WHILE BOTH SIS and Via are moving fast to try and catch up with the 800MHz hyperthreading surprise Intel will pull next year, one major result of the moves has been to throw both those chipset companies' own plans into widespread disarray.
As we've reported in the last week or so, both these firms are moving to catch up with the new plans but chipsets affected by the move include the SIS 655 and the Via P4X600 chipsets.
These chipsets, aimed at the high end of the market, were supposed to compete with the Springdale family of chipsets when they appear around March, and were to support the 667MHz front side bus that Intel first intended to switch to.
But the latest move has caused instant marchitecture obsolescence for both these chipsets and both Via and SIS are now unlikely to be able to deliver updated 655FX and P4X600A chipsets before the third quarter of next year, or perhaps even as late as Q4 of next year.
That will give Intel an opportunity to sell against its chipset competitors perhaps for as long as six months or more.
News source: The Inquirer
