by Ilya Gavrichenkov
09/09/2003 | 12:14 PM
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.
<%BANNER[article]%>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.
First, let’s talk about the chipset, and then go over to the mainboard. VIA PT880 is following in the wake of VIA’s single-channel PT800, which proved to be a successful product. In its turn, VIA PT880 is going to be followed by other dual-channel chipsets. The company is planning to introduce an analogous dual-channel chipset for Socket A processors, VIA KT880. VIA’s roadmap lists some other Pentium 4 products to come, particularly with support of DDR-II memory and PCI Express bus.
The architecture of VIA PT880 follows classic examples, but introduces some distinguishing features.
The main characteristics of this chipset include:
First, let’s say a few words about the memory controller employed in VIA PT880. The chip really deserves it. Unlike the controller in i865, it supports ECC, thus allowing the chipset to handle tasks that require high reliability and security of data. Secondly, VIA PT880 is the first chipset to support Quad Band Memory (QBM) from Kentron.
In a nutshell, QBM technology is such:
Thus, utilizing ordinary DDR SDRAM chips and the common 184-pin interface, QBM technology allows creating modules of a twice-higher bandwidth. First QBM modules to ship will be based on DDR266 chips and their effective bandwidth (the data-transfer speed) will equal that of DDR533 modules. You should note however that the latency of QBM533 modules is going to be somewhat higher than of DDR533 SDRAM. For example, it will be 4 cycles for QBM533 based on DDR266 chips with CL2. Compare this to overclocker DDR533 SDRAM modules available in the market that can work at CL3. This goes for other timings, too.
VIA PT880 can accept QBM533 SDRAM into the both channels of its memory controller. In this case, the total effective bandwidth of the dual-channel QBM533 memory subsystem will reach a fantastic peak of 8.5GB/s.
Yet another innovation packed into VIA PT880 is the high-speed Ultra V-Link bus for communication between the chipset’s Bridges. This bus provides a bandwidth of 1066MB/s and thus helps all the stuff integrated into the South Bridge to run faster. The South Bridge included into PT880 is the VIA VT8237 chip we already know from the VIA KT600 chipset. Just to remind you, here is the list of its features:
Overall, VIA PT880 comes fully prepared for a fight with the most advanced chipsets from Intel, i865PE and i875P:
Intel 875P | Intel 865PE | VIA PT880 | |
| Target market | Performance | Performance/ Mainstream | Performance/ Mainstream |
| Supported processors | Pentium 4/ Prescott | Pentium 4/ Prescott/ Celeron | Pentium 4/ Prescott/ Celeron |
| FSB frequency | 800/533MHz | 800/533/400MHz | 800/533/400MHz |
| Hyper-Threading technology | + | + | + |
| Intel Performance Acceleration Technology | + | + (unofficial) | - |
| Memory channels | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| DIMMs per channel / Max. memory size | 2 DIMMs per channel / max. 4GB | 2 DIMMs per channel / max. 4GB | 2 DIMMs per channel / max. 4GB |
| Supported memory types | DDR333/ DDR400 SDRAM | DDR266/ DDR333/ DDR400 SDRAM | DDR266/ DDR333/ DDR400 SDRAM |
| ECC support | + | - | + |
| Graphics port | AGP 4x-8x (1.5V/0.8V) | AGP 4x-8x (1.5V/0.8V) | AGP 4x-8x (1.5V/0.8V) |
| CSA port for Gigabit Ethernet | + | + | - |
| South bridge | ICH5/ICH5R | ICH5/ICH5R | VIA VT8237 |
| Number of PCI Masters | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| IDE | UDMA66/100 | UDMA66/100 | UDMA66/100/133 |
| Serial ATA ports | 2 SATA150 ports | 2 SATA150 ports | 2 SATA150 ports |
| RAID support | 0, 1 (in ICH5R) | 0, 1 (in ICH5R) | 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD |
| USB ports | 8 USB 2.0 ports | 8 USB 2.0 ports | 8 USB 2.0 ports |
| IEEE1394 ports | - | - | - |
| LAN MAC/PNA | + | + | + |
| AC’97 | + | + | + |
| Bus between chipset North and South Bridges | Hub Link 1.5 (266 MB/s) | Hub Link 1.5 (266 MB/s) | Ultra V-Link (1066 MB/s) |
So, the first PT880-based mainboard to enter out test lab is Soltek’s SL-86SPV2-RL. Let’s learn its specifications.
Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL | |
CPU | Intel Pentium 4/Celeron (800/533/400MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading support, Socket478) |
Chipset | VIA PT880 |
FSB frequencies | ? |
Overclocking friendly functions | ? |
Memory | 2 DDR DIMM slots for dual-/single-channel DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 SDRAM or QBM533 SDRAM |
AGP slot | AGP 8x |
Expansion slots (PCI/ACR/CNR) | 5/0/0 |
USB 2.0 ports | 8 (4 on the rear panel) |
IEEE1394 ports | None |
ATA-100/133 | 2 ATA-100/133 channels |
Serial ATA-150 | 2 Serial ATA-150 channels (via VIA VT8237 south bridge) |
Integrated IDE RAID controller | RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD (via VIA VT8237 south bridge) |
Integrated sound | Six-channel AC97 codec VIA VT1616 |
Integrated network | 10/100Mbit Ethernet PHY controller VIA VT6103 |
Additional features | None |
BIOS | Award BIOS |
Form-factor | ATX, 305x215mm |
Although the VIA PT880 chipset is not yet announced officially, and this mainboard is just an engineering sample, we can claim VIA PT880 to be a practically finished product. Throughout our tests, the Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL mainboard displayed satisfactory stability and performance. Probably, VIA engineers will spend the time to the official launch of the chipset testing it for compatibility with various memory modules and other equipment. Now, we will discuss the mainboard sample in more detail.
This is the first PT880-based mainboard. Lately, Soltek is seeing a lot to the exterior of the products. Thus, they have several lines of “colored” mainboards like Black Thunder, Violet Eyes and so on. Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL continues this trend. We don’t know yet what name it will come to the market under, but its looks are definitely non-trivial: the PCB is colored rich red, and slots and connectors are all in yellow and violet colors. As for the mainboard’s capabilities, they are all defined by the capabilities of the chipset. Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL has no external controllers at all. It doesn’t mean that the mainboard lacks anything in functionality. The VIA PT880 chipset with the VIA VT8237 South Bridge is a powerful duo offering a long list of supported ports and protocols. That is why the absence of extra controllers in the previewed mainboard promises enough capabilities at a low price. By all signs, this mainboard with dual-channel DDR400 SDRAM support and mainstream performance will cost no more than $100. If this will be the case, such products as Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL may become a hit in the market.
So, to the specs. This mainboard carries 5 PCI, 1 AGP 8x and 2 DIMM slots – one for each memory channel. Of course, two memory slots is a drawback, but truly, you don’t often use more than two memory modules in one system. To use Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL in the dual-channel mode, you plug in two identical modules, of course. This is not a requirement, though. It works all right in the one-channel mode, although slower.
As for supported CPUs, Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL works with all available Socket 478 processors and is going to work with upcoming Prescott-core processors, too. The CPU voltage regulator module is a quality one and can handle high currents necessary for the future CPUs made by the 90nm technology.
The hero of this preview, the VIA PT880 North Bridge, hides below a golden passive heatsink.
Note that the North Bridge doesn’t practically heat up at work; the passive heatsink is quite enough to cool it. The VIA VT8237 South Bridge works without any cooling at all.
As you see in the snapshot, there is a wire loop near the South Bridge. It means that the design of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is not yet finalized and engineers are busy polishing this product off.
Soltek realized all of VT8237’s capabilities, using some companion chips. The chips come from VIA, too, - the company is glad to ship them along with chipsets. The mainboard supports eight USB 2.0 ports. Four of them are wired to the mainboard’s panel, and the other four are made as onboard connectors. Soltek chose VIA’s VT1616 codec for the six-channel AC’97 sound. So, the voice of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is the so-called Vinyl Audio. The 10/100 network interface is supported by a PHY-controller from VIA, VT6103. As a result, the back panel of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL carries three audio jacks, four USB 2.0 ports, one network RJ45 connector, two parallel and one serial port and PS/2 connectors for the mouse and keyboard.
We guess the mainboard will come with a USB 2.0 bracket for the onboard connectors. Note also that Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL features two Serial ATA-150 and two Parallel ATA-133 connectors. Overall, the mainboard can accommodate up to six IDE devices.
Moreover, thanks to the VT8237 South Bridge, the HDDs attached to the mainboards can be united into RAID arrays of level 0, 1 and 0+1. A special multi-purpose utility from VIA called V-RAID helps to keep the array under control. This program is of course included with the mainboard. One note about the RAID realization: the RAID controller in VIA VT8237 is connected to the V-Link bus rather than to PCI. It means the interface bandwidth will not limit the performance of the array.
As the BIOS of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is still being worked on, we won’t dwell on the mainboard’s overclocking capabilities. However, there is no doubt they will be available in the finished product. For now, we just say that the PCB has jumpers to manually select the base FSB frequency (100/133/200MHz).
As for the design of the PCB, we cannot call it good. FDD and IDE connectors as well as power connectors are all placed rather unhandy. On the other hand, it seems like Soltek engineers were trying to make up a cheap design and they succeeded in doing this. Even the PCB size is smaller than usual. All such trifles will tell in the end: they drop the price of the solution down.
