ULI is gearing up to introduce quite a number of chipset solutions by the end of this year through to 2006. Starting off with its north bridges for Intel's platform, ULI will be phasing out all AGP support in favor of PCIe. ULI's m1683 chipset marks its last AGP.
Coming in 2006, ULI will be introducing chipsets that will be supporting dual DDR2 memory configurations running at 800MHz and higher, which indicates that memory technology progress from manufacturers are going along steadily.
On the south bridge side of things, ULI has been very active. The end of 2005 will have ULI introducing solutions that support Serial ATA 2, RAID 5 support and HD audio. Surprisingly, of we take a look at the detailed specs of ULI's M1575 PCIe chipset, we'll notice something very interesting:
ULI appears to be introducing TPM (trusted platform module) technology -- the same technology required by Apple's OS X for x86 -- throughout most of its latest and upcoming chipsets. TPM technology helps software authenticate the system to ensure that the system is indeed authorized to be running the software or authorized to install the software.
HD-Audio is also becoming more mainstream thanks to industry wide pushing from Intel. Users will be able to enjoy high fidelity (multi-channel and higher sampling frequencies and bit rates like 24-bit/96kHz). Think of HD-Audio along the same lines as NVIDIA's original SoundStorm products minus the Dolby Digital live encoding. We spoke to Intel and asked them about HD-Audio and they indicated to us that while they have defined a minimum specification for motherboard manufacturers to follow, they are free to add higher quality components to boards for even better sound quality.
As far as AMD solutions go, ULI will be introducing the M1697 single-chipset solution which supports all the technologies in the M1575, including TPM 1.2. With the M1697 south bridge being newer than the M1577, we're slightly disappointed not to see a hardware RAID solution being implemented. The M1697 comes with a myriad of PCIe slot options but lacks support for two x16 slots. Those looking to build a tightly budgeted SLI system will have to look elsewhere for support.
ULI focuses very much on the value oriented market and thus many of their latest south bridges such as the M1691, M1575 are either low pin-count or pin for pin compatible with previous chips. This design reduces development time as well as manufacturing costs.
Coming in 2006, ULI will be introducing chipsets that will be supporting dual DDR2 memory configurations running at 800MHz and higher, which indicates that memory technology progress from manufacturers are going along steadily.
On the south bridge side of things, ULI has been very active. The end of 2005 will have ULI introducing solutions that support Serial ATA 2, RAID 5 support and HD audio. Surprisingly, of we take a look at the detailed specs of ULI's M1575 PCIe chipset, we'll notice something very interesting:
|
ULI Core Logic Features |
||||
M1691 (NB) |
M1575 (SB) |
M1577 (SB) |
M1697 (K8 SB) |
|
| PCIe I/F to SB | PCIe I/F to NB | PCIe I/F to NB | HT I/F to K8 | |
| PCIe (2) x1 | - | PCIe (2) x1 | PCIe (2) x1 | |
| PCIe (1) x16 | - | - | PCIe (1) x16, (2) x8 | |
| (8) USB 2.0/1.1 | (8) USB 2.0/1.1 | (8) USB 2.0/1.1 | ||
| (4) SATA 3.0Gbps | (4) SATA 3.0Gbps | (4) SATA 3.0Gbps | ||
| (2) PATA ATA133 | (2) PATA ATA133 | (2) PATA ATA133 | ||
| RAID 0, 1, 0+1 | RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 | RAID 0, 1, 0+1 | ||
| 10/100Mbps MAC | 10/100/1000Mbps MAC | 10/100Mbps MAC | ||
| HD-Audio / AC'97 Audio | HD-Audio / AC'97 Audio | HD-Audio / AC'97 Audio | ||
| TPM 1.2 Interface | TPM 1.2 Interface | TPM 1.2 Interface | ||
| Pin-to-Pin compatible with M1573 |
Pin-to-Pin compatible with M1573 |
|||
ULI appears to be introducing TPM (trusted platform module) technology -- the same technology required by Apple's OS X for x86 -- throughout most of its latest and upcoming chipsets. TPM technology helps software authenticate the system to ensure that the system is indeed authorized to be running the software or authorized to install the software.
