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2005-07-27, 15:53:03
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Last month, Taiwan-based chipset vendor ULi Electronics announced that its M1695 tunnel chip for the AMD platform has successfully passed PCIe certification tests and the company received a testimonial from Rambus (see a June 28 article). Here are some more details about Rambus–ULi PCIe developments recently learned from ULi.
According to ULi associate vice president Bruce Tai, the company has the right to use Rambus interface solutions for PCIe links since an agreement was signed in July 2003. Rambus PCIe serial link interface products now include physical layer (PHY) cells and digital controllers, according to the company. The PHY cells, such as those utilized by ULi in its chips, represent the analog part of the PCIe interface implementing signaling functions and synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Each cell has one transmitter and one receiver, and it also offers a configurable physical coding sublayer (PCS) providing an interface to the PCIe media access control (MAC) and upper logic layers.
Rambus is currently providing customers with several implementations of its PCIe PHY cells designed for TSMC and UMC manufacturing processes and varying by the foundry-process generations, the company said. ULi is using PHY cells under the guideline for the 0.18-micron process at UMC, according to Tai.
Since the M1695 chip supports up to twenty PCIe lanes, the same amount of the PHY cells should be put into the chip. However, only three PCIe digital controllers are necessary for the M1695 to operate with those cells, and the controllers are ULi’s own development, Tai mentioned.
After passing the certification tests in mid-June at the PCI-SIG Compliance Workshop in Milpitas, California, the M1695 is now included in the PCI Express Integrators List published by the PCI-SIG. There are currently six chips from VIA Technologies and 10 from Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), two other Taiwan-based chipset vendors, mentioned in the list.
The M1695 has been in mass production since June, Tai emphasized. Some motherboard makers, such as ASRock, Chaintech and Jetway, displayed M1695-based products at Computex (see a June 2 article). Asustek Computer also showed its interest to the M1695 when the chip was officially launched in Taipei in April.
In addition to the M1695, ULi is currently utilizing the Rambus IP in all its PCIe supporting products, such as the M1573 and M1575 southbridges designed for coupling with ATI north bridges, Tai said. “We do not plan to certify the M1573 and M1575 in the PCI-SIG because these products are designed to only support those ATI chips through PCIe connections. Our next product to be certified in the PCI-SIG will most likely be the M1697 single-chip solution for the AMD K8 platform,” he stated.
Samples of the M1697 chip are expected to be available in August, Tai said
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20050726PR204.html
Last month, Taiwan-based chipset vendor ULi Electronics announced that its M1695 tunnel chip for the AMD platform has successfully passed PCIe certification tests and the company received a testimonial from Rambus (see a June 28 article). Here are some more details about Rambus–ULi PCIe developments recently learned from ULi.
According to ULi associate vice president Bruce Tai, the company has the right to use Rambus interface solutions for PCIe links since an agreement was signed in July 2003. Rambus PCIe serial link interface products now include physical layer (PHY) cells and digital controllers, according to the company. The PHY cells, such as those utilized by ULi in its chips, represent the analog part of the PCIe interface implementing signaling functions and synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Each cell has one transmitter and one receiver, and it also offers a configurable physical coding sublayer (PCS) providing an interface to the PCIe media access control (MAC) and upper logic layers.
Rambus is currently providing customers with several implementations of its PCIe PHY cells designed for TSMC and UMC manufacturing processes and varying by the foundry-process generations, the company said. ULi is using PHY cells under the guideline for the 0.18-micron process at UMC, according to Tai.
Since the M1695 chip supports up to twenty PCIe lanes, the same amount of the PHY cells should be put into the chip. However, only three PCIe digital controllers are necessary for the M1695 to operate with those cells, and the controllers are ULi’s own development, Tai mentioned.
After passing the certification tests in mid-June at the PCI-SIG Compliance Workshop in Milpitas, California, the M1695 is now included in the PCI Express Integrators List published by the PCI-SIG. There are currently six chips from VIA Technologies and 10 from Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), two other Taiwan-based chipset vendors, mentioned in the list.
The M1695 has been in mass production since June, Tai emphasized. Some motherboard makers, such as ASRock, Chaintech and Jetway, displayed M1695-based products at Computex (see a June 2 article). Asustek Computer also showed its interest to the M1695 when the chip was officially launched in Taipei in April.
In addition to the M1695, ULi is currently utilizing the Rambus IP in all its PCIe supporting products, such as the M1573 and M1575 southbridges designed for coupling with ATI north bridges, Tai said. “We do not plan to certify the M1573 and M1575 in the PCI-SIG because these products are designed to only support those ATI chips through PCIe connections. Our next product to be certified in the PCI-SIG will most likely be the M1697 single-chip solution for the AMD K8 platform,” he stated.
Samples of the M1697 chip are expected to be available in August, Tai said
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20050726PR204.html