New ULI M1697 Chipset
Anandtech has taken a look at the latest and greatest new chipset from ULI for the AMD platform. With nearly all the features of the nForce4 chipset (its main competition) and solid performance to back up those features, the more economical ULI chipset could prove to actually be a great alternative to NVIDIA's chipset. That is, unless you had your heart set on SLI or Crossfire and had any hope of having solid support for it.
ULi continues to build some of the most interesting chipsets that we have tested in the AMD market. Unfortunately for ULI, not many manufacturers have been willing to produce new boards with the new ULi chipsets. We understand that the M1697 will see the light of day from some Tier One manufacturers. Abit also tells us that they will be producing a ULi M1697 that fully exploits the chipset capabilities. We are anxious to see where manufacturers will position the ULi chipset. If the production boards also perform well as Enthusiast-oriented boards, the ULi M1697 could certainly become a strong player in the bang-for the-buck market. If SLI/Crossfire support appears, the ULi M1697 chipset could be even more.
