Computex VIA has given a live head-to-head demo of its P4 chipset running against the Intel 850 chipset, using the 3D Mark 2001 bench test software.

This is interesting, of course, because VIA hasn't got an Intel licence for its P4 X 266 chipset, which isn't even in production yet.

The mano-a-mano punch-up was held at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan. Naturally things fell over, as they always do at live demos, but the final scores were 1391 for the Intel chipset and 1484 for the VIA. So trousers down, six-of-the-best, VIA gave Intel a good spanking.

But a knowledgeable observer sat next to me said: "Intel's chipset seems very, very slow for what it should be."

The Intel 850 chipset used RDRAM, the VIA used DDR. ®