Make Home Page
Add to Favorites
Print article
Send link to friend
Digg this
Post to del.icio.us
Post to SlashdotWhile AMD prepares to launch their most advanced processors ever early next year, let us take a look at what mainboard makers prepare for us.
Albatron company decided to offer quite ordinary solution based on VIA K8T400 core-logic: there are all necessary features, but nothing special that can be noticed about the newcomer.
Albatron K8X400: VIA K8T400 + VT8235; 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 6 PCI; 1 CNR; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; 10/100Mb/s Ethernet controller; AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; etc; ATX.
MSI plans to release a more feature-rich device. It is build on a red PCB and the company even decided to offer Gigabit Ethernet controller and three memory slots with this one. At the moment only MSI and Gigabyte plan to offer three DDR DIMM slots with their Socket 754 products.
MSI K8T-C: VIA K8T400 + VT8235; 3 (!) DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 6 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; Promise Serial ATA-150 + Parallel ATA-33/66/100/133 controller; 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet controller from Broadcom; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; FireWire (IEEE-1394) controller from VIA; ATX.
Aopen is going to start with a relatively simple product, without any advanced capabilities, but with lower cost.
Aopen [brand-name unknown]: VIA K8T400 + VT8235; 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 3 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; 10/100Mb/s Ethernet controller from VIA; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; mATX.
Soltek, on its turn, also decided to roll out something a bit more powerful than some of their competitors. In fact, this makes sense because the first Athlon 64 processors will probably be bought mostly by hardware enthusiasts who want to have feature-rich mainboards in addition to their most-powerful CPUs in the world.
Soltek SL-K8AV: VIA K8T400 + VT8235; 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 5 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; Promise Serial ATA-150 + Parallel ATA-33/66/100/133 controller; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; ATX.
SOYO deserves to be called as “The producer of the most beautiful mainboards”: their products with silver coating really look very stylish. Moreover, their SY-K8 Fire Dragon is the only mainboard to utilise ALi M1648 chipset for AMD Athlon 64 processors.
SOYO SY-K8 Fire Dragon (SY-K8USA): ALi M1648; 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 5 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; Promise Serial ATA-150 + Parallel ATA-33/66/100/133 controller; 10/100 Ethernet controller; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; FireWire (IEEE-1394) controller; ATX.
Gigabyte Technology, who seems to be quite successful in retail, demonstrates two mainboards for the forthcoming Athlon 64 CPUs: one powered by VIA K8T400 and another is based on AMD-8000 core-logic.
Gigabyte Technology GA-K800V: VIA K8T400 + VT8235; 3 (!) DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 6 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; Promise Serial ATA-150 + Parallel ATA-33/66/100/133 controller; 10/100Mb/s Ethernet controller; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; FireWire (IEEE-1394) controller from VIA; ATX.
Gigabyte Technology GA-K800A: AMD 8151 + 8111; 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory; AGP 8x, 6 PCI; 2-channel ATA-33/66/100/133; Promise Serial ATA-150 + Parallel ATA-33/66/100/133 controller; 10/100Mb/s Ethernet controller; 6-channel AC'97 sound; USB 2.0; FireWire (IEEE-1394) controller from VIA; ATX.
Almost all Taiwanese mainboard makers want to launch their Socket 754 products very much because they hope that they can earn more money selling these products instead of the current ones. Now its AMD’s turn to start mass-supplying of the Athlon 64 processors in the first quarter next year.
