Introduction

VIA introduces three new Pentium 4 chipsets today aimed at the PCI Express market — and one of them allows for simultaneous PCI Express and AGP video cards!

Today, VIA is announcing the three new Pentium 4-based chipsets that address three different markets in a way that the Intel 9xx series of chipsets hasn’t done yet.  Where as the 915 and 925 chipsets pushed DDR2 memory and PCI Express exclusively, the new PT880 Pro, PT894 and PT894 Pro chipsets are aimed to allow for a much easier upgrade path for end users.

From VIA’s perspective, they talked to us about what they call the ‘hesitation in the P4 market.’  It is a combination of the market being slower than expected to accept both the new PCI Express graphics bus as well as the new DDR2 memory modules.  High end PCI Express graphics cards are still hard to find and most online stores are selling them at premiums well above MSRP.  DDR2 memory is still priced much higher than traditional DDR memory and enthusiasts are still hesitant about throwing away their current modules.  Did we also mention that with both PCI Express and DDR2, there is little benefit from a performance perspective over current AGP and DDR standards?

VIA PT880 Pro and PT894 Chipset Preview - Chipsets 17

Additionally, some of the price points that the Intel 925 motherboards are reaching are way beyond most PC enthusiast’s expectations over the last few years.  Considering that he 925 chipset doesn’t offer significant performance increases over the 915 chipset, why then are the boards for the 925 chipset so much more expensive?

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