Actually, nothing unexpected happened: the chipset specs were just what we supposed them to be. So, we have to admit that VIA bore another "pseudo-new" offspring differing from its KT266/A predecessor only by PC2700 DDR SDRAM support. We don’t take into account the new VT8233A (ATA/133) South Bridge here, as the Kt266 chipset may also acquire this South Bridge.

However, there is a small consolation for us: the performance of KT333 with PC2100 DDR SDRAM is really somewhat higher than that of KT266A, i.e. VIA once again enhanced the memory controller. The benchmarks dotting all i’s are available in our new article called: "DDR333 for Socket A Platform: VIA KT333 Chipset Review".

For some reason the price of the new chipset hasn’t been announced yet, however, we dare suppose that it will cost the mainboard manufacturers around $25 per unit in 10,000-unit quantities (KT266 costs $20). The mass shipments of the CD revision have already started, and the mainboards are selling in Japanese retail stores (see this news story).