nVidia has been the undisputed chipset king in the past few years, with the nForce line being an absolute knock out performer again and again. Rival chipset makers VIA and SiS have improved, but the performance crown still goes to nVidia - Even over Intel's very nice 945/955 chipsets. That just might change, though, and a few benchmarks of a Sapphire motherboard built with ATI's unveiling of their motherboard chipset are proving it. The "Pure Innovation" PI-A9RX480 motherboard is reviewed in great detail. This board has it all. Amazing looks, awesome features, and extreme performance. Six SATA ports, stability at a whopping 245mHz FSB, and sporting the new Radeon 200P motherboard chipset from ATI.
Although it doesn't completely wipe the floor with the nForce 4, it does come close - So close, in fact, that the first release of a chipset should do so good is amazing. Competition is a good thing. nVidia has had their cake for a while. Now they may have to eat it. With ATI now on the same stomping grounds, we will no doubt see some extreme performers in the next few months from both of these companies, which means great things for us.