ATI to launch RX480 AMD K8 chipset by the end of this month

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At the end of this month, ATI Technologies plans to unveil its RX480 north bridge, which will be the company’s first discrete chipset to support Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) K8 platform, said Reuven Soraya, director of platform product marketing at ATI, during a recent visit to Taipei. The RX480, which will also be the first K8 chipset to feature PCIe connectivity, will be built using a 0.13-micron process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to Soraya.

With a number of PC OEMs and motherboard makers starting to roll out products featuring the RX480, ATI aims to be become the largest supplier of PCIe-enabled K8 chipsets within one year, Soraya stated. Soraya pointed out that K8 motherboards are targeting the channel/clone market, where demand for discrete system chipsets is extremely strong and this prompted ATI to venture into the production of K8 chipsets.

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News source: DigiTimes

Thanks to xxpor for the heads-up on this bit

(1 reply) #1 ev0| on 16 Sep 2004 - 19:16

well they ain't gonna do it without a dual slot solution.

#1.1 DjmUK on 16 Sep 2004 - 20:32

Agreed

Money aside, which would you choose?
a.) 1x PCIe slot motherboard with nForce 4
b.) 2x PCIe slots motherboard with nForce 4

I'd go for (b), and in that case having a spare PCIe slot...hmm, which cards (the only cards) can support both (and using SLI)...Nvidia baby.

No doubt ATi will come up with their own version of SLI (what would be nice is if it worked on nForce 4 chipsets - that way there's no need for a completely different motherboard).

(2 replies) #2 divertom15 on 16 Sep 2004 - 20:59

umm newsflash ati doesnt want to do sli so they only need one pci-e slot for the graphics card atm. people need the backwards compat. for their existing add in pci cards they dont need a mobo full of pci-e slots and they cant use existing cards. an extra pci-e slot would be nice but i cant see a use for it if im not going to be using sli. (oviously not going to be using sli if atis not going to support it and your going to buy this ati board)

#2.1 theyarecomingforyou on 16 Sep 2004 - 21:29

PCI-E is used for more than just graphics... SLI is not the only advantage of having two slots. Creative will be releasing a new SoundBlaster card based on PCI-E and other card makers will be making non-graphics related PCI-E cards in the not too distant future.

Sure, a lot of tech enthusiants upgrade several times a year, but many (most?) people keep their motherboard for several years [even if they choose to upgrade their CPU at some point]. Having two slots means that it is far more future proof.

#2.2 FraZor on 17 Sep 2004 - 09:42

Yes, but most PCI-E cards will be 1x not 16x. 16x is predominantly for GFX cards, and is designed with them in mind I believe. PCI-E 1x is for all the other cards, like sound cards, IO cards and such.

Plus I personally think SLI is an expensive gimmik. I'd rather have just one powerful card for half the price. Its not like its 2x the power by having two cards. It doesn't quite work that way.

#3 SkaterAustin on 17 Sep 2004 - 02:14

see the problem i see with pci-e its just another reason to charge more for something.. looking at the benchmarks for pci-e there is really no gain in performance (as of right now). and why would you need a sound card to transfer at 6 gigs?

(1 reply) #4 angrybrit on 17 Sep 2004 - 07:49

The question is: would you trust ATI to make drivers for your mobo chipset?

#4.1 FraZor on 17 Sep 2004 - 09:38

Of course. Their Catalyst release program is excellent. A new driver every 4 weeks or so, which is WHQL certified so I don't have to worry about it hosing my system. Plus they always release the changelog, which is invaluable. I wish nVidia were this reliable. With my nVidia cards I live or randomly released beta drivers with no word of changes. Oh and don't get me started on the mess thay cause with the early nForce2 drivers... and they are still not quite there either. nVidia produst are great, but their dirver support is not. Please don't mistake leaked beta's for good support.

#5 dotnetjunkie on 18 Sep 2004 - 04:41

What's the difference between a discrete chipset and a chipset?

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