The 963L is identical to the previous 963 South Bridge in its feature set, which includes dual ATA/133 IDE controllers, support for up to 6 USB 2.0 ports, integrated Ethernet MAC, AC’97 audio support and a 3-port IEEE-1394 (Firewire) controller.
As with SiS’ previous chipsets, the North and South Bridge are linked using their own Multithreaded I/O Link (MuTIOL) technology. MuTIOL is SiS’ answer to Intel’s Hub Architecture and VIA’s V-Link, a serial interconnect between the North and South Bridges.
New to the 648FX is the SiS 180 SATA controller, which gives the board 2 channels of SATA and a single Parallel ATA channel. It provides for Raid 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD.
SiS sent me a 648FX reference board, which is why this is a performance preview, rather than a review, as this board can give you an idea of where production 648FX’s will stand, but doesn’t have the features of a production motherboard. (Sorry kids, no overclocking). As in usual SiS reference board fashion, this thing is a monster. Its mammoth size is designed to aid in debugging. Since it won’t fit in anything smaller than a server case, the board includes power and reset switches built right in. Neat eh?
