VIA's Apollo P4X266A Chipset

Upstart chipset - and now motherboard - manufacturer VIA Technologies just told the world about its new VIA Apollo P4X266A chipset for the Pentium 4. The P4X266A can be combined with the new VIA VT8233A South Bridge with support for Ultra ATA/133. VIA says that the Apollo builds on the technology of the P4X266 with a 400MHz Front Side Bus, and support for Intel Pentium 4 processors up to and beyond 2GHz in both its 478-pin and 423-pin incarnations. As part of what VIA calls the VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP), the Apollo P4X266A is compatible with existing motherboards based on the VIA Apollo P4X266 or VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 chipsets and can interface with three pin-compatible South Bridges, including the new VIA VT8233A with Ultra ATA/133 support. It's manufactured at TSMC in a .22 micron, 3 metal layer process, and is priced at $25 in OEM quantities. No official word from Intel, but lawyers must be the only ones this year with any substantial time to bill.