News VIA K8T800 Selected for Leading Edge AMD Athlon™ 64 Gaming Rigs

Well - you've read Iceman's review of the 64. Here's a timely press release courtesy of VIA (Via not so secret-source Eddie), telling you what you should be running that smoking hunk of silicon in:

VIA K8T800 Selected for Leading Edge AMD Athlon™ 64 Gaming Systems Amid Broad Industry Endorsement

Taipei, Taiwan, 24 September 2003 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced that the VIA K8T800 chipset has been selected over competing platforms to power the next generation of AMD64 high end systems from leading U.S. system builders, including ABS Computer Technologies, Cyberpower, Elite PC, Falcon Northwest, Hypersonic, Microtel, Monarch, Northgate Innovations, Polywell and ZT Group.

"VIA's advanced Hyper8 technology, native Serial ATA and integrated V-RAID make the VIA K8T800 chipset a world-class performer with an unparalleled feature set for the new AMD Athlon 64 processor platform," said Timothy Chen, Head of U.S. Sales and Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "With these amazing systems from the top guys in the business, it can truly be said that the VIA K8T800 is powering the AMD64 revolution."

The VIA K8T800 has also garnered strong support from top motherboard vendors including Abit, Acorp, Albatron, Asus, Chaintech, Epox, FIC, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gigabyte, MSI and Soltek, with many high performance boards showcased at Computex 2003, taking place in Taipei, Taiwan this week.

In combination with the market-leading VIA VT8237 South Bridge and a broad array of VIA companion chips, the VIA K8 Series provides the most complete range of storage, multimedia and connectivity features for the AMD Athlon 64 processor platform, including native Serial ATA/RAID, Velocity Gigabit Ethernet, USB2.0, IEEE 1394 and VIA Vinyl Audio.

The VIA K8T800 chipset is reaping rave reviews from the media and full endorsement throughout the industry as simply the best performance chipset for the AMD64 platform on the market, with its unique Hyper8 technology and incredible storage, multimedia and connectivity features, making it the best all-round choice for AMD64 systems.

Here's what the industry's leading system vendors are saying about the VIA K8T800:

"The VIA K8T800 chipset is simply the best performing FX platform," said Kelt Reeves, President of Falcon Northwest. "Its complete implementation of HyperTransport, extensive features and fantastic integrated SATA-RAID performance combined with the FX make it the most powerful gaming machine Falcon Northwest has ever offered."

"Our customers come to us for high-quality PC systems that offer the most up-to-date technologies," said Hip Lee, General Manager of Sales & Marketing, ABS Computer Technologies, Inc. "We feel confident that our new VIA K8 chipset and AMD Athlon 64 processor-based systems will provide them a better and more exciting computing experience."

"Systemax PCs have always featured the latest cutting edge technology to meet the diverse power and performance needs of our business and consumer clients," says Sean Aryai, Director, OEM Marketing, Systemax, Inc. "The new AMD Athlon 64 processor and the Via K8 chipset help to further enhance the superior capabilities of Systemax PCs to deliver an exceptional computing experience for both professional and home use. We welcome our continued, successful relationship with AMD and VIA and look forward to helping our customers benefit from the innovative AMD64 technology."

"Polywell selects the VIA K8T800 Chipset for the Poly 900VF because it offers better features and value for us to compete," said Sam Chu, marketing director of Polywell. "The VIA K8T800 supports 1600MHz system bus for top performance I/O."

"The VIA K8T800 chipset became the clear choice as the right chipset upon which to build our Titan 64 and Titan FX Models. With the 1.6GHz HyperTransport link enabled by its Hyper8 Technology, the K8T800 offers industry-leading performance and the reliability we have come to expect from a VIA chipset," said Steve Jarvis, President of Elite PC.

"We are dedicated in bringing tomorrow's full throttle technology for immersive gaming and amazing digital media to meet the unique needs of gaming enthusiasts. Our Cyberpower Gamer Ultra is designed with the VIA K8T800 to enrich consumers' experience with revolutionary entertainment and gives users a more astonishing, true-to-life digital entertainment experience." Said Eric Cheung, vice president, Cyberpower Inc.

"Hypersonic's customers demand systems that are amazingly fast without compromising stability," said Fred Kohen of Hypersonic. "With the launch of the powerful VIA K8T800 chipset-based motherboards, we will be able to offer next generation AMD Athlon 64-based systems that have the performance, quality and stability associated with the Hypersonic name. We are proud and pleased to be a part of the VIA/Athlon 64 launch."

"VIA's Athlon 64 platform offers best balance of performance, time to market, and cost," Richard Shyu, President, Northgate Innovations. "Northgate is pleased to be working with an industry leader like VIA," said Bob Anderson, Vice President, Business Development, "We are excited about the technological
possibilities with the new Athlon 64 products."

These high end gaming systems can be seen on the VIA website

About the VIA K8T800

The highly scalable VIA K8 Series is the foundation on which the AMD64 revolution will be built, powering a multitude of AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Opteron™ processor-based systems and helping to bring high definition AMD64 computing to a wide range of market segments. The VIA K8T800 chipset enables an exciting new generation of 32- and 64-bit capable performance desktop Cs and Media Centers for enthusiasts and consumers who demand the most sophisticated graphics capabilities for gaming and digital video editing.

VIA's unique Hyper8™ technology enables a full 16-bit/1.6GHz implementation of the high bandwidth HyperTransport™ processor-to-chipset link, which ensures that all AMD Athlon 64 processor-based systems can achieve their full performance potential.

The VIA K8T800 connects to the VIA VT8237 South Bridge through the high bandwidth 533MB/s V-Link. Comprising four distinct feature sections, the VIA VT8237 provides industry-first native support for Serial ATA RAID with the new VIA DriveStation™ Controller Suite, superlative onboard sound with the VIA Vinyl™ Multi-channel Audio Suite, extensive peripheral support with the VIA Advanced Connectivity Suite such as eight USB 2.0 ports, and the VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP) providing maximum flexibility to motherboard manufacturers.

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