In the last couple of weeks we heard several different opinions about the chipset VIA’s going to launch on February 20. Some sources insisted that it will be a new DDR333 Socket A solution aka KT333, another part of the mass media claimed that we will see a new KT333A supporting not only DDR333 but also AGP 8x and faster V-Link bus between the chipset bridges with 533MB/sec bandwidth. So, who is right?

Trying to find out the truth we talked to some mainboard manufacturers and now we are ready to offer you a full and credible answer to this question. On February 20 VIA will launch KT333 chipset. However, this chipset will possess the features set of KT333A. Starting with CE revision, which should be final for KT333, the chipset North Bridge will really acquire AGP 8x support and 533MB/sec V-Link bus. This is what the chipset North Bridge will look like at launch.

As for the chipset South Bridge, VIA was initially going to provide its North Bridges supporting 533MB/sec V-Link with a VT8235 South Bridge with the same V-Link. Besides a faster V-Link, VT8235 will support 6 USB 2.0 ports and ATA/133 interface. However, at present this South Bridge is still under development that is why it can’t be announced on February 20.

In this case VIA has to resort to backward compatibility of 533MB/sec V-Link with older 266MB/sec V-Link and to provide its new KT333 with a relatively old VT8233A South Bridge supporting ATA/133 and 266MB/sec V-Link, but featuring no USB 2.0 support. In the meanwhile, VIA will keep working on a more advanced VT8235 South Bridge, which is to come out about 2 months later after the KT333 announcement. Those mainboard manufacturers, who wish to implement USB 2.0 ports on their KT333 based products will be getting a PCI-USB bridge from VIA together with the chipset. It is VT6202 supporting 4 USB 2.0 ports.

Summing up everything mentioned above, I would like to offer you a table comparing the features of the contemporary VIA Socket A chipsets:

	KT266 + VT8233	KT266 + VT8233A	KT333 + VT8233A	KT333 + VT8235
Supported memory	PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM	PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM	PC1600/PC2100/PC2700 DDR SDRAM	PC1600/PC2100/PC2700 DDR SDRAM
Max. DIMMs	4	4	4	4
Max. memory	4GB	4GB	8GB	8GB
AGP	1x/2x/4x	1x/2x/4x	1x/2x/4x/8x	1x/2x/4x/8x
V-Link	266MB/sec	266MB/sec	266MB/sec	533MB/sec
ATA	ATA/66/100	ATA/66/100/133	ATA/66/100/133	ATA/66/100/133
USB	1.1	1.1	1.1	2.0
Due date	Launched	Launched	February 20	April-May