VIA has unwrapped its latest Apollo chipset, the KT400A, which it claims is the fastest single-channel DDR chipset designed for AMD's Athlon XP 3000+ and more than ten per cent faster than previous Apollo offerings.

The chipset comprises VIA's FastStream64 memory controller, developed to reduce memory latency without forcing vendors to provide dual-channel DDR memory banks. FastStream64 supports DDR at 200-400MHz. The KT400A provides an AGP 8x graphics channel, and supports 200-333MHz processor bus speeds.

The KT400A connects to VIA's VT8237 and VT8235CE South Bridge chips across a 533MHz connection. The VT8237 offers native Serial ATA support, through two channels, plus ATA-133 for compatibility with existing internal peripherals. The part includes a 10/100Mbps Ethernet controller, modem and eight-port USB 2.0 manager. Six-channel sound is delivered through VIA's Sensaura-based Vinyl sound system, integrated into the chip. ®