We won't know for sure until boards ship, but we like to hope that the PCI/AGP lock will now function properly on all future VIA chipsets. :)5 - Typical time from sampling to first availability tends to be around 3 months, I would say. If the new chips are pin compatible, it can sometimes be less. With the new chipsets offering PCI Express, I would guess 3 or 4 months is more likely from most manufacturers, but I'm sure we'll see some before the end of 2004.
Noli - Sunday, October 17, 2004 - link
When it says that the k8t890 and k8t890 pro are sampling now, does that mean anyone can work out when we will actually be able to buy motherboards with these chipsets on them?thebluesgnr - Sunday, October 17, 2004 - link
"Performance between the K8T800 Pro and Nforce3 250 Ultra is very close, but NVIDIA offers additional features and improved overclocking."The overclocking potential for both are pretty much the same. On AT's motherboard roundup for socket 939 the ASUS A8V overclocked just as good as the best nForce3 Ultra mobo. And although VIA K8T800 Pro had problems with its PCI/AGP lock at first, the issues are all fixed now while some nVidia boards are still having PCI/AGP lock issues.
xsilver - Saturday, October 16, 2004 - link
what hasn't been mentioned is if the pci/agp lock will be fully functional on the k8t890pro or have I been under a rock for a while?Still I can't see why you would want to buy this over a nforce 4 (NOT a fanboy, they just have such a good track record)
If the k8t890pro hits with 2x PCI express lanes nvidia surely much hit back with just as much if not more?