Chipsets

To correctly support the new 800Mhz bus model(s) you will need a new chipset. Although motherboard manufacturers like Abit have released solutions based on the older 845PE chipset that support the new bus speed, I would highly recommend waiting for Dual Channel solutions. Like I said before, there is no point running these new CPU’s with single channel DDR chipsets.

One thing is for sure; Intel is focusing on high performance and feature packed solutions. For the most part these chipsets have everything you need minus firewire. Audio buffs might opt for a PCI based sound card, but for the average user, Audio support looks great. As I’ve said a million times, integration of components is the future. From what I can see today, Intel is moving in the right direction with their new line of chipsets. In the last year Intel has produced some very high performing stable chipsets (the E7205 for example). I don’t doubt that these new chipsets will be anything but that.

Supporting DDR 400Mhz was a great move. DDR DRAM has a promising future and should meet the needs of even the most demanding user. I feel that Rambus memory is history for now. Dual DDR 400Mhz memory now meets the maximum bandwidth possible. There is no need for anything new yet.

SIS also has their chipsets lined up for the new Pentium 4. These chipsets include the 655FX and 648FX. The 655FX will be an updated version to the 655 supporting the new 800Mhz bus and hopefully DDR400. From what other sites have reported so far, the 648FX will be an inexpensive single channel DDR solution with support the 800Mhz bus.

The overall layout of the 865 and 875 chipset are very similar. The CSA bus will provide a dedicated link to high-speed network devices like Gigabit Ethernet. Having a dedicated link takes stress away from the PCI bus and allows for better I/O performance. The CSA link is slated to provide around 2GB/s of bandwidth. All of Intel’s new chipsets here support Dual Channel DDR configurations and AGP 8X. The new south bridge, the ICH5 supports the following:

-Two Serial ATA Channel (One drive per channel)

-Software RAID

-One ATA 100 Channel

-Audio

-8 High Speed USB 2.0

-6 PCI slots

As software RAID begins to saturate the market, the need for third party RAID chips will definitely drop. Of course, the need for RAID chips will always be great in the server market. Having software RAID should cut down on motherboard cost.

875P

The 875P will be geared toward the high end work station and enthusiast market. It is slated to have great memory performance, better than the 865 chipsets. It will support the new “Turbo Mode” and ECC Memory. The 875P will work with the new Prescott core based on the .09 micron process.

865PE

The 865PE is the lower cost mainstream chipset. It will still sport great performance and support for Dual DDR 400Mhz. It should only have slightly less performance. For the most part it’s a decent solution to consider.

865P

The 865P is the most watered down version supporting a front side bus of 400Mhz/533Mhz and support for Dual DDR 333Mhz. This is a low end chipset and will not support the new Prescott core.

865G

The 865G is the 865PE with Intel Extreme Graphics 2. This should be a good high performing solution for OEM’s and system builders.