SiS intros integrated “non legacy” chipset

Taiwanese chip manufacturer Silicon Integrated System has now delivered prices and delivery dates for its SiS 630 chipset. The 630 will cost $35/10K and be available in volume this summer. It integrates north and south bridges, includes super I/O, integrated 128-bit 3D, phoneline networking support, soft modem, TV out and soft DVD capabilities. A combination of five USB ports, Ultra ATA 66IDE and four PCI slots can be built into motherboards. There is an AC97 codec for stereo sound and 3D surround sound is supported through software. If manufacturers still want to include so-called "legacy" ISA slots, they can do so. SiS claims the chipset will support 3D Winbench at 700 by poroduction time. The chipset also includes PC-133 and PC-266 memory support, demonstrating that Intel will have to get a move on if it doesn't want to miss this particular boat as it leaves the jetty. There is support for Socket 7 as well as Pentium II and Pentium III, but SiS did not say whether a future version will support the socketed Pentium III we reported here recently. ®