Getting ready to tackle some newer hardware, SiS today announced the availability of the SiS662 chipset, originally demonstrated earlier this year. Several motherboard manufacturers are already producing motherboards around it, including Asus, Abit, DFI, Foxconn, ECS and others. Based off the earlier SiS661, 662 fully supports newer processor features such as dual-core processors, DDR2-667 RAM and PCI-Ex. While both Intel and nVidia beat SiS to the punch here, there are very few low-cost alternatives to a nice 945/955 chipset and not everyone needs an nForce 4.

662 is coupled with one of two different southbridges, either the 966 or 966L. They will both feature PCI Express 1x connectors. SiS662 also has a single PCI Express 16x connector, so while you won't be getting SLI support you'll definitely have room for a beefier graphics card.

While the 662 isn't a showstopper, SiS has shown great improvement with their chipsets over the past few years and have been doing good at offering less expensive or better fitting alternatives to other chipsets. Let's hope that holds true for SiS's newest lineup.