List of VIA chipsets


This is a list of computer motherboard chipsets made by VIA Technologies. Northbridge chips are listed first, primarily by CPU-socket or CPU-family; southbridge chips are listed in a later table.

Background

VIA chipsets support CPUs from Intel, AMD and VIA themselves. They support CPUs as old as the i386 in the early 1990s. In the early 2000s, their chipsets began to offer on-chip graphics support from VIA's joint venture with S3 Graphics beginning in 2001; this support continued into the early 2010s, with the release of the VX11H in August 2012.
VIA chipsets declined in popularity as other chipsets began to offer better performance, VIA entered other markets and Intel began to offer more powerful integrated graphics on their CPU dies.

Chipsets by CPU socket

The term V-Link indicates VIA's northbridge/southbridge interconnect bus.

Socket 5 and Socket 7

All chipsets listed support a maximum cache memory size of 2 MB and are PCI 2.1 compliant
ChipsetOEM namesNorthbridgeSouthbridgeRelease dateProcessorsFSBMemory typesMemory busMax. memoryMax. cacheable RAMParity/
ECC
AGPIGP
Apollo Master VT82C575M + VT82C577M VT82C576M + VT82C4161995Socket 550/60/66 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO66 MHz1024 MB1024 MB w/ 1 MB L2No
Apollo Master Plus VT82C575MV + VT82C577MV VT82C576MV + VT82C416MV1995Socket 550/60/66 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO66 MHz1024 MB1024 MB w/ 1 MB L2No
Apollo VP VX Pro, VX TwoVT82C585VP + VT82C587VP VT82C586Oct. 1995 Q1 1996 Socket 750/60/66 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 MHz512 MB512 MB w/ 2 MB L2No
Apollo VP2 AMD-640VT82C595VT82C586A or VT82C586B May 1996 Q3 1996 Socket 750/60/66/75 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 MHz512 MB512 MB w/ 2 MB L2No
Apollo VPX ETEQ 6618, TX Pro III, VX Pro+, VX TwoVT82C585VPX + VT82C587VP VT82C586A or VT82C586B Dec. 1996 Q1 1997 Socket 750/60/66/75 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 MHz512 MB512 MB w/ 2 MB L2No
Apollo VP3ETEQ 6628VT82C597VT82C586BMay 1997 Q3 1997 Socket 766 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 MHz1024 MB1024 MB w/ 2 MB L2No
Apollo MVP3ETEQ 6638, AGP Pro PC-100VT82C598AT or VT82C598MVPVT82C586B or VT82C596Sept. 1997 Q1 1998 Super Socket 766–100 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 - 100 MHz768 MB512 MB w/ 2 MB L2No
Apollo MVP4VIA GRAVT82C501VT82C686A/B or VT82C596BAug. 1998 Q4 1998 Super Socket 766–100 MHzFPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM66 - 100 MHz768 MB512 MB w/ 2 MB L2Trident Blade3D

  • The only difference between the Apollo Master and the Apollo Master Plus is that the Plus does not support pipelined burst cache memory.
  • The Apollo VP and Apollo VP2 chipsets were initially referenced by VIA as Apollo VP-1 and Apollo VP-2 respectively, later renamed to Apollo VP and Apollo VP2 when the "/97" upgrades became available.
  • The Apollo VPX chipset is a low-cost solution that replaced the Apollo VP but with features similar to the VP2.
  • AMD licensed the VIA Apollo VP2/97 core logic architecture for its AMD 640 chipset.

Socket 8, Slot 1 and Socket 370

ProSavage PM133 - graphics core from S3, derived from a combination of the 3D component of Savage4 and 2D from Savage 2000.PLE133 and PLE133T - graphics core from Trident, derived from Blade3D.CLE266 - graphics core from S3, derived from S3 Savage series under the brand name UniChrome.
  • Asus advertised some boards as Apollo Pro 133Z. 133Z appears to be a late revision of or step up from 133A, but it is not listed on the VIA site.

