VIA launches PT series chipsets

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions today announced the VIA PT Series of chipsets for the Intel® Pentium 4 platform, providing a smooth transition for motherboard manufacturers and their customers to new technologies such as PCI Express and DDR2 memory. The new chipsets, which include the VIA PT880 Pro and PT894 chipsets, targeted at the performance mainstream market, and the PT894 Pro, a solution optimized for the workstation and power user segments, all support the latest Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron processors up to 1066MHz FSB.

For the first time, VIA provides the considerable benefit of being able to use PCI Express and AGP Graphics cards on the same motherboard, thanks to the unique VIA Universal Graphics Interface (UGI) featured in the VIA PT880 Pro chipset. For users requiring powerful multitasking capabilities, enhanced multi-display support is provided through the advanced VIA DualGFX Express technology, which enables connection up to 4 monitors through dual graphics cards. VIA DualGFX Express support is offered by the VIA PT894 Pro chipset, connecting to dual PCI Express graphics cards, and the VIA PT880 Pro chipset, connecting to a PCI Express and AGP graphics card simultaneously.

Furthermore, all PT Series chipsets offer the option of using either DDR or DDR2 system memory on the same motherboard through VIA StepUp Technology. With support for DDR memory up to 400MHz, and DDR2 memory at up to 667MHz, VIA StepUp Technology provides end-users and system integrators the flexibility to use whatever memory standard suits their requirements.