News Release

VIA K8T890 Series PCI Express Chipsets Ready to Support New
AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-55 Processor and AMD Athlon 64 Processor 4000+

New AMD64 processors combine with VIA K8T890 Series chipsets to create high-performance PCI Express-enabled PCs that take digital multimedia performance to new heights

Taipei, Taiwan, October 19 2004, - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced that VIA K8T890 Series chipsets are ready to support the new AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-55 processor and AMD Athlon 64 processor 4000+, enabling a new generation of PCI Express compatible AMD64 motherboards and systems.

“The combination of the latest AMD64 processors and VIA K8T890 Series chipsets can provide a perfect platform for a high-performance PCI Express-enabled system,” commented Chewei Lin, Vice President of Product Marketing, VIA Technologies Inc. “Now is the perfect time for users to upgrade to an AMD64 processor-based system, safe in the knowledge they have a future-proof platform capable of supporting future PCI Express graphics cards and peripherals.”

VIA K8T890 Series chipsets are designed to fully accommodate the increased multimedia demands being placed on the PC through applications such as high-definition video creation, multistreaming audio and the latest 3D game engines that require ever-increasing levels of system bandwidth. Featuring the unique VIA Flex Express Architecture, VIA K8T890 chipsets provide support for the latest high-performance PCI Express x16 graphics cards, with a blistering 4GB/s of bandwidth per direction, and up to four PCI Express x1 connections to a wide range of high bandwidth peripheral devices.

“Leveraging the power of the raw performance of the new AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor and AMD Athlon 64 processor 4000+ and high-performance PCI Express graphics cards, systems featuring VIA K8T890 Series chipsets push the boundaries of cinematic computing and provide an ultimate platform for the most demanding enthusiasts and hard-core gamers,” said Daryl Sartain, director, Desktop Business Segment, AMD’s Microprocessor Business Unit, CPG. “We are very pleased to see VIA bring PCI Express connectivity to the AMD64 platform, enabling users to experience the full performance potential of existing and future generations of AMD64 processors.”

About the VIA K8T890 Chipset
Optimized for a complete range of AMD Athlon 64 FX, AMD Athlon 64, AMD Sempron™, and AMD Opteron™ processors, VIA K8T890 Series chipsets feature the unique VIA Flex Express Architecture to allow the industry’s most flexible implementations of PCI Express devices. Multiple device configurations can be implemented, with support for up to five PCI Express devices directly into the chipset North Bridge and a total of 20 PCI Express lanes for a combined bandwidth of 10GB/s.

VIA K8T890 Series chipsets include support for the latest PCI Express x16 graphics cards, and up to four PCI Express x1 connections to high speed PCI Express peripherals, such as Gigabit Ethernet and bandwidth hungry HDTV tuner cards. Forthcoming solutions from the VIA K8T890 Series will include the VIA DualGFX Express feature, a solution that stands ready to support all dual graphics card industry standards. VIA DualGFX Express provides enhanced single application performance with supporting graphics cards and multi-monitor support for power multitasking without tying up vital system bandwidth.

The VIA K8T890 chipset also features asynchronous bus architecture, providing improved system optimization options to enable power users to squeeze the very most out of their systems.

When combined with the market-leading VIA VT8237R South Bridge and a broad array of VIA companion chips, the VIA K8T890 chipset provides the most comprehensive range of storage, multimedia and connectivity features available for the AMD64 processor platform today, including native Serial ATA and V-RAID, 6-channel or 8-channel VIA Vinyl audio, USB2.0, and 1394.

VIA K8T890 Series chipsets commence shipping to motherboard manufacturers and system integrators in October 2004, with first products expected to available in November 2004. For further information about VIA K8T890 Series chipsets please visit the VIA website at:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/k8-series/k8t890/

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