ATI to update AMD, Intel chipsets 'in June'

ATI will ship its next-generation AMD and Intel-oriented chipsets before the end of the quarter, according to the latest claims coming out of Taiwan.

The new parts, codenamed RS482 and RC410, targeting AMD and Intel processors respectively, will debut in June, bringing support for HD audio in the South Bridge, Taiwanese mobo-maker sources suggest, according to a DigiTimes report.

Both are believed to be 110nm die-shrinks of the existing RS480 and RC400 chipsets, respectively. Like those parts they feature ATI's RV370 integrated graphics engine.

The chipsets may also support ATI's bridgeless answer to Nvidia's SLi, allowing two graphics engines to co-operatively render 3D images. Both chipsets will certainly support PCI Express.

Even if the RS482 and/or the RC410 don't support multi-rendering, ATI's RD400 chipset will. This part is targeted at Intel's dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition part, which begin shipping yesterday, and will go head-to-head with Nvidia's nForce 4 SLi Intel Edition chipset. It's being claimed by some that the ATI part will ship with a ULi South Bridge which will add HD audio and six-port Serial ATA RAID to the North Bridge's 1066MHz frontside bus and dual-channel 667MHz DDR 2 SDRAM support.

It looks like the RD400 will be launched this quarter, possibly next month, though some reports suggest it won't ship until Q3. An AMD-oriented version, the RD580, is apparently scheduled to ship soon after. ®

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