As Intel currently has no plan to launch related products, the roadmap of the new DDR400-based chipset market is expected to be charted by Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) in the Pentium 4 arena, with VIA Technologies dominating the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)-platform sector while Nvidia looks to establish a bridgehead.
For SiS, given the growing popularity of its P4-supporting 645 and 650 chipset series in the entry-level market, the company's latest DDR333 and DDR400 chipsets, the SiS648 and SiS648DX, are expected to naturally extend their inheritance up market.
SiS's AGP 8x-based SiS648 was originally targeted at DDR400. However, because of a more limited supply of DDR400 memory in early stages in addition to a wish to more aggressively promote its new Xabre 400 graphics chip, SiS decided to introduce the SiS648 as a DDR333 chipset, and launch the SiS648DX into the DDR400 market later.
VIA's reign in the AMD market has changed little since the company released its KT133 discrete chipset, industry sources said. The new KT400 chipset should have no problem continuing to enjoy this market advantage. It remains to be seen if Nvidia is a force to be reckoned with.
Currently, the SiS648 and KT400 are shipping to motherboard clients with the SiS648DX expected to start later this month. DDR400-supporting board products are expected to appear on market shelves by the end of this month.
The DDR400 standard has not yet been officially verified by the Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council (JEDEC). Strictly speaking, all of these DDR400 chipsets are DDR333 products that can support DDR400 through overclocking, industry sources noted. However, this has not stopped Taiwanese board makers and chipset designers pushing product specifications further. Sources said that more motherboards supporting DDR400 memory are expected to hit the market by the end of the third quarter. As a result, demand for DDR400 memory will see continual growth in the second half.

Source: DigiTimes

OS/2-eCS-ArcaOS General News

More in General  

OS/2-eCS-ArcaOS Software News

More in Software  

Latest Forum Posts

Site News

More in Site News