HD-Audio is also becoming more mainstream thanks to industry wide pushing from Intel. Users will be able to enjoy high fidelity (multi-channel and higher sampling frequencies and bit rates like 24-bit/96kHz). Think of HD-Audio along the same lines as NVIDIA's original SoundStorm products minus the Dolby Digital live encoding. We spoke to Intel and asked them about HD-Audio and they indicated to us that while they have defined a minimum specification for motherboard manufacturers to follow, they are free to add higher quality components to boards for even better sound quality.
As far as AMD solutions go, ULI will be introducing the M1697 single-chipset solution which supports all the technologies in the M1575, including TPM 1.2. With the M1697 south bridge being newer than the M1577, we're slightly disappointed not to see a hardware RAID solution being implemented. The M1697 comes with a myriad of PCIe slot options but lacks support for two x16 slots. Those looking to build a tightly budgeted SLI system will have to look elsewhere for support.
ULI focuses very much on the value oriented market and thus many of their latest south bridges such as the M1691, M1575 are either low pin-count or pin for pin compatible with previous chips. This design reduces development time as well as manufacturing costs.
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AMDJunkie - Monday, November 28, 2005 - link
The paragraph discussing AMD solutions is a bit misleading. Where most will have ULi products in their computer will be as their southbridge, as if you remember most manufacturers chosing to make Crossfire boards opted for the M1573 southbridge instead of the much maligned SB 450 from ATI. As this is the case, I can expect more future ATI motherboards (unless SB 600 gets everything the manufacturers want done right) to take more ULi southbridges like the M1577 to pair along with their northbridges.The M1697 is a singlechip northbridge/southbridge solution, so only strictly ULi boards will even have this chip. Last time I checked, the most available brand that sould a ULi board was ASRock, so the lack of super high-end features may not be such a detriment.
KHysiek - Thursday, November 24, 2005 - link
Correction: SoundStorm was standard AC97 class solution, no 24bit/96kHz. It had only hardware mixing and realtime DolbyDigital encoding.Cygni - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
The new ULi chipsets dont support 2 PCIEx16 slots, true... but they very much support 2 x8, so a budget SLI system is very much possible. Obviously, the ULi/Intel/Via etc solutions need some type of driver support from Nvidia, which may limit their impact.ULi's chipsets are serious performers these days. I hope these new feature complete south bridges give us better board choices in the future, as that is whats holding them back right now.
bersl2 - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
This is your every-so-often reminder that "trusted" computing is coming soon. You are reminded that hardware implementing the specifications (such as these chipsets) can be instructed by outside parties to override your commands to your own machine, effectively barring you from having the final say. You are asked to consider the wide-reaching implications this may potentially have.You have been warned---again. I pray you take heed.
PrinceGaz - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
That's one of the main reasons I chose a S939 Athlon 64 X2 rather than waiting until next year when the Socket M2 chips are introduced that have AMD's Presidio security (TPM) included. No doubt Socket M2 mobos will be TPM compliant as well.Of course Intel have already started introducing TPM with their processors as the Pentium D dual-core processors have the LaGrande security built-in.
It won't be until Windows Vista arrives that this TPM functionality has any real effect. I've heard that we should be able to disable the TPM hardware on those systems that include it, and that once disabled it cannot be overriden without the user's intervention, but I'm not sure if that policy has changed or not.
Either way, I'll not be an earlier adopter of Vista, if I switch to it at all. Too much DRM garbage that limits what you can do with the hardware and software/media you bought. By the time Windows XP is no longer viable (several years away yet), there's sure to be a DRM free Linux to switch to.
Wellsoul2 - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
Yes..these guys never quit..any excuse to introduce proprietary tech and"make you safer" . They keep trying..CPU's with internal serial #'s,
CD's that have to play on certain software.
What is dumb is that inevitably they implement it badly and/or get overtaken
by more open/universal technology.
Almost everyone hates it but if they can force it on you they make big bucks by licensing it.
IMHO all this crap holds technology back 20 years..
Arrg..don't even get me going on HDTV etc..:-(
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
Fight the future!RandomFool - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
Sound like you've got you foil hat on too tight.bersl2 - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
We'll see...Anyway, I make no statement of fact, other than that it is, in fact, coming.
blckgrffn - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link
Heck, the one with HD audio needs to have gigabit...It seems like the board would be more expensive if they had to add in a PCIe gigabit NIC and that isn't what ULI is all about evidently.