ABOUT BENCH FORUMS PODCAST LOGIN REGISTER
PC Components
Smartphones & tablets
Systems
ENTERPRISE & IT
GUIDES

FIRST LOOK: ULi M1695 PCIe/AGP Socket 939 for Athlon 64

by Wesley Fink on July 13, 2005 12:05 AM EST
72 Comments | Add A Comment
72 Comments
As we reported form Computex, the talk of the show was ATI's new Crossfire dual-video solution for AMD and Intel. Part of that talk was the development work done with ULi on the ATI South Bridge and the cross-compatibility of the ULi South Bridge using the ATI chipset. ULi is what remains of the ALi chipset division of Acer, and this now independent chipmaker has been very busy in several arenas. In addition to South Bridges which can work with the chipsets of other manufacturers, ULi also makes single-chip and dual-chip solutions for Athlon 64.

ATI certainly had the spotlight with their new chipset, but one of the newest and most interesting chipsets introduced at Computex was also from ULi - the M1695 HyperTransport PCI Express Tunnel Chip for AMD Athlon 64 platforms.

Just a month after the Computex launch, ULi has provided a Reference Board for their new chipset based on the M1695 coupled with a M1567 South Bridge. This combination is significant because it provides a full x16 PCIe video slot with an AGP 8X slot. ULi tells us that this is a full-performance AGP slot without compromise. We have seen others try to provide AGP support (ECS, Biostar) on a PCIe board by deriving the AGP from PCI, but these solutions were 50 to 60% the performance of a true 8X AGP, negating much of the reason for the AGP slot. This ULi solution, however, is a full-performance AGP 8X, combined with a full-performance x16 PCIe.

The ULi M1695/M1567 is really even more as it also supports PCI graphics. With this ULi chipset, you can simultaneously use PCI Express X16, AGP 8X, and PCI graphics. As ULi puts it in their Press Release:
"M1695's innovative HyperTransport tunnel architecture integrates non-blocking symmetrical HyperTransportTM 2.0 links which enables motherboard manufacturers and system integrators to pair up M1695 with other high performance HyperTransport-based chipsets and bridge devices either natively or via the HTXTM connector. When coupled with ULi's M1567 south bridge, the combination offers motherboard manufacturers the unprecedented capability to support PCI Express x16, AGP 8X, PCI graphics cards simultaneously on the same mainboard. Such capability makes it possible to create a fully surrounding virtual reality environment using multiple high resolution displays driven by the three graphics technologies residing in the same computer system."

ULi M1695 Chipset
PRINT THIS ARTICLE
Comments Locked

72 Comments

View All Comments

  • Zebo - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Thanks Wes but why no disk, USB, or network performance comparisons?

    This board(s) is DOA IMO..

    Crap realtek audio and no video don't even let it enter the bargian market unlike ATI will do.

    second Uli is a nobody in our market like SiS and won't get any serious attention from the likes of ASUS/ABIT/DFI/Gigabyte performance works.




  • kmmatney - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Woohoo! Just what I needed so I can keep my video card (6600GT) while upgrading from my Athlon XP. Waht we NEED though, is a Palermo for Socket 939.

  • JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    </didn't read the first paragraph on the last page>

    :blush;

    Any guesses on which manufacturers will be using the chipsets then? Asus, Abit, MSI, etc?

  • JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Any idea on when the chipset will be available in retail markets?

    That is VERY impressive. :thumbsup; ULi

  • Cookie Crusher - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Three words: I want one.

    Ok, some more words: This board is what I think many people have been clamouring for since early this year. A true bridge board that allows all of us average people to make the switch with the maximum amount of flexibility is what we've wanted.

    The fact that it performs well is gravy. For all of us who jumped in on socket 754 early on and have waited to switch to socket 939 (and necessarily pci-e) this now let's us make the move without gouging our wallets.

  • ocyl - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Driver support? Linux?

  • Zepper - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    ocworkbench has had several articles on this chipset. Check that out too.

    .bh.

  • Furen - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    #4: Hell yeah, now we just need for someone to actually make these...

  • ryanv12 - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    whoa! I didn't know we were getting these boards! And here I was, about to upgrade to a PCI-E board, reluctantly. I think I'll just do Dual-Core and pick up this motherboard and drop in a GTX later. I have a 6800GT that's still pretty competent :)

  • Shinei - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    The only thing I care about is PRICE. If these suckers roll out for $80-$100 cheaper than the nForce4 SLI boards, guess where my money's going... And I'm taking my 6800GT with me! :)
Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved.
BENCH
TOPICS
FOLLOW
ABOUT

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now