CrossFire Xpress 3200: RD580 for AM2

ATI SB600

SB600 has finally arrived with the ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 AM2. This new Southbridge is here just in time to offset the disappearing ULi M1575 Southbridge chips. The SB600 introduction gives manufacturers the option to uses a full and up-to-date ATI chipset for AM2 and earlier Athlon64 processors.

Feature	ATI SB450	ATI SB600	NVIDIA nForce4	NVIDIA 590
SATA Type	SATA No NCQ	SATA2 NCQ, AHCI	SATA2 NCQ	SATA2 NCQ
Maximum SATA Speed	1.5Gb/s	3Gb/s	3Gb/s	3Gb/s
SATA Ports	4	4	4	6
RAID Support	0, 1, 0+1, JBOD	0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10, JBOD	0, 1, 0+1, JBOD	0, 1, 0+1, 5, JBOD
USB Ports	8 USB 2.0	10 USB 2.0	10 USB 2.0	10 USB 2.0
LAN	10/100 PCI	1Gb Ethernet PCIe for PHY	1Gb Ethernet PCIe for PHY	2x1Gb Ethernet PCIe for PHY (Can be Combined)
IDE	4 devices (2 Channels)	2 devices (1 Channels)	4 devices (2 Channels)	2 devices (1 Channels)
AUDIO	HD Azalia	HD Azalia	AC'97	HD Azalia
PCIe Lanes	40	40 Total 2 x16 4 lanes for x1,x2,x4 4 for NB/SB links	44	46 Total 7 links

SB600 provides the features users want, and our testing found USB 2.0 performance to be competitive. SATA and IDE performance are also excellent. Unfortunately for ATI, the standard for features in the industry is a moving target, and NVIDIA now offers 6 SATA2 ports vs.4 on their new Southbridge. NVIDIA also implements 2x1Gb PCIe Ethernet ports which can be combined to provide 2Gb/s Ethernet.



The good news for ATI is that unlike SB450, the new SB600 really does not give up any important performance or check list features. Manufacturers can then add whatever they wish to SB600 to target certain segments. To demonstrate this ATI included two Silicon Image 3132 SATA2 disk controllers on the reference board to bring the total to 8 SATA2 ports. ATI no longer has to apologize for their Southbridge, but the latest NVIDIA offering does provide more ports in the chipset. It is also worth noting that the NVIDIA 500 family fully supports High Definition audio now - a feature long supported by ATI but absent in the NVIDIA nForce4 chipsets.