Expectations for the new Via P4 chipset?

[damocles]

If you look around the net you see veiled hints that the P4X266 is going to be surprisingly fast. The price is looking to be quite good.

What do you expect from this chipset?

 

[neuralfx]

ya but thats what they said about the kt266.. JK, heh, i like VIA, actaully, i havent read much about that chipset, but i think it might drive costs down on p4 systems a little, at what performance sarcrafice, i dont know .. i know if it hurt the p4 performance, at all, you might as well get an 850chipset, or get an amd .. jus my 2cents ..
-neural

 

[theplanb]

Don't forget SiS645

 

[MadRat]

Intel is becoming awfully protective of their chipset business. Motherboard makers do not want to become embroiled in the VIA-Intel pissing match. I expect no support at all for VIA P4 chipsets until some manufacturer overseas (Taiwan most likely) breaks the ice. Stateside use will be hamstrung when Intel sues to ban their import.

 

[Athlon4all]

This is certainly a very interesting situation. I am expecting it to perform within 10% at most of 850, and even maybe 5%. But the question is will there be good boards, and yes I think a company in Taiwan is gonna bite and produce a P4X266 board. The major issue, is will Intel fight back Leagally? I really couldn't tell you, There's 3 sides to this as far as Intel's concerned,

1. The P4 department are welcome to a low cost chipset, using low cost RAM, that may perform just as well as 850 is going to be in the market.

2. The chipset department doesn't want to surrender more to VIA, they want to release 845 DDR but they can't because of the Rambus agreement.

3. The head exec wants to give the nod to relase 845 DDR but then Rambus will get mad.

So needless to say, Intels' in a rough position. Personally, after what Craig Barrett said a week ago about not caring about Rambus dieing or not, I will not be suprised to see them go ahead and release 845 DDR, now will they still hit VIA with the P4 bus license, I dunno. P4X266 is still gonna be cheaper than even 845, so it should be interesting. But in any case, I think P4X266 is gonna rock, if it's not hurt by compatibility issues.

 

[AndyHui]

I have listed a board coming called the P4V266, close to the end of this year.

I'm sure you can guess which manufacturer that is coming from, given that it is me who is posting about it.

 

[Athlon4all]

Well that doesn't suprise me, Asus has always had a love-hate relationship with Intel ever since the Athlon debut, they don't care what Intel thinks anymore, so as long as Intel doesn't interfere with the P4X266 launch then things should be good.

 

[fkloster]

<< Expectations for the new Via P4 chipset? >>



My opinion? It will be a complete failure performance wise. Who cares if its cheap like dirt...

 

[Pabster]

I believe that the P4X266 will run slower than i850, but not nearly as dismal as i845. The biggest deal is that VIA will sell these chipsets for a fraction of what Intel sells their chipsets for. Why is Intel so concerned recently over the chipset manufacturing portion of their business model? Because P4 sales have tanked miserably and they're looking elsewhere to reap profits. It will indeed be interesting to see if Intel goes after VIA for a P4 bus license; there are 2 sides to that - if they do, P4 sales will continue to sink, because people are looking for lower cost (and no one mention i845, puh-leeze) and if they don't, they stand to lose some big bucks in their chipset manufacturing because they will have to lower the cost of their own chipsets. The next few months will be interesting, indeed.

 

[fkloster]

<< ...but not nearly as dismal as i845 >>



I second that...

 

[Noriaki]

The P4X266 won't perform that well, but should be ahead of i845+SDRAM.

The P4 needs the bandwidth of Dual Channel RDRAM.
Dual Channel DDR SDRAM should work to, but single channel DDR is only 2/3 the bandwidth of RDRAM (even lower when you work in the bandwidth effciency percentages).

Will it be close enough to offer a good platform at a decent price...I hope so, but don't expect it to take the i850 down. And factor in that it comes from Via...they always manage to screw something up.

 

[Pabster]

&quot;Will it be close enough to offer a good platform at a decent price...I hope so, but don't expect it to take the i850 down. And factor in that it comes from Via...they always manage to screw something up.&quot;

Ah, but VIA claims P4X266 will outperform i850

As for VIA &quot;always screwing something up&quot;, you won't get any arguments from me. I'm through with VIA chipset-based motherboards. What's really disappointing is that the product itself isn't usually that bad - but for some strange reason they release chipsets which are incompatible with mass market consumer hardware - and then try to pass the buck on anyone (and everyone) else.

 

[Athlon4all]

I agree for the most part on what has been said. P4X266 w/PC2100 will not be as bas as 845w/SDR, but 850 with PC800 will still be the champ. But, I really think that once PC2700 comes next year, that will be close enough to be on par with PC800 on Northwood. So as it allready has been said, the next few months will be interesting.

 

[damocles]

I'm assuming FIC will be one of the first on the P4x bandwagon, they have been a traditional ally of Via's

 

[Midnight Rambler]

<< The P4X266 won't perform that well, but should be ahead of i845+SDRAM.

The P4 needs the bandwidth of Dual Channel RDRAM.
Dual Channel DDR SDRAM should work to, but single channel DDR is only 2/3 the bandwidth of RDRAM (even lower when you work in the bandwidth effciency percentages).

Will it be close enough to offer a good platform at a decent price...I hope so, but don't expect it to take the i850 down. And factor in that it comes from Via...they always manage to screw something up. >>

Nicely summarized; I couldn't agree more, esp. with that last statement.

 

[weovpac]

I learned this the hard way. Intell CPU's with Intel chipsets.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

<< The biggest deal is that VIA will sell these chipsets for a fraction of what Intel sells their chipsets for. Why is Intel so concerned recently over the chipset manufacturing portion of their business model? Because P4 sales have tanked miserably and they're looking elsewhere to reap profits. >>

It would be interesting to see where you get your &quot;info&quot; because it is dead wrong. The info I have is that the VIA chipset will be about 25% cheaper than the Intel chipset, which, although 75% is a fraction of Intel's price, it is a significantly large fraction still. And in regard to P4 sales &quot;tanking miserably&quot; perhaps you could explain why Intel is now going to produce at least twice as many P4's in 2001 as compared to what was originally scheduled. As for their profits in the CPU architecture group, they aren't doing badly at all, the bulk of the downturn in Intel's revenues (and profits) is due to the losses in FLASH and communications semis. Things are going to be even better thanks to the switch to 0.13 + 300mm wafers which is supposed to cut mfg. costs by 40%. With 0.13 P4's now supposed to ship in late August, this big cost savings is coming to Intel much sooner than planned. Thus, the big August price cuts (which are as much about mfg. cost reductions as they are about a price war). Despite what all the trolls have said over the past year or more, Intel's CPU business is not hurting at all. Processor shipments and related revenues for 2000 were an all time record, and that was for a so-called &quot;bad year&quot; at Intel, which they certainly had at times. 2001 has been more challenging for both Intel and AMD, but for the most part, both companies are still doing pretty well in the CPU part of their business. A note here: AMD has suffered as well because they have even more of their business model concentrated in FLASH (about 40%, vs. only about 10% at Intel).