The SiS 746FX Chipset

SiS 746FX Chipset Review

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

SiS has been a contender in the AMD market since nearly the beginning of the processors introduction. Their reach into the US market has not been as successful as they would have liked I’m sure, as VIA and now NVIDIA have dominated in that area. With the launch of the 333 MHz FSB processors, and now with the Barton processors shipping in large quantities, the SiS 746 chipset was more than showing its age. It was definitely time for an upgrade. Enter the SiS 746FX chipset.

North Bridge

The SiS 746FX chipset is really just a minor upgrade to the architecture of the original 746 chipset. It offers a few new features that SiS needed in order to stay current with the market.

SiS 746FX Chipset Review - Chipsets 18

The 746FX adds support for 333 MHz front-side bus processors and support for DDR400 memory specifications. Other than these changes, the remaining feature set and performance remains the same.

South Bridge

The SiS 746FX chipset will be using the SiS 963L south bridge chip, the same that the original 746 chipset used. It provides ATA133, 6-channel AC’97 audio, a network interface and USB 2.0 support.

SiS 746FX Chipset Review - Chipsets 19

This final image shows the typical SiS 746FX motherboard setup:

SiS 746FX Chipset Review - Chipsets 20

In truth, there isn’t really a lot to be excited about in the SiS 746FX chipset as far as features are concerned. But has SiS been able to gain some ground in the performance department at all?

« PreviousNext »