..:: Introduction ::..

VIA’s recent introduction of their Platform Solutions Division, VPSD, was a move that had been in the planning stages for quite a long time. According to VIA, the purpose of VPSD is to help accelerate the rate at which the latest and greatest chipsets, along with other technologies can reach the market. VIA is well known for their “A” revision chipsets, all of which have brought incredible performance with them. One thing is for certain, VIA can make some high performance chipsets, but can they pump out some high performance motherboards too? Today we’ll be taking a look at the feature packed P4PA based off of VIA’s P4X266A chipset.

..:: Specifications ::..

Processor

• Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor (478pin)
• 533/400MHz Front Side Bus

Chipset

• VIA Apollo P4X266A North Bridge
• VT8233A South Bridge

Memory

• 3 DDR266 DIMM sockets
• Up to 3GB memory size

Expansion Slots

• 1 AGP 4X slot (supports 1.5V and 3.3V AGP 1X/2X/4X cards)
• 6 PCI slots
• 1 CNR

Onboard LAN

• Realtek RTL8100BL 10/100 Base-T Fast Ethernet Controller

Onboard Audio

• VIA VT1612A AC'97 2 channel Codec

Onboard USB

• VIA VT6202 USB 2.0

I/O

• 2 USB ports (1 connector for 2 additional external USB ports)
• 2 serial ports
• 1 parallel port
• 1 PS/2 mouse port
• 1 PS/2 keyboard port
• 1 game/MIDI port
• 1 RJ-45 LAN Port
• 3 audio jacks: line-out, line-in and mic-in

BIOS

• Award BIOS
• 2Mbit flash memory
• System Monitoring & Management
• CPU/system temperature monitoring
• CPU voltage monitoring
• CPU/chassis fan speed monitoring
• Wake-on-LAN,Keyboard-Power-on, Timer-Power-on
• System power management
• AC power failure recovery

Onboard IDE

• ATA/133/100/66
• 2 IDE connectors

Form Factor

• ATX (4 layers)
• 30.5cm x 22.5cm