VIA PT Series: VIA PCI Express for Intel

PT894 & PT894 PRO

The 894 chipset family is aimed at the computer enthusiast.

While it supports PCI Express graphics only either regular DDR or DDR2 or both can be combined with the 894 and 894 Pro chipsets. The memory choice is up to the manufacturer. The only memory choice for the high-end 925x/xe chipsets is DDR2, and VIA believes many users would like the opportunity for 925x level performance using DDR memory.

The 894 provides a single x16 PCI Express graphics slot with 18 lanes on the 894 chipset. It can be combined with the 8237 southbridge for lower cost, or the new 8251 southbridge, which can provide 2 more PCIe lanes for a total of 20.

The Pro version increases the northbridge PCI Express lanes to 20 - all dedicated to PCIe Graphics in an x16/x4 configuration. The 894 Pro would be normally combined with the new 8251 southbridge, which adds 2 more PCIe lanes, bringing the total PCIe lanes in this configuration to 22.

The 894 and 894 Pro differ only in the graphics capability, with the Pro version able to run two PCI Express cards driving up to 4 monitors. This is not the same as the SLI solution provided by the nVidia chipset for the AMD Athlon 64. SLI combines the capabilities of 2 PCIe cards in alternate frame rendering, while the VIA Intel solution merely supports two PCIe video cards running at the same time - one, a full x16 and the other, x4. VIA calls this feature "Video GFX".

The emphasis in Video GFX is multi-monitor support, which can be useful in many different system configurations.

• PCI Express x16 Lane for primary graphics display
• Games
• Advanced Rendering
• PCI Express x4 Connection for secondary displays
• Toolbars
• Monitoring
• Information

The ability to run 3 or 4 monitors off two PCI Express cards gives the user tremendous flexibility in creating a 3 or 4 multi-monitor display.