Via Chipsets

Apollo MVP4
The MVP4 was/is basically an MVP3 with an integrated video controller. Using the VT8501 north bridge with the newer VT82C686 south bridge, it uses an integrated AGP 2.0 2D/3D video controller with DVD-support and optional TV output. This chipset supports only Socket 7 processors, but tries to support them with the latest ameninities including PC100, UDMA/33 and UDMA/66, USB and ACPI power management.

Apollo P6
This is an older chipset intended for Pentium Pro systems. It contains features that optimize the performance of this processor.

Apollo VP3
With Intel’s release of the 440LX chipset, which supports AGP, consumers were limited to the Slot 1 architecture if they wanted AGP. But, then, BAM! Via comes out with the first Socket 7 Pentium chipset that supported AGP, the VP3. It thus supports the Pentium, Pentium MMX, AMD K5, K6, and the Cyrix 6×86 processors. Combine the support of the VP2 with larger CPU-DRAM write buffers, support for 1 gig of cacheable RAM, and AGP support, and you’ve got yourself a VP3 chipset. It uses the VT82C597 system controller and the VT82C586B PCI-to-ISA bridge. While it indeed a powerful chipset, it’s biggest letdown was that it does not support the 100MHz bus speed.

Apollo VP2
The VP2 hit the spotlight with a bang, easily hitting the top of the list for Socket 7 chipsets and bumping head to head with the Intel competition. The VP2 chipset combines the best features found in all Socket-7 chipsets, from BEDO and SDRAM support to UMA and UltraDMA support. VP2 offers support for 512 MB of RAM, all cacheable, as well as up to 2MB or L2 cache. The VP2 is indeed a powerful chipset. The only downer is that it does not support AGP. This support was offered in the VP3. The VP2 is used with all Pentiums, Cyrix 6×86′s, and AMD’s K5 and K6.

Apollo VP1
The chipset that marked the entrance of Via into the mainstream market. Although now, VP1 is considered slow and meager, in the times of the 430FX, VP1 packed a punch. Via offered support for options such as EDO, BEDO and SDRAM as well as UltraDMA hard well before Intel ever got around to it. It lacks power saving features, but it was the design of this chipset that was used in the more popular VP2 as well as the VPX.

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