Nvidia to acquire ULi for USD 52 million

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: December 14, 2005 - 12:04 PM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html Nvidia has reached an agreement to buy chipset maker ULi for USD 52 million. The deal is seen as a move by the company to expand its nForce lineup and to weaken ATI’s presence in the core-logic market. Recent numbers from Mercury Research showed Nvidia with an 8% share in the current quarter. ATI, which interestingly has been using ULi south bridges along its Radeon Xpress 200 chipsets, is expected to end the year with 11%. ULi’s share is only 1%. The acquisition, subject to regulators and shareholders approval, is expected to be completed by May 2006. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (1) top

VIA announces chipset aimed at C7 chip

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: December 8, 2005 - 10:39 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/c-series/cn700 VIA has announced its CN700 chipset, the first aimed at low power C7 processors, with integrated UniChrome Pro graphics. Aimed at mini PCs, it features support for 2 GB of DDR400 or DDR2-533 memory, 533 MHz frontside bus and AGP 8x interface. The accompanying VT8237A south brige sports six PCI slots, two ATA-133 ports, two Serial ATA ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, six or eight-channel audio and Ethernet 10/100. The chipset will ship in volume in the first quarter of 2006. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

VIA samples multi-GPU AMD chipset

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: November 23, 2005 - 4:57 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/k8-series/k8t900 VIA has started sampling its K8T900 chipset, aimed at AMD processors, with support for one x16 or two x8 PCI Express connections. In addition, it brings a technology called RapidFire, which is said to enhance PCI-E performance through reduction in communication latency. The north bridge also features four x1 lanes, 1 GHz Hyper-Transport bus and DDR400 memory, while the VT8251 south bridge provides up to five PCI slots, two ATA-133 ports, four Serial ATA ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, six or eight-channel audio and Ethernet 10/100 or Gigabit Ethernet. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

Gigabyte ships GA-8N-SLI Quad Royal

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: November 11, 2005 - 1:35 PM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw Gigabyte has officially released its long-awaited GA-8N-SLI Quad Royal sporting four PCI Express x16 slots. Users can thus connect up to four VGA cards – though only two simultaneously in full x16 mode – and a total of eight monitors. The board, which runs two chipsets (Nvidia’s nForce4 SLI Intel Edition and nForce4 SLI) at the same time, is aimed at socket 775 Pentium processors. Full specs are as follows: 1066 MHz FSB DDR2-667 memory support 4x DIMM sockets (8 GB max.) 2x Ultra DMA 133 4x Serial ATA II ports 4x PCI-E x16 slots 2x PCI-E 1x slot 2x PCI slots Dual Gigabit LAN 8-channel audio (ALC850) 10x USB 2.0 ports 3x FireWire ports ATX form factor Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

Intel releases ATI-based motherboard

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: October 25, 2005 - 6:18 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d101ggc/index.htm After some intense rumors, Intel has officially released its D101GGC motherboard, based on ATI’s Radeon Xpress 200 chipset. The core logic, which includes Radeon X300-based graphics, is aimed at socket 775 Pentium 4 and Celeron D processors. The board uses ATI’s own IXP 450 south bridge. The deal is expected to boost ATI’s presence in the integrated GPU segment and relieve Intel of a shortage of its own cheaper models. The D101GGC’s full specs are as follows: 800 MHz Hyper-Transport FSB DDR400/PC3200 2x DIMM sockets (2 GB max.) 1x Ultra DMA 133 port 4x Serial ATA ports 1x PCI-E x16 slot 1x PCI-E x1 slot 2x PCI slots Ethernet 10/100 (RTL8101L) 8-channel audio (ALC861) 8x USB 2.0 ports microATX form factor Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

VIA launches K8M890 DX9 chipset

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: October 21, 2005 - 6:24 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/k8-series/k8m890 VIA has officially launched its K8M890 chipset aimed at AMD processors. It brings DeltaChrome graphics supporting DirectX 9 (Shader 2.0) and HDTV up to 1920x1080. The north bridge features 1 GHz Hyper-Transport Bus, PCI Express and DDR400 memory. The VT8251 provides up to six PCI slots, two ATA-133 ports, four Serial ATA ports, six or eight-channel audio and Ethernet 10/100. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

PF88 supports Pentium M with new card

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: October 20, 2005 - 7:24 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=554... ECS last week announced a new SIMA card that transforms the socket 775 PF88 Extreme Hybrid into a Pentium M motherboard. The I9S adaptor includes a SiS649 north bridge, a socket 479 and two DIMM sockets for up to 2 GB of DDR400 memory. The PF88 version 1.1, based on SiS656 chipset and SiS965 south bridge, features two PCI-E x16 slots, 1 PCI-E x1 slot, three PCI slots, one Ultra DMA 133 port, six Serial ATA II ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, eight-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