Overall, Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is a simple, but well-done product. Thanks to the VIA PT880 chipset, the mainboard offers everything necessary for work. And again, its price is quite decent. Such products have always been in demand.
The goal of this test is to check the performance level of a mainboard that uses the VIA PT880 chipset. Besides Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL, we include several other mainboards that feature different chipsets – immediate competitors of PT880 in the market. Overall, this test may be viewed as a comparison of current chipsets that support processors with the 800MHz FSB and Hyper-Threading technology. The testbed configuration was as follows:
Unfortunately, we didn’t have an opportunity to benchmark the Soltek mainboard with QBM533 memory. Such modules are yet unavailable.
The testbed ran under control of Microsoft Windows XP SP1. The BIOSes of the mainboards were set to maximum performance.
Before going over to real-life applications, let’s try Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL in synthetic benchmarks. Our traditional tool for measuring the memory subsystem performance is Cachemem.
ABIT IC7-MAX3 | ASUS P4P800 | Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL | |
Memory read speed, MB/s | 3679.3 | 3707.4 | 3508 |
Memory write speed, MB/s | 1592.4 | 1601.6 | 1609.7 |
Memory copy speed, MB/s | 2921.8 | 2939.4 | 2718.3 |
Latency | 242 | 242 | 250 |
As you see, Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL shows quite acceptable results. The PT880-based mainboard seems to be at ease in the company of i865PE and i875P.
Let’s see what we have in other synthetic benchmarks.
Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL runs faster than i875P and i865-based mainboards in SiSoft Sandra 2003! This is good news for VIA – the company’s first dual-channel chipset is a highly competitive product.
The memory test from PCMark2002 is not as favorable to the PT880-based mainboard as Sandra 2003. Anyway, Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is closely following the mainboards based on Intel’s dual-channel chipsets.
Now, we try Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL at real applications.
The popular 3DMark2001 SE benchmark names i875P- and i865PE-based mainboards the winners. Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is behind them, but ahead of mainboards on single-channel chipsets.
We see the same situation in Quake 3. Note that the results of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL should not be considered low. The i865PE- and i875P-based mainboards we included into the review are fastest of their own class. It means that if we compared Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL to other mainboards based on those two chipsets, VIA PT880 would probably win the day. At least Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is lagging behind ASUS P4P800 by 3-4% only.
The same balance continues through Unreal Tournament 2003 and Serious Sam 2: Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is slower than ASUS P4P800 and ABIT IC7-MAX3, but faster than any mainboard based on a single-channel chipset.
The new 3DMark03 benchmark affirms the tendency. The memory controller of VIA PT880 is less efficient in games than the one from Intel. Maybe the secret of the high performance of Intel’s chipsets is PAT technology, which is present in i875P by default and activated by nearly all makers in i865PE?
The task of encoding a video stream into the MPEG4 format looks much alike to games, at least as concerns the test results. Again, Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is a little slower than i865PE- and i875P-based mainboards.
WinRAR makes things worse for VIA PT880. The mainboard based on the single-channel i848P chipset nearly approaches Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL in performance.
The results we have in Business Winstone 2002 that measures performance in typical office applications differ from what we might have expected. This is because this test makes intensive use of the disk subsystem. That’s why the i845PE-based mainboard is on top – it is helped by an advanced caching driver, Intel Application Accelerator. Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL is better than ASUS P4P800 in this test, but worse than the i875P-based mainboard.
VIA’s chipsets definitely don’t like Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2003, which measures performance at processing images, video and audio.
The professional CINEMABENCH 2003 test, which uses the CINEMA 4D application for measurements, doesn’t favor VIA PT880, too. The results of Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL are poorer than in other tests. Intel’s chipsets are best here.
We hope this preview have given you a hint of what the dual-channel VIA PT880 chipset is. We have benchmarked the first mainboard based on it – Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL. We can’t say it blew our heads out. It didn’t match the best products featuring Intel’s i865PE and i875P chipsets. However, it did show acceptable performance and surpassed mainboards with single-channel chipsets in nearly all of the tests. Moreover, VIA PT880 has a potential of improving its performance in the near future as it supports QBM533 SDRAM. After such modules enter the market, PT880-based mainboards may speed up due to the higher bandwidth of this memory.
One more factor to be considered is price. VIA PT880 provides all necessary functions, thus making it possible to develop a modern mainboard like Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL without integrating any extra controllers. Considering that the price of VIA PT880 itself is not very high and approaches that of Intel’s single-channel chipsets, we may guess that PT880-based mainboards are going to be relatively cheap, in addition to their quite acceptable performance. For example, the Soltek SL-86SPV2-RL mainboard we have previewed today is going to cost less than $100. This makes it an optimal foundation for that mainstream computer system you’re assembling.