DDR Power For AMD Athlon/Duron, Continued
| Chipset | VIA Apollo KT266 | AMD 760 | SiS 735 | ALi Magik 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | April 2001 | February 2001 | May 2001 | February 2001 |
| Platform | Socket 462 | Socket 462 | Socket 462 | Socket 462 |
| Processors Supported | AMD Athlon/Duron/Palomino | AMD Athlon/Duron | AMD Athlon/Duron | AMD Athlon/Duron |
| Multi-processor Support | no | no | no | no |
| Chipset Northbridge | VIA VT8366 | AMD 761 | SiS 735 | ALi M1647 |
| Chipset Southbridge | VIA VT8233 | AMD 765 | integrated | ALi M1535D+ |
| FSB System Clock | 100/133 MHz DDR | 100/133 MHz DDR | 66/100/133 MHz DDR | 100/133 MHz DDR |
| Memory Clock | 100/133 MHz DDR | 100/133 MHz DDR | 66/100/133 MHz DDR | 100/133 MHz DDR |
| asynchronous Memory Clock | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| 33 MHz PCI at 133 MHz FSB | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| FSB overclocking* | up to 200 MHz | up to 150 MHz | up to 150 MHz | up to 150 MHz |
| max. # DIMM slots | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Max. memory | 4096 MB | 2048 MB | 1536 MB | 1024 MB |
| SDRAM support | yes | no | yes | yes |
| DDR SDRAM support | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| VC SDRAM support | no | no | no | no |
| RIMM support (Rambus) | no | no | no | no |
| Ultra-DMA/33/66/100 | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes |
| # USB connectors | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| max. # PCI slots | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| integrated graphics core | no | no | no | no |
| AGP 1x / 2x / 4x | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes |
| ACPI features | yes | yes | yes | yes |
* depending on clock generator
Comparison of all available chipsets with DDR-SDRAM support for AMD Athlon/Duron. Although the VIA KT266 was announced months ago, it is only now that the boards are available in larger quantities.
Special Features Of The VIA KT266: 6-Speed USB
In addition to the combined SDRAM and DDR-SDRAM support, the VIA KT266 chipset offers the following important innovations: Three USB controllers have been integrated, thus allowing six devices (without USB hub) to be operated simultaneously. Two of these ports are located on the board itself, whereas the remaining four connected by cable. Generally speaking, most of the boards we tested have no additional cables for the fifth and sixth USB port. This can be remedied by a cable that is appropriatedly coded, which is available from electronics stores for around 8 dollars.
A View Of The Test Candidates
First, the good news: Although we tested all the boards with the maximum possible memory speed, with the exception of the Aopen AK77 Plus, we experienced none of those major system crashes which have been so typical of other tests.
