Given the demand for specification upgrades, the DDR400 standard is now likely to become the new mainstream, since most high-end K7 chipsets, such as VIA's KT400 and SiS's SiS746, have already been designed to support several advanced technologies, like DDR333 and AGP 8x.
VIA's KT400 and SiS's SiS746 are in fact able to support DDR400. However, as the specification has not yet been officially verified by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, both companies chose to mark their chipsets as DDR333 products.
For the new chipsets, however, sources said that SiS has intended to promote its new SiS746FX by stressing the product's DDR400 support, while VIA said that it may also launch a DDR400 KT400A chipset if its verification process with DRAM manufacturers goes well.
Previously, anticipating that AMD would introduce its K8 processors in the fourth quarter, VIA, SiS and ALi Corporation (formerly Acer Laboratories) were all set to launch supporting chipsets in the second half. With AMD's postponed roll-out, however, companies are suddenly faced with a prolonged product life for K7 chipsets and a possible need to expand their product lines.
Source: DigiTimes