PCI express x16 doesn't come into the equation until around March or June of 2004 - so we can already assume Nvidia and ATI will have PCI express x16 videocards available at that time. Note that the SIS 756 supports socket 754 Athlon64 and socket 939 Athlon64 FX processors. Looks as though March is the end of the line for socket 940 Athlon64 FX chips...

SIS 746FX SIS 748 SIS 755 SIS 741 SIS 760 SIS 756 SIS 761 Class value main. perf. value main. perf. main. Release Q4'03 Q4'03 Q4'03 Oct '03 Oct '03 Mar '04 Jun '03 DDR Memory DDR400 DDR400 DDR400 DDR400 DDR400 DDR400 DDR400 AGP AGP8x AGP8x AGP8x AGP8x AGP8x - - PCI Express x16 - - - - - PCI Express x16 PCI Express x16 Graphics - - - Real256E GFX Ultra256 GFX - DX9 SIS GFX CPU AthlonXP AthlonXP A64/Opt AthlonXP Athlon64 A64/Opt Athlon64 Socket 462 462 754/940 462 754 754/939 754 Front Side Bus 333MHz 400MHz 1600MT/s 400MHz 1600MT/s 2000MT/s 2000MT/s Hyperstreaming Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine Hyper-streaming Engine

SiS' southbridge lineup is a lot less complicated, with just four mainstream and performance chipsets expected. These include the SIS 964, 964L, 965, and 966. Looking at the SIS 964 series which is currently available, SIS' southbridge includes the following; MuTIOL 1G, (8) USB ports, (4) ATA133, (2) SATA with RAID, 10/100, and AC97 2.3.

The next big step up occurs in March of 2004 with the introduction of the SIS 965 southbridge, which looks something like this; MuTIOL 1G, (8) USB2.0, (4) ATA133, (4) SATA with RAID, (2) PCI express x1, 10/100/1000 LAN, and AC97 2.3 audio.

After that, we have to look towards August of 2004 for the SiS 966 southbrigde which is spec'd out something like this; MuTIOL 2G, (8) USB2.0, (4) ATA133, (4) SATA with RAID, (4) PCI Express x1, 10/100/1000 LAN, and Intel's next generation audio codec 'Azalia'/AC972.3

While there isn't much more to go over at this time, it does look as though 2004 will bring about some radical changes to the computer as we know it. Serial ATA arrived this year and failed to change much, if anything despite being included on virtually every motherboard now. Will PCI express x16 and x1 slots fair the same?

Chances are, while we will still have the option to use PCI and PCI express x1 on the same motherboard, the complete shift to PCI Express x16 from AGP8x will bring about a swift transition. The sad part is, the expensive videocards consumers will be purchasing this holiday season will be obsolete by the end of 2004.