SiS prepares new single and dual-chip chipsets for Intel's "Penryn"
SiS plans to unleash a new family of single-chip and dual-chip chipsets for Intel Penryn dual and quad-core processors next year. The single-chip family consists of the SiS 680-series, in five different variants. SiS plans to cater the 680-series towards performance, mainstream and entry-level market segments.
The top dog of the SiS 680-series is the 680SCD with support for 1333 MHz front-side bus Penryn processors. The SiS 680SCD features a DDR2 memory controller with support for DDR2-800 and 1066 MHz memory. The single-chip solution is designed with single-graphics in mind with support for a single PCIe x16 slot. Other notable features of the 680SCD include support for four PCIe x1 slots, ten USB 2.0, four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports and Gigabit Ethernet.
On the mainstream side of things are the SiS 680SCE and 680SCH. The two chipsets are identical with the exception of front-side bus support. The SiS 680SCE supports 1333 MHz front-side bus while the 680SCH is limited to 1066 MHz, officially. The SiS 680SCE and 680SCH add a new Mirage 4 graphics core with HDMI output capabilities.
The SiS Mirage 4 graphics core is fully HDCP compliant for Blu-ray and HD DVD video playback. The SiS Mirage 4 graphics core is DirectX 10 compliant with hardware H.264 and VC-1 acceleration. Aside from the integrated graphics core, the SiS 680SCE and 680SCH are identical to the 680SCD.
At the bottom of the SiS single-chip Intel chipset lineup are the 680SCP and 680SCL. Once again, the SiS 680SCP and 680SCL are identical with the exception of front-side bus and memory support. The SiS 680SCP supports 1333 MHz front-side bus processors while the 680SCL is limited to 1066 MHz. The SiS 680SCL only supports DDR2-800 memory as well. The SiS 680SCP and 680SCL do not support HDMI and HDCP, however, the chipset feature an integrated TMDS transmitter for DVI output.
All SiS 680-series chipsets can use the same pin-outs and are drop-in compatible.
SiS plans to support DDR3 memory with its dual-chip designs. The upcoming 665, 673FX and 673 add DDR3-1333 memory support to an identical feature list as the single-chip parts. However, the upcoming SiS 665, 673FX and 673 will have a new 969 south bridge to pair up with.
The new SiS 969 features ten USB 2.0, one PATA133 channel, four SATA 3.0Gbps with RAID 0, 1, 5, JBOD and 0+1, one PCIe x16, four PCIe x1 and high definition audio support. The SiS 969 will also accept a trusted platform 1.2 module as well.
Expect SiS to begin sampling the new single-chip chipsets in Q4’2007 and the dual-chip versions in the first half of 2008.
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