VIA Southbridges
The company VIA Technologies produces for their Northbridges various Southbridges for I / O functions. These VIA south bridges are connected to the north bridges either via the PCI bus or via the proprietary V-Link .
Models
82C686A
The 82C686A was a southbridge with support for USB 1.1 and ATA-66. It was connected to the northbridge via a PCI bus .
82C686B
The successor to the 82C686A Southbridge, the 82C686B , was best known for the "686B bug". This bug resulted in data loss due to the overflow of a buffer in the chip when copying large amounts of data between the two IDE channels of the integrated ATA-100 IDE controller if a PCI card was installed in the system that placed a large load on the PCI bus generated. Sound cards from Creative Labs ( SoundBlaster Live! ) In particular , but also TV cards, were the trigger for this problem, but not the actual cause. Innumerable mutual blame, various alleged causes, insufficient attempts to work around the problem, and numerous discussions by users in forums highlighted the problem.
VT8231
In spite of everything, the events in connection with the 82C686B subsequently led to the fact that the PCI bus was no longer used as a connection between the north and south bridges and VIA led a proprietary connection with the VT8231 with a data transfer rate of 266 MB / sec , called 4 × V-Link , to relieve the PCI bus accordingly. Otherwise the VT8231 largely corresponded to the 82C686B.
VT8233 (C)
The VT8233 had an integrated LAN controller from VIA with a maximum transmission speed of 100 Mbit / s. The variant VT8233C relied on a network PHY from 3Com . The VT8233A was an ATA-133 extended VT8233.
VT8235
The next step was the integration of USB 2.0 , which VIA carried out with the VT8235 . The VT8235 was very popular and was often used in conjunction with the older VIA KT266A , as it allowed modern features on inexpensive mainboards, which were primarily intended for AMD Athlon XP and AMD Duron processors with an FSB of 133 MHz.
VT8237 (R +)
The VT8237 or VT8237R + should be the most widespread Southbridge. However, this is mainly due to the fact that the successor VT8239 was delayed by several years and was then even renamed the VT8251. For this reason, the VT8237 was used in almost all VIA Northbridges from 2004 to 2006. This southbridge is based on the VT8235 and expanded it with two SATA ports and RAID functions. In addition, two additional SATA ports can be implemented via a SATA-PHY (called SATA-Lite). Over time, the VT8237 was renamed the VT8237R + to emphasize the RAID capability. With the advent of SATA-II devices, the VT8237 was found to have a fatal error, SATA-II devices are either not recognized at all or only after a long delay. The only workaround is to force the devices into SATA-I mode using jumpers or manufacturer software.
VT8237A
Since the VT8237 only offered AC'97 sound, a new version was launched as the VT8237A that supported the High Definition Audio Interface (HDA). This became necessary because of the long delay of the VT8251. In addition, the bug of the VT8237 in connection with SATA-II disks has been fixed.
VT8237S
This revised version expanded the VT8237A to include Serial ATA II and a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI).
VT8251
Originally planned as the VT8239, the VT8251 was delayed by several years and primarily offers four SATA II ports, a High Definition Audio Interface (HDA) and two PCI Express (PCIe) lanes.
VT8261
In 2009 the Southbridge VT8261 was finally released , which now also contains Gigabit Ethernet .
Model overview
| Northbridge connection |
SATA (devices & speed) |
PATA (devices & speed) |
RAID modes | Ethernet | Audio | USB | PCI slots | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82C686A | PCI | - | 4 × ATA-66 | - | - | AC'97 | 4 × USB 1.1 | - |
| 82C686B | PCI | - | 4 × ATA-100 | - | - | AC'97 | 4 × USB 1.1 | - |
| VT8231 | 4 × V-Link | - | 4 × ATA-100 | - | - | AC'97 | 6 × USB 1.1 | ? |
| VT8233 (C, A) | 4 × V-Link | - | 4 × ATA-100 A: ATA-133 | - | 1 × 100 Mbit | AC'97 | 6 × USB 1.1 | 5 |
| VT8235 | 8 × V-Link | - | 4 x ATA-133 | - | 1 × 100 Mbit | AC'97 | 6 × USB 2.0 | 5 |
| VT8237 (R +) | Ultra V-Link | 2 × SATA + 2 × SATA-Lite | 4 x ATA-133 | 0, 1, (0 + 1) | 1 × 100 Mbit | AC'97 | 8 × USB 2.0 | 6th |
| VT8237A | Ultra V-Link | 2 × SATA + 2 × SATA-Lite | 4 x ATA-133 | 0, 1, (0 + 1) | 1 × 100 Mbit | HDA | 8 × USB 2.0 | 6th |
| VT8237S | Ultra V-Link | 2 × SATA-II + 2 × SATA-Lite | 4 x ATA-133 | 0, 1, (0 + 1) | 1 × 100 Mbit | HDA | 8 × USB 2.0 | 6th |
| VT8251 | Ultra V-Link | 4 × SATA-II | 4 x ATA-133 | 0, 1, (0 + 1) | 1 × 100 Mbit | HDA | 8 × USB 2.0 | 7th |
| VT8261 | Ultra V-Link | 4 × SATA-II | 2 x ATA-133 | ? | 1 × 1000 Mbit | HDA | 12 × USB 2.0 | 5 |
See also
Web links
- Overview of all chipsets from VIA Technologies (English)
- Explanation of SPI in VT8237S (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/VIA-Chipsatz-beschaedigt-Daten-35848.html - Heise.de message from April 12, 2001 17:58