VIA Quits Motherboard Chipset Business

[malware]

In a rather surprising for me move VIA, the company that has always been third in the motherboard and processor battle for supremacy, announced today it's stepping down from the motherboard business. Production of future chipsets for third party AMD and Intel processors will be halted. Instead, VIA will migrate in the x86 processor business and the integrated motherboard market. Speaking to Custom PC, VIA's vice president of corporate marketing in Taiwan, Richard Brown, explained that "One of the main reasons we originally moved into the x86 processor business was because we believed that ultimately the third party chipset market would disappear, and we would need to have the capability to provide a complete platform." That time has come and moving to the x86 processor business is the right decision to make. Most of the chipset business is now handled by Intel and NVIDIA. ATI and AMD also have complete solutions to offer. VIA's departure from the motherboard business won't make a big gap in the market. Chipsets from the above named companies will quickly share the left piece of the cake in between each other.

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[btarunr]

Sad, sad. Very sad

This was the company that made high-end chipsets for AMD processors when they were at their lowest during their K6~K7~early K8 days after ALi (ALladin series chipset) left them in the cold.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Well I For one am not sorry to see them go. I havent really seen anything new from them in quite some time, with ATI and Intel getting all the attention from chipsets (even Nvidia hasnt had anything new since hte 790i and 750a for AMD).

 

[ShadowFold]

I didn't even know they still made chipsets.. Well, we do need more players in the CPU market tho thats for sure.

 

[tkpenalty]

Oh wait so now they are putting all their effort into making their own chipsets/proccys. Wise move imho.

 

[Darkrealms]

Thats a shock. It will be a pitty to see them go.

However to be confident enough to make this move they must have something up their sleeve in the CPU and complete unit markets.

 

[Octavean]

It would be great to see nVidia buy VIA too. Maybe then we would see a true third competitor in the x86 market. I haven’t seen VIA do anything worthy of note for some time and I have little faith that they will do anything worthwhile with their Cyrix x86 acquisition,….ever.

 

[PCpraiser100]

What a change, they were an excellent company. I just don't know why they want to go third-party anyway as there is enough x86-based companies. The company should've at least merged with another company.

 

[Mussels]

well via always had a relatively poor reputation with their mobo chipsets, which they havent had with their own line (via eden, C7, etc)

via should stick with their own CPU and mobo combinations, as its a different market to intel and AMD

 

[Darkrealms]

I have to argue that as much as VIA chipsets weren't high performance chipsets they did work and they were fairly inexpensive. I had no problem building an average users computer on a VIA chipset and worrying about it having problems for them.

 

[quickie]

VIA did have their high points.. KT266A, KT133A ..and some lower points.. KT266, KT133

I hope VIA does better in their new businesses though. The importance of the northbridge isn't what it used to be.

 

[Mussels]

I have to argue that as much as VIA chipsets weren't high performance chipsets they did work and they were fairly inexpensive. I had no problem building an average users computer on a VIA chipset and worrying about it having problems for them.

i've always had problems with them, mostly driver and bios related. its not always vias fault, but many mobo manufs cheaped out on the via boards.

 

[Nkd]

well, Nano is one hell of a processor, and it beats atom up and down, if you have looked at the reviews, so I think VIA probably knows what their sweet spot is, I would not mind them putting their resources to x86 processor business, they do have some good engineers.

 

[candle_86]

Well if VIA is going to focus 100% on x86 CPU's we could see a true competior from VIA. Remember the Cyrix team is still there working for VIA, and I don't see a big issue with VIA stepping up. Include a stronger FPU, good interger unit, add SSE2 and 3 and you have a decent chip in my mind. It won't take much at all. Though this is likly not to happen. Look on the bright side we still have one ubercheap chipset maker, SIS

 

[philbrown23]

I think via did alot of console chips but im not sure, like vdeo game consoles, dvd players and such.

 

[AddSub]

Chipset-wise they have been irrelevant for years, unless you count in the miniscule mini/micro-atx low-power market. Heck, their primary SB offering is 5-6 years old at the core at this point. In fact, many of their chipset offerings haven't changed much over the last decade or so, except with occasional revisions and refreshes to keep with the latest industry standards. Well, keep up as much as they could considering their budget is tiny (comparatively speaking) vs. that of their competition.

They were announcing something like this for almost two years now. A few years from now, the only places you will be able to find VIA components will be inside cell-phones, PDAs, desktop media boxes, and portable media players. They will be gone on the desktop/notebook market within few years. In reality, they can't afford to stay around. It's either scaling back or selling off their assets and turning into some sort of Transmeta clone.

 

[candle_86]

but we still have SIS

 

[1c3d0g]

well, Nano is one hell of a processor, and it beats atom up and down, if you have looked at the reviews, so I think VIA probably knows what their sweet spot is, I would not mind them putting their resources to x86 processor business, they do have some good engineers.

The Atom was never designed to go head-to-head against the Nano, they're for entirely different markets. Further revisions of the Atom will scale it down all the way into cellphones (sipping milli-watts of power), something which the Nano was never intended to do.

I for one am glad Via has bitten the dust. Everybody I know has had major problems with their sh!tty chipsets, so I say good riddance!

 

[p_o_s_pc]

kinda hate to see this. Via chipsets always ran cool but didn't clock vary good(well most of them didn't) great for a really small build (micro or car pc)

 

[Mussels]

kinda hate to see this. Via chipsets always ran cool but didn't clock vary good(well most of them didn't) great for a really small build (micro or car pc)

they're quitting chipsets, but they arent quitting everything else. the nano platform and their itx systems will still live on

 

[cdawall]

just to point this out there chipsets were very good on a budget and PT880 kicked the shit out of 865PE in everything. were talking the same exact setups a P4@3.2ghz a PT880 would smoke the same P4@3.8ghz on a 865PE

not to mention that if you want new with old Via is the way to go K8M890 supports phenoms+AGP P4M890 support C2Q (even the QX9650!) +AGP and i have seen QX chips hit 4ghz+ on a Via P4M890 no issues

before everyone sits here and shits on Via they did damn good on a budget and just cause you had one bad one or never had on at all doesn't mean you can call there stuff crap. they had good and bad like evrey other company. think intel and P4, nvidia and the FX series, ATi and everything up until the 9 series.

 

[OzzmanFloyd120]

Agreed, I don't see what all the VIA bashing is over, the K8T800 Pro was another great chipset that could do 280HT without a volt bump.

 

[AddSub]

VIA's KT266A was one of the best chipsets I had to deal with. But that was then and this is now. And by then I mean back in 2001 when KT266A was released.

 

[OzzmanFloyd120]

Didn't VIA also make GPUs like ten years back?

 

[candle_86]

no they didn't they bought S3 who made the Savage line.

The VIA chipsets of note

Apollo Pro 133A - Brought the features of the i820 and i810 into a price that worked and offered near 440BX preformance

KX133 enabled the wide spread use of the Athlon, as the 750 was in short supply

KT133A offered the first real 133mhz bus for AMD, the 760 was an option but like the 750 in short supply

KT266A just a great little chipset

KT400A cheap alternative to the Nforce2 400

KT600 best chipset for the socketA

K8T800 one of the best early Athlon 64 chipsets, it wasnt till the Nforce3 250 that it wasn't the king

K8T890 The first PCIe chipset for the AMD64, no one should forget it

K8M800 one of the better IGP based solutions for AMD 64 before the Nforce4 6100 arrived.

We have the normal ones of course the KT133, KT266, KT333. I don't know about the intel side never used them, but VIA has always been a good solid chipset maker and always feature compatabile with the nearest compitor untill the Nforce 5 arrived