South Africa's cash-strapped PC users - looking for the higher performance gains promised by the Pentium 4 (P4) processor - have been advised to take a closer look at new DDR chipset technology, which will cost them some 25% less than other chipsets in the same performance category.
"InQuest Market Research says that DDR has been recognised as the memory of choice for fast graphics accelerators," explains Tim Handley, Marketing Manager of VIA Technologies in South Africa, which began volume shipments of its P4X266 motherboard chipset for the P4 processor in August.
"The savings on a DDR system will be mainly from the cheaper cost of DDR memory compared to Rambus memory, the savings on a cheaper chipset, and cheaper motherboards - more costly systems require a six-layer motherboard, while the DDR-based P4X266 only requires a four-layer board."
According to InqQuest, the P4X266 launch sees VIA "brashly stepping up to the plate once more, intending to hit another home run early in the game with a new DDR chipset for the Pentium4."
The research organisation reports that "VIA's new P4X266 chipset successfully leverages its popular north bridge design used for Athlon and P3 processors. With a familiar feature set and upgraded memory controller, the P4X266 should deliver the right price performance mix to allow the Pentium 4 to move into higher volume market segments."
InQuest predicts that towards the end of 2001, VIA will release its P4M266, a pin-compatible DDR north bridge with an integrated S3 graphics controller, another move it believes will further extend the reach of the P4 into low cost markets.
"VIA chip set strategy for the P4 has the potential of making a strong impact on the growth of the P4 in the mainstream beginning this year," it adds.
Referring to what it calls its own exhaustive benchmarks, InQuest says that in the ceaseless debate over DRAM types, benchmark scores only provide part of the answer.
"It is abundantly clear that the broader market responds to price first and performance second," the organisation says. "Considering the well-known cost advantages of DDR, the benchmark results make it very clear that DDR SDRAM is a balanced and natural choice for the P4 processor. We believe that OEMs and consumers will respond positively to the price and performance profile that the P4X266 offers for the Pentium 4 platform."
InQuest argues that DDR offers an "ideal price/performance" balance for the P4.
"And since DDR has already reached effective price-parity with PC133 (especially OEM pricing), there is no longer any reason to wait for DDR, or to tolerate any PC133 induced performance loss."
For further information contact Tim Handley, VIA Technologies, [email protected]
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