INTEL ROCKED THE Pentium 4 chipset market when it introduced its 875P and 865-series chipsets this past spring. These chipsets included support for a host of new features, including Serial ATA, RAID, dual channels of DDR400 memory, and an 800MHz front-side bus. The Taiwanese chipset makers who generally outfox Intel on new features were caught flat-footed, especially by the move to the 800MHz bus. However, VIA and SiS don't take long to incorporate new features into their chips, and they are poised to catch up with Intel in the next few months.

The first wave of response comes in the form of chipsets with 800MHz bus support and single-channel DDR400 memory controllers. These new chipsets, the VIA PT800 and the SiS 648FX, are aimed at the broad middle of the market, where dual-channel memory configs aren't necessarily worth the extra cost. SiS and VIA will no doubt aim to undercut Intel's prices significantly with these products, all the while arguing that single-channel memory solutions offer very decent cost-effective performance.

Naturally, we'd like to put that proposition to the test. We'd also like to satisfy our own sometimes-twisted curiosities. Could it be possible a second channel of 400MHz memory isn't necessary to get to most out of a processor with an 800MHz bus? Can VIA and SiS manage to make products that will stand out against the backdrop of Intel's impressive new chipsets? And, most importantly, can we make some really huge—I mean so huge, it's almost sick—graphs and tables about these new chipsets? Keep reading for the answers.