DDR333 For Athlon: VIA KT333 vs. KT266A

Introduction

VIA KT333: AGP 8x, Ultra-DMA/133, DDR333 And USB 2.0

This Taiwanese chip-manufacturer is maturing - even the critics must admit that it has succeeded in transforming itself from a wallflower to a recognized opponent for the formidable Intel. However, in the past, VIA was not so much known for its groundbreaking innovations as for its ability to satisfy the needs of the mass market. In any case, it was able to do this better than its competitors ALi and SiS, both of which weren't able to sell high quantities or achieve a consistent company strategy. And this still holds true - ALi and SiS only sell because of prices lower than those of VIA chips. After having built a successful foundation upon KT133A and KT266A, VIA now introduces a new star, the KT333. The nomenclature serves to highlight the fact that it supports the new DDR SDRAM memory, which has recently come to be known as DDR333. This makes VIA's goals quite clear - to associate the high-bandwidth memory module with its chipset. After all, the memory module is currently the component that holds the greatest potential for increasing the performance of PC systems. So obviously, the data transfer rate will be further optimized and above all the speed will be increased. To top it off, the VIA KT333 chipset offers more new features than all previous models from the Taiwanese manufacturer.

Comparison of the two building-blocks, VIA KT333 and VIA KT266A - above is the Northbridge and below is the Southbridge.