Slot A and Socket A

  • KT266 contains a hardware bug which causes system instability when using the AGP slot at the specified max capacity of 4×.
  • ProSavage KM133, KM133A, KM266, KM400, KM400A - Similar to the above, but with integrated graphics. After KM133, DDR is supported. The KM133 uses an IGP consisting of the S3 Savage4 3D core and Savage 2000 2D functionality. KM266's ProSavage8 IGP is similar but has an additional 3D pipeline. The KM400 chipset and its "A" variant use the VIA UniChrome IGP. KM400A supports FSB 400 unlike the KT400A
  • Later revisions of the KT333 are rebadged KT400 chips with AGP 8x disabled. On motherboards with this chipset AGP 2x cards which require 3.3V are not supported, V-Link works at 533 MB/s and there is official support for 333 MHz FSB.
  • KT133E is a cut-down/cost-reduced version of the KT133A without official support for 133 MHz FSB. It was develeoped to replace the original KT133 when it went out of production.

Socket 423, 478 and LGA 775

  • Being a reduced version of PM880, PM800 is not as closely related to PT800 as P4M890 to PT890. Because of its high cost, It is soon obsoleted in favor of P4M800 and then P4M800 Pro, both of which have a lower rated V-Link and feature no special memory technology such as FastStream64 or StepUp that is common in the other listed 8xx chipsets.VIA PT890, P4M890, PT900, P4M900 – VIA's PCIe-only chipsets. The P4M chipsets have onboard graphics VIA UniChrome Pro.
*

Socket 754, 939, 940, AM2

VIA K8M890, K8T890, K8T900 – VIA's PCIe-only chipsets.
  • The K8M800 chipsets has the onboard graphics VIA UniChrome Pro; the K8M890 has the Chrome9.
  • The Athlon 64 chipsets do not have memory controllers, because memory controller is integrated into the CPU. Supported memory types depend on the CPU and socket used.
  • The K8M890 was also used on boards with Socket 754, like the ASUS K8V-VM Ultra

Chipsets supporting both VIA and Intel processors

VIA VX700 - Supports VIA C7-M or C7-ULV 533/400 MHz FSB
  • *DDR2 533/400/333 or DDR400/333
  • *Utilizes the VIA UniChrome Pro II Integrated Graphics Processor
  • VIA VN800 – Supports VIA C7-M / Intel Pentium M / Celeron M, and Yonah Processors
  • *VIA UniChrome Pro Integrated Graphics Processor
  • *DirectX 7
  • *Support product:
  • * * - Cited in marketing literature as supporting up to 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM; only supported up to 1 GB DDR2 max actual per memory-slot. Motherboards with 1-slot support 1 GB-max; motherboards with 2-slots support 2 GB-max, etc.
  • VIA VN896 and VIA CN896.
  • *VIA VN896 can support Intel Pentium M / Celeron M, Core Solo / Core Duo, and Core2 Duo Processors
  • *Support product: VIA VX800
  • * First VIA mobile chipset to support DirectX 9.0
  • * VIA Chrome9 HC3 Integrated Graphics Processor
  • * Built-in VIA Vinyl HD Audio controller supporting up to eight high-definition channels with a 192 kHz sampling rate and 32-bit sample depth
  • * Supports 400/800 MHz FSB
  • * Supports up to 4 GB of RAM with two 64-bit DDR2-667 DIMMs
  • * Single-chip solution
  • * Designed towards being used with the VIA Isaiah 64-bit processor.
  • * Maximum power consumption of 5 watts.VIA VX800U
  • * Similar to the VIA VX800
  • * VIA Chrome9 HC3 integrated graphics
  • * Supports a 400 MT/s FSB
  • * Supports up to 4GBs of RAM with two 64-bit DDR2-400 DIMMs
  • * Does not support PCIe or SATA due to their power requirements
  • * Maximum power consumption of 3.5 watts
  • * Intended for very low-power devicesVIA VX855
  • * Full hardware acceleration of H.264, MPEG-2 and WMV9
  • * Single-chip solution
  • *Maximum power consumption of 2.3 wattsVIA VN1000
  • *DirectX 10.1
  • *32 stream processors and 4 sampling units, supports Shader Model 4, OpenGL 3.0 and OpenCL 1.0 for GPGPU applications.
  • *Acceleration of Blu-ray, MPEG-2, WMV-HD, VC-1 and H.264

