VIA P4PA Socket 478 Motherboard Review
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on March 1, 2002 at 2:28:21 PM
PCStats has a review of a new VIA board.
The P4PA supports existing 400MHz based Pentium 4 processors, and goes an extra step further by including support for the up and coming 533MHz Pentium 4 processor. This is great for peace of mind in terms of upgradeability.
Two other forms of future-proofing are included on the VIA P4PA; an onboard network card, and USB2.0 controller. It's really sad to say that the MAC world has been beating PC's blindly on this front for many years. As broadband is the preferred means of connecting to the internet, NIC's (Network Interface Card) are basic required equipment these days. By including the NIC on the mainboard, and locating the RJ-45 jack just above the two USB ports, consumers can save a few dollars, and some time as they no longer have to buy and install the card in an empty PCI slot. The onboard 10/100 Ethernet comes thanks to the RT8100A controller, and along with onboard audio using VIA's AC'97 codec, the VIA VT6202 chipset also brings support for USB2.0
The P4PA supports existing 400MHz based Pentium 4 processors, and goes an extra step further by including support for the up and coming 533MHz Pentium 4 processor. This is great for peace of mind in terms of upgradeability.
Two other forms of future-proofing are included on the VIA P4PA; an onboard network card, and USB2.0 controller. It's really sad to say that the MAC world has been beating PC's blindly on this front for many years. As broadband is the preferred means of connecting to the internet, NIC's (Network Interface Card) are basic required equipment these days. By including the NIC on the mainboard, and locating the RJ-45 jack just above the two USB ports, consumers can save a few dollars, and some time as they no longer have to buy and install the card in an empty PCI slot. The onboard 10/100 Ethernet comes thanks to the RT8100A controller, and along with onboard audio using VIA's AC'97 codec, the VIA VT6202 chipset also brings support for USB2.0