X-bit labs

VIA PT880 Preview: Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL Mainboard in Our Lab

Category: Chipsets

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 09/09/2003 | 12:14 PM ]

We were lucky to lay our hands on a mainboard based on the first dual-channel Pentium 4 chipset from VIA. The thing goes under the name of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL. Let’s see whether VIA’s PT880 is capable of beating Intel’s 875P and 865PE or at least making a worthy rival.

Table of contents:

• VIA PT880 in Detail
  
• Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL: First Mainboard On VIA PT880
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

Pentium 4 chipsets with a dual-channel memory controller are gaining in popularity. The recent transition of the Pentium 4 CPU family to the 800MHz FSB is one of the contributing factors, because the processor-chipset highway has a peak bandwidth of 6.4GB/s now. None of the current memory types can give out a data stream of such intensity, so the dual-channel memory subsystems are simply a must. Using two 64-bit memory channels for ordinary DDR400 SDRAM, we achieve a bandwidth of 6.4GB/s – an exact match of the FSB bandwidth. Considering that DDR400 is the fastest memory of the DDR SDRAM type standardized by JEDEC, it is clearly impossible to reach the same data throughput with one memory channel only.

Thus, any Pentium 4 chipset that aspires for a place in high-end and mainstream systems must have two 64-bit memory channels with DDR400 SDRAM support. Two chipsets from Intel, i875 and i865, as well as ATI’s RADEON 9100 IGP, meet this requirement. Other chipsets, although they may support the 800MHz FSB of the new Pentium 4, should only be viewed as budget solutions. The bandwidth misbalance between the FSB and memory busses leads to an inevitable and perceptible performance loss. However, companies that have only single-channel Pentium 4 chipsets in their product lines don’t lose hopes to bite at the pie the market of high-end Pentium 4 solutions is. Both VIA and SiS have the necessary license from Intel as well as capacities to make products, acceptable both for characteristics and price.

Taiwan-based VIA and SiS are both headed for a mass launch of their own dual-channel Pentium 4 chipsets in September already. SiS has SiS655FX and SiS661FX on schedule, while VIA will roll out its VIA PT880 chipset. However, mass shipments of these products are going to start no sooner than October. In September, we will only have a chance to see these newcomers showcased at Computex. Nevertheless, we can hardly say that VIA and SiS are running desperately behind the times. Chipsets with dual-channel DDR400 support will remain a demanded product until at least the middle of 2004 when DDR-II SDRAM hits the market.

The new chipset from VIA, PT880, is a most exciting thing. Firstly, VIA has only recently returned to the Pentium 4 chipset field. It means that this product is a kind of “dark horse”. Secondly, VIA PT880 is VIA’s first dual-channel chipset ever, and features a number of thrilling options like QBM SDRAM support. Thirdly, the data revealed already on VIA PT880 indicate that this is going to be a very powerful chipset.

We were lucky to get some preliminary info about VIA PT880 before it is officially launched. Soltek, a renowned mainboard maker and also a partner of VIA Technologies, offered us to test a sample of their PT880-based mainboard called SL-86SPV2-RL. Thus, we are able to answer some questions concerning VIA PT880 today and, what’s more important, to check out the performance level of the new solution from VIA, which is set to win the mainstream sector of the chipset market.