We have been tracking the development of the SiS R658 platform since IDF last year. Today SiS announced that Abit is bringing the first R658 motherboard to market with a surprise announcement that in addition to support for PC1066 RDRAM, it will also support PC1200 RDRAM as well. The just released Abit SI7 brings host of features to the table.

The ABIT SI7 will support up to 2 GB 1200/1066MHz RDRAM memory and fully supports the AGP8X interface. In addition, the SiSR658/963 chipsets are also equipped with multimedia functions, including 5.1 Channel AC'97 2.2 Audio, 10/100MB Ethernet, Home PNA2.0 and Dual ATA133/100/66 IDE Channels, six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and three 1394a ports, which can fully meet high-end PC requirements.

This board is squarely targeted at power users seeking the highest levels of memory bandwidth in combination with the Intel Pentium 4 processor. While this is the first of the R658 boards to finally make its way out the door, it could present an interesting alternative to other options currently available. Of course we are looking forward to getting our hands on one of the R658 boards to be able to give you the full scoop. Look for a review as soon as we are able to get our hands on the SI7.