Iwill DVD266-R Dual Socket-370 Apollo Pro266 Preview

Final Words

Only about a month after the release of the VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset, dual Socket-370 motherboards using the chipset have started to emerge. This is quite different from the release of the Apollo Pro133A, where such boards did not appear in the market for months after its release. This is likely because the Apollo Pro133A was VIA's first attempt at an SMP capable chipset, but now they've got all the kinks worked out. Therefore, don't be too surprised to see quite a few dual processor motherboards using the Apollo Pro266 chipset come out soon.

Iwill jumped out to be the first manufacturer to send us a dual Socket-370 motherboard using the Apollo Pro266 chipset, but we are not overly impressed. Although it brings us some decent performance numbers, there is still quite a bit of room for improvement, as we have seen in the synthetic benchmark tests.

Feature wise, the board integrates an on-board RAID controller and six USB ports, which is pretty impressive.

Stability is definitely the most important aspect to consider when dealing with server applications, and Iwill also needs to put in more effort with the DVD266-R before the final revision. They need a rock solid solution if they want to have any hopes of competing in this market. The layout of the DVD266-R could also be a concern for airflow and the use of longer PCI cards.

Last of all, price could also be a big factor with such a board and is another area Iwill will likely try to compete in. If dual processor motherboards using Apollo Pro266 are going to be significantly more expensive than those using the Apollo Pro133A, the performance gains of the Apollo Pro266 are probably not worth the extra cost in most cases.