EPox launches socket 754 SLI board

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: September 26, 2005 - 8:40 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=375 EPoX has launched an nForce4 motherboard supposed to be the industry’s first aimed at socket 754 AMD processors supporting Nvidia’s SLI technology. It has two PCI Express x16 slots that work as x8 when SLI mode is activated. The EP-8NPA SLi is an accessible upgrade option to users willing to put a cheaper SLI system together. The board also includes Thunder Probe hardware monitoring and Magic Flash BIOS update tools. Full specifications are as follows: 800 MHz Hyper-Transport FSB DDR400/PC3200 2x DIMM sockets (2 GB max.) 2x Ultra DMA 133 port 4x Serial ATA II ports 2x PCI-E x16 slots 2x PCI-E x1 slots 2x PCI slots GbE LAN (Vitesse VSC8201RX) 6-channel audio 10x USB 2.0 ports ATX form factor Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

Nvidia reveals GeForce 6100 and 6150

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: September 21, 2005 - 9:23 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_26119.html Nvidia has announced its new chipsets aimed at socket 939 AMD processors sporting GeForce 6200 TurboCache-based integrated graphics. The products are oddly called GeForce 6100 and 6150. Both feature a PCI Express x16 slot to plug a video card. The 6100 has a slightly lower clock and lacks support for some video features. The new chipsets are paired with two possible south bridges. The nForce 430 supports four Serial ATA ports, RAID 5, eight USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, eight-channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet and firewall. The nForce 410 offers only two SATA ports, RAID 0, 1, Ethernet 10/100 and no firewall. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

Albatron ships “pedal-less” SLI board

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: September 14, 2005 - 10:20 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/news/news_detail_pr.asp?news_id=175 Albatron has announced an nForce4 board aimed at dual-core Intel processors that dispenses the circuit board usually required on SLI products. The PX19-SLI has another interesting characteristic: the manufacturer has replaced older COM and parallel ports with additional USB ports, an RCA digital audio output port and a slot for the optional energy management mPower II card. The board supports 1,066 MHz FSB, DDR2-667 memory, Serial ATA II, six-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

EPoX launches “SLI” i945P board

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: September 6, 2005 - 6:47 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.epox.nl/products/view.php?product_id=407 EPoX has announced the EP-5LDA+ GLi, an “Elemental” series motherboard sporting a PCI Express x4 slot in addition to the usual PCI-E x16 one. This, according to the company, enables Multi-View in up to four monitors and “an SLI type mode for enhanced performance”. The board, aimed at dual-core Pentium D processors, also provides five phase electronic current through exclusive Piston V technology. Full specs are as follows: 1066 MHz DDR2-667 memory 4x DIMM sockets (8 GB max.) 1x Ultra DMA 100 port 4x Serial ATA II ports 1x PCI-E x16 slot 1x PCI-E x4 slot 3x PCI slots GbE LAN (Marvell 88E8053) 8-channel audio (ALC880) 8x USB 2.0 ports ATX form factor Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

VIA ships P4M800 Pro low-end chipset

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: September 5, 2005 - 6:52 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/p4-series/p4m800_pro VIA last week began shipping a Pro version of its low-end P4M800 chipset aimed at Intel processors. The main upgrade is support for DDR2-533 memory. Integrated UniChrome Pro graphics is clocked at 200 MHz and uses 128-bit interface – users can upgrade to a video card through an AGP 8x slot. The VT8237R south bridge provides up to two ATA-133 ports, two Serial ATA ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, six or eight-channel audio,and Ethernet 10/100. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

Intel readies SLI-compatible chipset

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: August 29, 2005 - 7:52 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050828_231427.html Tom’s Hardware Guide reports that Intel is readying a new chipset supporting Nvidia’s SLI technology. The i975X is an upgrade from the high-end i955X with dual PCI Express x8 capability. Expected to launch in early 2006, it should be cheaper than Nvidia’s own nForce SLI x16, which enables two PCI-E slots at full x16. Even more interesting is the rumor that the chipset might also support ATI’s CrossFire, albeit official compatibility could be prevented by licensing issues. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

SiS to offer Pentium M chipsets

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: August 24, 2005 - 9:37 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.sis.com/pressroom/pressrelease_000201.htm SiS has signed a licensing contract with Intel for the manufacture and sale of chipsets supporting Pentium M processors with 533 MHz FSB. The agreement will likely result in cheaper options for notebook makers. SiS’ list of Pentium M chipsets include two discrete products (SiS656MX and SiS649MX) and three integrated parts (SiSM661MX, SiSM662MX, SiSM670MX). Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top

VIA announces VN800 mobile chipset

Author: Rodrigo Chia Date: August 19, 2005 - 6:54 AM PST Category: Motherboard More Info: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/v-series/vn800 VIA this week announced the VN800 chipset, which integrates UniChrome Pro graphics, compatible with both the company’s own C7-M and Intel’s Pentium M processors through Flexi-Bus Technology. It also offers support to DDR2-533 memory and sports an AGP 8x slot for an external VGA card. VIA claims that, when paired, the C7-M and the VN800 can cut power consumption by up to 50%. The VT8237A south bridge provides Serial ATA, Vynil Audio, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire and WLAN connectivity. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This News | Comments (0) top