VIA Technologies is scheduled to launch its Pentium 4-supporting integrated chipset P4M266 this week, with motherboards based on the chipset expected to hit the market in mid-December.
VIA also plans to introduce the P4X266A, the upgraded version of its P4X266, later in November. According to sources, performance of the new P4X266A is 10-15% better than the P4X266. VIA hopes to maintain its leading position in performance with the upgraded chipsets, seeing that the SiS645 from rival Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) has performed even better than Intel’s RDRAM-based 850 chipset in several testing indexes.
VIA finished the mass production version of the P4M266 in October and has been giving samples and technical information to motherboard manufacturers over the past two weeks, sources said. The P4M266 is expected to enter volume production in late November.
VIA demonstrated the P4M266 on August 15 but as the legal dispute between Intel and VIA got hotter and its competitor SiS launched a series of new chipsets, the P4M266 has been out of the spotlight for some time. Sources indicated that unlike the P4X266, VIA did not incorporate the P4M266 into its motherboard production roadmap. Given the market position of integrated chipsets, VIA’s P4M266 will first target OEM, SI (system integrator) and motherboard clients.
As for its DDR333-based chipset P4X333, VIA does not have any specific plan for volume production so far.
Article translated by Christy Lee and edited by Ken Dawson
