VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 Chipset White Paper
VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 Chipset
High Performance Integrated DDR platform for the
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor
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The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266: High Performance
Integrated DDR platform for the Intel® Pentium 4®
processor.
With the launch of the VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 chipset, VIA Technologies, Inc
has achieved yet another industry first by introducing a core logic solution with
integrated graphics for the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor. Harnessing the industry-
leading performance of DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM, the flexibility of VIA
Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP) design, and the rich graphics performance of
the enhanced S3 Graphics ProSavage8™ 2D/3D engine, the VIA ProSavageDDR
P4M266 reduces system cost while delivering unprecedented performance and
stability.
The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 also boasts the latest South Bridge technology with
first to market innovations like integrated 3Com® networking in the VT8233C and
the introduction of Ultra ATA-133 in the VT8233A. Ultra ATA-133, offering 33% more
bandwidth between hard drive and CPU, enables the VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 to
deliver more performance in data intensive applications like business productivity
software than rival mainstream desktop platforms.
The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 is pin to pin compatible with the acclaimed VIA
Apollo P4X266 and follows in the footsteps of the VIA Apollo Pro133, the first core
logic chipset to support PC133 SDRAM; the VIA Apollo Pro266, the first core logic
chipset to support DDR SDRAM on the Intel Socket 370 platform; and the VIA Apollo
KT266, the first volume core logic chipset to support DDR SDRAM on the AMD Socket
A platform.
Its launch further extends the leadership role that VIA has played in enabling rapid
industry wide transitions to higher bandwidth memory technologies and integrated
graphics solutions that enable OEMs and SIs to address a fuller spectrum of PC price
points. It achieves this through the implementation of the following key
technologies:
• DDR200/266 SDRAM Support: The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 offers up
to 2.1GB/s of memory bandwidth with its support for up to 4GB DDR266
SDRAM. This provides memory intensive applications (such as content
creation, media streaming, 3D gaming, etc.) the bandwidth they need to
perform optimally. When paired with DDR266 SDRAM, the VIA ProSavage
P4M266 also boasts lower memory latency than other Intel® Pentium® 4
processor chipset platforms, further increasing performance. The VIA
ProSavageDDR P4M266 is also completely backwards compatible with PC100
and PC133 SDRAM, providing OEMs and System Integrators with additional
options for building Intel® Pentium® 4 processor-based systems at
aggressive Value PC price points.
• S3 Graphics ProSavage8™ Integrated Graphics core: The ProSavage8™
2D/3D Accelerator with internal AGP 8X bandwidth and DVD Motion
Compensation is optimized for use with the Microsoft Windows® XP operating
system and drives integrated graphics for the Intel® platform to a new level.
Shared Memory Architecture (SMA) enables the P4M266 to utilize the system
memory for frame buffer and texture memory on data path doubled to 128-
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bit capacity. Thus, the DDR memory subsystem, offering up to 2.1GB/s of
memory bandwidth, increases the overall performance of the integrated
graphics core by up to 50% over SMA chipsets based on PC133 SDRAM.
• V-MAP: Based on the unique VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP), the
VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 provides OEMs and SIs with unparalleled
flexibility and scalability for existing and future PC designs. As a modular
solution, both the North Bridge and South Bridge of the VIA ProSavageDDR
P4M266 are completely pin compatible with current products, such as the
VT8233C South Bridge with integrated 3Com(cid:210) Ethernet, and the VIA Apollo
P4X266 North Bridge. V-MAP maximizes flexibility when designing a platform
around the VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 chipset. This enables OEMs and SIs to
save costs and speed up time to market by offering systems covering a full
spectrum of system price points based on a single motherboard platform.
• High-Speed V-Link Hub Architecture: The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266
makes use of VIA’s V-Link Hub Architecture, which provides a dedicated
266MB/s bus between the north and south bridge. Less advanced chipsets
use the 132MB/s PCI bus as a link, which must be shared with all PCI
peripherals.
• 400MHz Quad-pumped Front Side Bus Support: The VIA ProSavageDDR
P4M266 features a quad-pumped 400MHz Front Side Bus. Delivering up to
3.2GB/s of bandwidth, the 400MHz Front Side Bus fully complements the high
performance DDR memory subsystem and V-Link Bus.
• Optional External AGP Port: Providing up to 1GB/s in graphics bandwidth
with external AGP4X technology, this feature offers OEMs and System
Integrators flexibility in building systems to different configurations and
allows for future upgrades. Additionally, it does not sacrifice AGP 2X
compatibility like less advanced chipsets, allowing competitively priced
graphics products to be integrated into Intel(cid:210) Pentium® 4 processor-based
Value PC systems.
This white paper describes the features of the VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 chipset as
well as the combination of performance and cost efficiency that enables next
generation computing for mainstream and value desktops, workstations, and servers
based on the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor.
Intel® Pentium® 4: Slow Uptake In The Corporate
Market
The Intel® Pentium® 4 processor has been positioned as the next mainstream PC
platform for every segment of the marketplace. Migration from the existing standard,
the Intel® Pentium® III, has been slow though, particularly in cost sensitive
segments like the corporate and education markets. This reasons for this have been
the high cost and perceived unreliability of RDRAM memory and the absence of
integrated graphics platforms, making an Intel Pentium 4 processor system an
expensive option for risk averse customers operating large networks.
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Integrated graphics chipsets enable OEMs and System Integrators to save cost by
eliminating the requirement for an external graphics card. This makes them popular
platforms for large corporate, government and education networks where the main
functions are running are business productivity and data intensive applications where
high quality 3D performance is not a priority. The Intel® Pentium® III combined
with an integrated chipset like the Intel 815 or VIA ProSavage PM133 has become

VIA P4M266 (I/G)是一款由 VIA Technologies, Inc.（威盛科技股份有限公司）设计并生产的主板芯片组。它专为Intel Pentium 4及更高配置的处理器平台设计，支持Intel 80533前端总线(Front Side Bus, FSB)，其型号中的"I/G"通常代表整合了图形处理功能 (IGP, Integrated Graphics Processor)。 这款芯片组集成了内存控制器，支持DDR SDRAM，具备2通道模式，最高工作频率可达1333 MHz，能够提供稳定的系统运行和出色的多媒体性能。同时，它还内置了显示核心，支持AGP 4x/8x接口，让用户可以连接高性能显卡进行独立渲染或利用集成显卡满足日常办公、娱乐需求，如网页浏览、文字处理、视频播放等。 除了标准的PCI-E x16插槽用于扩展高性能显卡外，VIA P4M266 (I/G)还提供了多个传统PCI、AGP以及IDE接口，以兼容旧有硬件设备。此外，该芯片组还包含了一定数量的USB 2.0、千兆以太网端口以及其他常见I/O控制，便于用户连接各类外部设备。 总体来说，VIA P4M266 (I/G)作为一款主流的南北桥芯片组解决方案，在当时是较为先进的选择，为当时的台式机平台提供了稳定、高效且功能丰富的多媒体应用与扩展能力。