Asus A7V333 Manual page 11

VIA USB 2.0 Controller
Thus far, USB 2.0 has been the domain of NEC with their different variations of USB2.0 controller chips in QFP or BGA format. This
will certainly change in the near future since VIA's own USB controller chip (VT6202) has rolled out a few weeks ago and will, by
sheer convenience, replace the NEC IC on VIA chipset-based mainboards. The A7V333 is the first board where we see this
particular on-board USB 2.0 interface but it'll move into the mainboard field very fast.
CMedia Onboard Sound
The 6-channel CMI8378 chip has almost become a commodity with high-end mainboards and the only serious competition is the on-
board Sound-Blaster as seen on some GigaByte boards. The sound quality is more than acceptable and makes any additional sound
card rather superfluous which is just another reason for the above-mentioned lack of the ACR slot, there is simply no need for
another, software-based audio interface.
The included backpanel bracket features two IEEE 1394 Firewire ports. The wide connector on the cable plugs into the mainboard
IEEE 1394 connector.
IEEE 1394 OnBoard Firewire
A novel integrated peripheral is the on-board IEEE 1394a Firewire using the TexasInstruments TSB43AB21 chip. This IEEE 1394a
integrated link controller and physical layer (PHY) device features an integrated 400-megabit per second (Mbps) 1-port compatible
with version 1.1 of the Open Host Control Interface (OHCI) specification. Intelligent integrated power management and a 1.8-V core
operating voltage with universal PCI interfaces compatible with 3.3-V and 5-V PCI signaling environments make the TI controller the
probably most suitable IC for integrated Firewire. Keep in mind that this particular chip only features a single port. This also means
that one needs to make a decision which of the two interfaces offered on the bracket will be used since the cable can only be
connected to one of the two interfaces at the time.