I don't know if this is good news or bad news <G>
Cheaper AMD SMP coming
KT266 in dual processor shocka
By Cameron Rogers, 29 May 2001 09.10 BST
SOURCES INSIDE a major motherboard manufacturer have confirmed that they are working on dual processor products with VIA's KT266 chipset.
The KT266, which has come under fire recently for its inconsistent performance, supports up to two Athlon/Duron processors in SMP. Because of KT266's lower price when compared to AMD's own 760MP, SMP systems using the KT266 chipset could penetrate the lower end/enthusiast market.
With KT266, Pro266, and later P4X266, VIA will also be targeting the high end server/workstation market. All three chipsets support VIA's High-bandwidth Differential Interconnect, or HDIT. HDIT allows a PCI-X/PCI-64 controller to be connected to the northbridge via the 1GB/s AGP interface. VIA is expected to launch the PCI-X controller that will allow this, dubbed "VPX", at Computex next week.
Designing a SMP platform based on KT266 isn't child's play, however, and it will take some time for the bugs to be ironed out. Thus, VIA will disclose the capability as development gets closer to competition, similar to the Pro133A's delayed SMP support announcement.
Boards using the so-called KT266DP will be available in the second half of this year.
Cheaper 760MP products are on the way, as well. Many of the top motherboard manufactures are developing boards based on the 760MP with price points at or below $300. µ
* InqBlottogram In other news, we note that AMD has gone and registered MIRRORORBIT as a trademark. What is this, you ask yourself? We have reason to believe it is some clever Flash technique to copy data. |
