X-bit labs

New VIA South Bridges.

Category: Chipsets

by Anna Filatova

[ 04/30/2003 | 12:57 AM ]

Today VIA chipsets are used with VT8235 South Bridges. However, they will be very soon replaced with VT8237 and then with VT8239 chips. In the upcoming South Bridges VIA will focus on the development of ATA controllers and integrated sound solutions.

VT8235 chip used today can be connected to the chipset North Bridge via the V-Link 8x or PCI bus, which makes them compatible with the older chipsets. VT8235 supports two ATA/133 channels, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100Mbit Ethernet and 6-channel AC'97 sound. These South Bridges are designed in 487-pin BGA package.

New VT8237 South Bridges will begin the new South Bridge family supporting Ultra V-Link bus and packed into 539-pin BGA. These chips will be shipped with all Athlon 64 solutions, KT600 for Athlon XP and all Pentium 4 chipsets starting from PT880. VT8237 will allow connecting up to 6 hard disk drives: it will feature an ATA/133 channel for two drives, two SerialATA-150 ports and one more channel allowing to implement either an additional ATA/133 port or two SerialATA-150 ports. Moreover, this South Bridge will also support RAID function: the chip will allow creating 0, 1, and 0+1 arrays. There will also be 8 USB 2.0 ports, where one of them will support PC-to-PC connection to another computer with a similar South Bridge chip. Other functions of VT8237 will remain unchanged: 10/100Mbit Ethernet, 6-channel AC'97 sound and 6 PCI devices.

As for the next solution, VT8239, it will be pin compatible with VT8237 predecessor, and will be connected to the North Bridge via the same Ultra V-Link bus. However, this will be a much more complex solution. It will support up to 8 HDDs: there will be 2 ATA/133 channels for four drives, and 4 SerialATA-150 ports. It will support 0, 1, 0+1 RAID arrays. The number of USB 2.0 ports will remain equal to 8, and the option for a PC-to-PC connection via USB will also stay there. The integrated network controller will also remain unchanged: VT8239 will support only 10/100Mbit Ethernet. But all the effort will be directed to improve the sound part of VT8239. This chip will boast a much better quality 96K/20bit 6-channel Audio and UAA/Azalia Advanced Audio. The new South Bridge is due in the beginning of next year. It will supposedly be shipped with K8 PCIE and P890 chipsets.