Chipsets supporting VIA processors

VIA VX900
  • * Similar to VX855, but more expansion optionsVIA VX11/H
  • *First VIA chipset built on the 40 nm CMOS process
  • *Maximum power consumption of 5.8 watts
  • *DDR3-1333 memory with maximum memory capacity of 16 GB
  • *Integrated ChromotionTM 5.0 DX11 2D/3D graphics & video processor
  • *DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.2.
  • *Acceleration of Blu-ray, MPEG-2, WMV-HD, VC-1 and H.264
  • *A card reader interface with support for MMC, MS Pro HG, and SDHC/SDXC

Southbridge chips

Part numberPATASATARAIDNorth Bridge interconnectPCIPCI-eUSBAudioModemEthernet MACIntegrated super I/O
VT82C5864 ATA33NoNoPCI1.1NoNo
VT82C586A4 ATA33NoNoPCI1.1NoNo
VT82C586B4 ATA33NoNoPCI1.1NoNo
VT82C596A4 ATA33NoNoPCI1.1NoNo
VT82C596B4 ATA66NoNoPCI1.1NoNo
VT82C686A4 ATA66NoNoPCI4 1.1AC'97 & Sound BlasterYesNoYes
VT82C686B4 ATA100NoNoPCI4 1.1AC'97 & Sound BlasterYesNoYes
VT82314 ATA100NoNoPCI4 1.1AC'97 & Sound BlasterYesVIA 10/100 Ethernet or HomePNA Yes
VT82334 ATA100NoNo4× V-Link 266 MB/s6 1.1AC'97YesVIA 10/100 No
VT8233A4 ATA133NoNo4× V-Link 266 MB/s4 1.1AC'97YesNoNo
VT8233C4 ATA100NoNo4× V-Link 266 MB/s6 1.1AC'97Yes 3Com 10/100 No
VT82354 ATA133NoNo8× V-Link 533 MB/s6 2.0AC'97YesVIA 10/100No
VT82374 ATA1332 SATA-150, SATALite* RAID 0, 1, 0+1* & JBOD8× V-Link 533 MB/s / Ultra V-Link 8 2.0AC'97YesVIA 10/100No
VT8237A4 ATA1332 SATA-150, SATALite* RAID 0, 1, 0+1* & JBODUltra V-Link 8 2.0HD AudioYesVIA 10/100No
VT8237S*4 ATA1332 SATA-II, SATALite* RAID 0, 1, 0+1* & JBODUltra V-Link 8 2.0HD AudioYesVIA 10/100No
VT82514 ATA1334 SATA-II RAID 0, 1, 0+1* & JBODUltra V-Link 7×1-28 2.0HD AudioYesVIA 10/100No
VT82612 ATA1334 SATA-IINoUltra V-Link 512 2.0HD AudioYesVIA 10/100/1000No

  • The VT82C686A/B and VT8231 support hardware Sound Blaster Pro compatible sampled sound, and FM synthesis emulation through use of a TSR.
  • The SATALite interface allows for two additional SATA devices with use of a PHY chip which occupies the secondary PATA channel. It is required for RAID 0+1 on VT8237R Plus.
  • The VT8237 and VT8237R do not support SATA speed autonegotiation and will not work with SATA-II or III drives unless the drive has a compatibility mode jumper set. The VT8237R Plus supports SATA II drives but only at the 150 MB/S speed.
  • The SATA-II feature of VT8237S is limited to 300 MB/S Data Transfer Rate bearing no NCQ functionality.
  • Motherboards frequently had VIA companion chips for added functionality such as better audio, more/faster USB, or Gigabit Ethernet.
  • The software modem is supported through a MC'97 or HD Audio codec chip and requires external components to implement the electrical connection to the telephone line. This circuitry could be included on the motherboard directly but was typically added through a communications riser slot.
  • The chipset integrated Ethernet MAC requires an additional PHY chip. Some vendors opted to add a MAC and PHY from a different manufacturer instead of using the chipset's built in capability.

Hardware bugs

The KT133 chipset corrupted disk subsystems; specifically, the 686B Southbridge had issues with Creative's SBLive! sound cards. A BIOS update was released by VIA to fix this issue; however, it is not known if all motherboards with 686Bs had their BIOSes updated. The KT266 contains a hardware bug which can cause system instability when using the AGP slot at the 4× speed.