ULi M1575 for ATI Crossfire – SATA2 and Fast USB for the ATI Chipset

Final Words

With the introduction of the ULi M1575 South Bridge, the last issues with the ATI chipset are finally cleared up. The M1575 fixes the sub-par USB 2.0 performance of the ATI SB450 and it brings the missing SATA2 and NCQ performance to the ATI Crossfire and Xpress 200. When combined with the ATI Rx480/482 North Bridge, the ULi M1575 delivers a competitive set of features that will not be available with an ATI South Bridge until the SB600 in early 2006.

The only missing ingredient for the ULi M1575 is built-in support for Gigabit LAN, as the chipset only directly supports 10/100 Ethernet. Of course this compares to the ATI SB450, which offers no on-chipset LAN at all. Our advice for both South Bridges is to make sure you are getting a board with a PCIe implementation of Gigabit LAN, as the PCI version will limit bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet.

We have learned that many of the delays that we are experiencing in retail delivery of the ATI chipset motherboards - both Crossfire and single-video - are because many manufacturers made the last-minute decision to use the ULi M1575 South Bridge. Development and delivery of the M1575 has taken longer than ULi originally expected, but M1575 chips are finally on their way to manufacturers.

The reality of the M1575 only makes the wait for retail AMD Crossfire motherboards even more frustrating, but it finally appears that the wait is only a few more days. DFI tells us that their first retail ATI Enthusiast Crossfire boards will appear at E-tailers, like New Egg, sometime next week. DFI also plans a second version of an enthusiast ATI board that will appear 2 to 3 weeks after the first Crossfire AMD version. MSI, Gigabyte and ECS will have boards available by the end of October. MSI will use both ULi M1575 and ATI SB450 on their ATI chipset boards, depending on the target audience.

Asus now confirms that they are committed to a Crossfire AMD, in addition to the announced Crossfire Intel, that will appear by the end of October. Asus made the decision to use the ULi M1575 chipset tested here, and delays have been caused by the qualification and delayed shipments of the M1575 South Bridge. We also learned that Abit will begin selling an enthusiast-geared Crossfire AMD that is scheduled to appear sometime in early November.

The ULi M1575, when combined with the ATI Rx480/482 Northbridge, makes the chipset a much more attractive offering in the current market. Those who are concerned about USB performance or SATA2 and NCQ will now be able to choose ATI chipset boards that use the ULi M1575 South Bridge. If these are not critical features in your choice, you can still choose a board with the SB450 South Bridge. Both feature excellent Azalia HD audio - the first chipsets to feature HD audio for the AMD processor. Both also feature excellent IDE and SATA performance.

Choice is good - in South Bridges, chipsets, and boards. Choice means competition and competition means better value. The AMD and Intel motherboard markets are about to get a lot more interesting.