(Product Announcement) VIA Technologies, Inc has announced the new VIA Apollo KT266A chipset for the AMD Athlon and Duron processors. The VIA Apollo KT266A combines support for high-bandwidth DDR266 SDRAM with new Performance Driven Design, which considerably increases memory performance over previous chipsets, to provide the fastest and most scaleable core logic solution for the AMD Socket A platform.VIA Apollo KT266A Chipset:
The VIA Apollo KT266A is the first chipset from VIA to include Performance Driven Design, which includes tightened timings and deeper queues to greatly increase memory and system bus performance. Supporting DDR200/266 memory and a full range of 200/266MHz Front Side Bus AMD Athlon and Duron processors, the VIA Apollo KT266A provides lightning fast access to system memory and delivers performance gains of up to 20% over competitors’ products.
The VIA Apollo KT266A is part of the V-MAP (VIA Modular Architecture Platform) family of chipsets, which guarantees pin compatibility across a wide range of VIA DDR products. V-MAP allows motherboard manufacturers, OEMs, and System Integrators to serve different market segments on a single, unified platform design. It can be paired with a choice of VT8233/VT8233C South Bridges, which are connected through the chipset’s high bandwidth V-Link Hub Architecture. Other key features include AGP4X, ATA-100, and PC133 support, as well as integrated six channel advanced audio, six USB ports, LPC bus, and integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet and Home PNA, AC-97 audio, MC-97 modem, and support for AMD’s second generation PowerNow! technology.
Pricing and Availability:
The VIA Apollo KT266A chipset is manufactured at TSMC in a .22 micron, 3 metal layer process, and is priced at US$26 in OEM quantities. A photo and product backgrounder is available upon request. Please contact VIA Technologies, Inc. for more information. Since VIA Apollo KT266A is completely pin compatible with existing VIA Apollo KT266 chipsets, current motherboard designs may be updated to support VIA Apollo KT266A with a minimum of effort.
[Comment on SharkyForums]
According to ZDNET, Microsoft will hit Palm with a double whammy next week when it announces two new versions of its operating system for handheld computers, sources say. The software giant will announce a low-end and high-end version of its upcoming Pocket PC 2002 OS on Sept. 6 at the Demomobile conference in La Jolla, Calif., sources familiar with company's plans say. The new versions of the OS, code-named Merlin, will resemble Microsoft's upcoming Windows XP desktop OS and add 802.11b wireless networking capabilities and security.
[Comment on SharkyForums]
Logitech has announced it has teamed up with MOMO, a world leader in steering wheels for race, performance, and luxury cars, to create an exclusive new PC racing wheel -- the limited edition MOMO Force. The special limited-edition wheel will be available in October at selected retail outlets and at http://www.logitech.com. Pricing is not yet available.
[Comment on SharkyForums]
(ZDNET) Intel on Friday launched a trio of low-priced Celeron chips. The new desktop chips include the fastest Celeron to date, a 1.1GHz version, along with offerings at 1GHz and 950MHz. As previously reported, PC makers Dell Computer and Compaq Computer have already begun offering the new 1.1GHz chip in desktop PCs, for prices starting around $850. Meanwhile, Gateway is offering an Essential 950c model with the 950MHz Celeron, 128MB of SDRAM, a 20GB hard drive, a CD-RW drive and a 17-inch monitor, starting at $799. The faster chips also serve to help Intel fill the gap between the Celeron and its Pentium 4 as the company phases out its Pentium III. Intel executives have said the company will make the complete transition from the Pentium III to the Pentium 4 on the desktop this year. The earlier chip will live on in notebook PCs, however.
[Comment on SharkyForums]
Elsewhere on the Web:The Tech Zone has a review of the Titan 3 video card:
"The standard GeForce 3 has its GPU clocked at 200Mhz and a memory speed of 460MHz. OCZ Tech has their Titan 3 running at 215MHz core and a memory speed of 515MHz right from the factory, making this the highest clocked GeForce 3 card on the market."
Digit-Life has posted its ELSA Gladiac 511, ELSA Gladiac 511PCI and ELSA Gladiac 511 DVI roundup:
"Almost a year ago one of NVIDIA GeForce2 MX based cards from ELSA was tested in our lab. At that time such a card was called ELSA Gladiac MX. Later, with the release of the NVIDIA GeForce3, ELSA changed its strategy in giving names to its products, and all later cards were called just Gladiac and differed only in suffixes."
Overclockers Online have a review of the Ricoh 20x10x40 high speed CDReWriter:
"More important is the Justlink technology on this writer to prevent those annoying buffer-underruns. Don't know what this is? Well, a buffer-underrun occurs when your system (and the buffer) can't provide data to the writer fast enough, even when the writer has a 2MB buffer like this MP7200A. This causes the writer to stop the burnprocess and makes your CD useless (this is called a coaster). Justlink prevents this buffer-underruns from happening."
X-bit labs has posted VIA KT266A review:
"An officially launched today new revision of the DDR chipset for Athlon CPUs from VIA, KT266A, beats all the competitors. We illustrate it in our tests comparing VIA KT266A with the other DDR Socket A chipsets AMD 760, SiS 735, ALi MAGiK 1 and VIA KT266."
PC Hardware has small article which covers the ACPI problems.
"Readers can find out what ACPI is, how to remove it even if the computer BIOS doesn’t have an ACPI disable setting and how to troubleshoot ACPI problems."
[Comment on SharkyForums]
>> More News!