Via was founded in 1997 and it has since proven to be a worthy competitor to the Intel behemoth. In some areas, I actually like the Via chipsets better than those of Intel. Let\’s go through some of the chipsets Via has to offer:

Apollo Pro 133
This chipset, as you can tell from the name, supports the newer PC133 standard, meaning it can support 100MHz and 133MHz system busses. This helps to ensure that the chipset will be useful for a little while. The chipset is comprised of the VT82C693A system controller and the VT82C596B bus controller. It supports all Slot 1 processors as well as Socket 370 processors, and it supports UDMA/66 and AGP 2X, USB, ACPI, etc. Like other Via chipsets, it also supports the asynchronous memory bus, meaning that the memory can operate at a different speed than the main system bus. Overall, a great chipset, and one you no doubt see a lot of these days.

Apollo KM133
The KM133 is another Via creation designed for Athlon and Duron-based PC\’s. It is an offshoot of the KT 133, but has integrated video, in the form of S3\’s Savage4 and Savage2000 graphics cores. It provides AGP 4X support and ATA-100.

Apollo KX133
The KX133 is Via\’s solution to the Athlon-based high-performance PC. Obviously, it supports the 200MHz EV-6 front-side bus common to AMD Athlon systems. It also supports AGP 4X, PC133 and UDMA/66.

Apollo Pro Plus
This is a very flexible version of the Apollo Pro chipset, one that is meant to serve a variety of different functions, including mobile use. It supports Slot 1 and Socket 370 processors. It\’s borther does not support the Socket 370 Celeron processors. It uses the same VT82C693 north bridge, but uses the newer VT82C596A south bridge which incorporates power management features.

Apollo Pro
The Apollo Pro is a popular chipset from Via that supports the Slot 1 processor. It comes in two configurations. (1) The energy-conscious version uses the VT82C691 north bridge with the VT82C596 south bridge. (2) high-performance users can use the VT82C691 with the VT82C586B south bridge. It offers support of PC100, UDMA/33, AGP2X and, of course, multiple memory configurations. It also supports using different kinds of memory, such as SDRAM, EDO, etc, so that users don\’t have to necessarily invest in new memory.

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