X-bit labs

ASUS A7V880 Mainboard Review. First Look at VIA KT880 Chipset (page 2)

Category: Chipsets

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 04/19/2004 | 09:05 AM ]

VIA KT880: Quick Glance

I called this section “Quick Glance” because there is not much to talk about regarding the features and specifications of the new chipset. Just look at the flow-chart below:

VIA KT880 includes the already familiar VIA VT8237 South Bridge, which we all know from KT600, PT800 and PT880 that is why most characteristics of the new KT880 is identical to those of the core logic sets mentioned above. This way, the distinguishing features of the new VIA solution are all hidden in the chipset North Bridge. To be more exact, the only distinguishing feature of the newcomer from the KT600 it is actually based one is the support of two memory channels, which ensures 128bit memory bus and allows reaching peak bandwidth of 6.4GB/sec with DDR400 SDRAM.

In order not to make too much of the bla-bla talking, I suggest comparing the formal features of the VIA KT880 with those of its direct competitor – NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400: the dual-channel Socket A chipset from NVIDIA. For a better comparison, I will also include the specifications of the VIA KT600, the predecessor of our today’s hero:

The comparison of the nForce2 Ultra 400 and KT880 features is evidently in VIA’s favor. It really allows implementing 4 memory slots instead of three, which is a pretty important thing for dual-channel configurations. Besides, it also ensures Serial ATA support and allows creating RAID arrays, features 8 USB 2.0 ports instead of the six ports supported by nForce2 Ultra 400. To be fair, I have to point out that the more advanced NVIDIA MCP-T South Bridge also features a few unique peculiarities. For instance, it contains a fully-fledged sound APU processor and supports IEEE1394 interface. However, the absence of the Serial ATA controller is a significant drawback, which casts a big shadow over all the previously listed advantages. This way, when we look at the formal characteristics of the reviewed solutions our preferences will move towards VIA KT880.