The latest roadmap from VIA Company, which we managed to get, is full of new exciting names. Having obtained the license for Pentium 4 QPB, VIA decided to get rid of its bad repute in a very unusual way: they completely changed their naming scheme for upcoming Pentium 4 chipsets.

Now PT400 will be called PT800; PT600 will be renamed into PT880; PT800 will become PT890, and the integrated PM400T will come into this world as PM800. Moreover, VIA has also added to its roadmap a new PT890 chipset with PCI Express support and two integrated solutions aka PM880 and PM890.

Well, in order to make the situation with these old and new names clear, I would like to specify the features of the upcoming Pentium 4  solutions from VIA for you.

First come the discrete solutions:

• VIA P4X400. This solution is in mass production now. It supports Pentium 4 processors with 400/533MHz bus frequency. It also supports DDR266/DDR333, ECC, AGP 4x/8x, 8x V-Link.
• VIA PT800. This chipset is scheduled for May. It will work with Pentium 4 CPUs supporting 400/533MHz bus frequency as well as with those supporting 800MHz QPB, DDR266/DDR333/DDR400 SDRAM, ECC, AGP 4x/8x, 8x V-Link.
• VIA PT880. This core logic set is planned to arrive in Q3. The chipset will support Pentium 4 processors with 400/533/800MHz bus and will feature a dual-channel memory subsystem. It will support DDR266/DDR333/DDR400 SDRAM and Quad Band Memory 533. Also its features include AGP 4x/8x and Ultra V-Link bus to connect the North and South Bridges.
• VIA PT890. This chipset is planned for the beginning of next year, therefore it differs drastically from its predecessors. Although it supports Pentium 4 with 400/533/800MHz QPB, it will be equipped with a completely new memory subsystem. This chipset will support two 64bit DDR-1 channels at 266/333/400MHz or two 64bit DDR-2 channels at 400/533/667MHz. This is the similarity between VIA PT890 and Intel Grantsdale, which is due around the same time. Aslo we should mention that the new solution will support PCI Express bus for high-performance graphics accelerators and Ultra V-Link bus to connect the chipset North and South Bridges.

Now let's say a few words about the integrated chipsets:

• VIA PM800. This one is due by the end of the year. It is none other but PT800 with an integrated UniChrome2 graphics core.
• VIA PM880. This chipset is expected in early 2004. It is the same as PT880 with the integrated UniChrome2 graphics core.
• VIA PM890. This solution is planned for H2 2004. It is based on PT890 and is equipped with an absolutely new UniÑhrome DX9 graphics core.