* overclocked
** not specified
*** depends on clock controller

This table shows a comparison of the most important dual CPU chipsets. Production of Intel 440BX and Intel 440GX has already been discontinued.

The table above lists the features of the most important chipsets offering multi-processor support. The latest candidate is the Intel 815E which, initially, was not designed for use as a dual platform. Rather, Intel was pinning its hopes on the Rambus-based chips i820/Camino and i840/Carmel which were, however, not accepted on the market because of their high price levels. What other options does a PC manufacturer have if he wishes to configure a powerful dual CPU system? At the moment, there are two low-cost solutions for equipping a board for dual operation with Pentium III. On the one hand, the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset can be installed in a special dual variant (Northbridge VT82C694XDP) or, alternatively, one reverts to the slightly more expensive Intel 815E which is, however, only capable of managing 512 MB of main memory.