VIA K8T800 chipset leverages HyperTransport™ technology and integrated Serial ATA/RAID to provide the bandwidth necessary for demanding enterprise class applications

Taipei, Taiwan, 15 August 2003 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, and leading motherboard maker MSI today announced the availability of the MS-9130 Serverboard. Based around the advanced architecture of the VIA K8T800 chipset, the MS-9130 supports dual AMD Opteron processors and AGP8X, enabling a new generation of powerhouse workstations and servers capable of dealing with today’s most demanding and power-hungry enterprise applications.

The world’s first AMD64 compatible chipset with support for dual processing and the latest professional class 3D graphics cards, the VIA K8T800 chipset features a high speed, low-latency HyperTransport™ link to the processor and support for dual-channel DDR333 SDRAM. Paired with the VIA VT8237 South Bridge, the VIA K8T800 chipset also features V-RAID, the industry’s first integrated multi-configuration Serial ATA/RAID controller, enabling RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations on the MS-9130 Serverboard for optimal data integrity and storage performance.

"By combining the high throughput HyperTransport bus with the very latest in integrated I/O technology, such as Serial ATA and the advanced V-RAID function, the K8T800 chipset provides the ideal platform for AMD Dual Opteron processor workstations based on our MS-9130," commented Jeans Huang, Senior Vice President of MSI. "MSI will continue working with VIA to push the boundaries of system performance in tandem with the introduction of AMD's new Opteron and Athlon 64 processors."

The MS-9130 Serverboard supports dual Socket 940 AMD Opteron processors and can accommodate up to 8GB of DDR333 memory, providing all the horsepower needed for demanding workstation tasks, such as graphics rendering, data asset management and CAD based design. The ATX form factor board features two serial ports and a further two ATA-133 IDE ports, an AGP Pro slot and expandability via four USB ports and four PCI slots.

“We are delighted that MSI has adopted the VIA K8T800 chipset for the MS-9130 Serverboard,” commented Richard Brown, Associate Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With its leading edge performance, stability and features, the MS-9130 provides the most scalable and reliable platform for the AMD Opteron processor available on the market today.”

About the VIA K8T800 Chipset

The VIA K8T800 chipset is powering the next generation of AMD64 compatible platforms, including Dual Opteron™ processor based workstations and servers, and Athlon™ 64 processor based performance PC platforms. In combination with the VIA VT8237 South Bridge, the K8T800 provides the latest in cutting edge I/O and multimedia features, including an 800MHz HyperTransport Bus Link, AGP8X, native Serial ATA/RAID and VIA Vinyl Audio.

Featuring high-speed 150MB/s dual channel connections to Serial ATA Hard Drives while retaining support for up to four Parallel ATA-133 devices, the VIA VT237 combines optimum data transfer rates and maximized data integrity with easy installation and manageability through V-RAID, supporting multiple RAID Level 0, RAID Level 1, RAID Level 0+1 (where support for two additional Serial ATA drives has been added through the integration of the VIA SATAlite interface), and JBOD configurations. The VIA VT8237 also features integrated 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet and up to eight high-speed USB 2.0 ports. Furthermore, the VIA K8T800 chipset benefits from VIA's unique V-MAP (VIA Modular Architecture Platform) architecture for enhanced platform scalability, and features the high-throughput V-Link interconnect running at speeds of up to 533MB/s between the North and South Bridge.



About VIA Technologies, Inc.

VIA Technologies, Inc. is the foremost fabless supplier of market-leading core logic chipsets, low power x86 processors, advanced connectivity, multimedia, networking and storage silicon, and complete platform solutions that are driving system innovation in the PC and embedded markets. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, VIA’s global network links the high tech centers of the US, Europe and Asia, and its customer base includes the world’s top OEMs, motherboard vendors and system integrators. VIA is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE2388) and achieved annual revenues of over US$720 million in 2002. http://www.via.com.tw