Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2
by Wesley Fink on June 19, 2004 3:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Chipset Feature Comparison
With all of the new chipset options and features, a scorecard might help to understand the new 925X/915 chipsets and supported options.|
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| 1 Adaptive Synchronization aligns to the closest FSB to memory clock ratio, setting memory channel to 320 MHz. 2 Does not support Pentium® 4 or Celeron® processors with a .18µ core. 3 ICH5R support Intel® RAID. 4 Supports only Pentium® 4 processors based on 90nm manufacturing technology 5 Hyper-Threading Technology support starting with B-step. 6 DDR 333 support starting with Bstep. |
If you look closely at the features, you will see that Intel High-Definition audio is available on all the new chipsets, even the value-oriented 915GV. This is only part of the story, however, since the Southbridge must be combined with an audio codec that supports all the High-Definition features. You will need to look closely at the motherboard specifications to see what audio features are actually supported by the motherboard manufacturer.
Intel's commitment to Gigabit LAN is also apparent in the across-the-board support for Gigabit LAN on the new 775 chipsets. PCI Express x16 is the only Graphics Slot supported. 4 SATA ports and one IDE channel are available on all the new 775 chipsets.
Much good and bad has been reported about Intel's use of DDR2 with the new 925X/915 chipset. Intel is apparently hedging their bets on DDR2, since you will see that DDR2 is only required for the top-end 925X. All of the 915 chipsets can support either DDR or DDR2, depending on what the motherboard manufacturer chooses to support. There are even a few dual-memory socket 775 boards, like the Gigabyte that we use later in the review to compare the performance of DDR and DDR2 memory. Intel is clearly supporting DDR2 on the Intel 915 board that we are testing, but most 3rd party manufacturers appear to be supporting DDR on their 915 motherboards.
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Wesley Fink - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
#22 & #23 - This will all make more sense when Derek's companion piece is posted later today, which compares the 3.6, 3.4EE, and AMD chipsets.There is no 3.6EE, and we considered comparing the 3.4EE, but the early benches showed the 3.6 to be a fairer comparison. The 3.6 is the only new Intel chip and the top (3.4EE is just a new 775 package launch) and the FX53 is the top AMD chip. The FX53 runs at the same speed as the 3800+ (2.4GHz) but has twice the cache, and both are Dual-Channel Socket 939. The FX55 will not be released until late this year.
Comparing last year's 3200+, the first Socket 754 Athlon 64 and single-channel, to the just-released 560 (3.6GHz) compares nothing.
Bozo Galora - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
If the chipset supports only one IDE channel, why does the Gigabyte board have two green IDE sockets.Am I missing something?
I really wanna know, because only one IDE means I dont buy this stuff.
shabby - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
So when are the dual core cpu's coming out? Think ill wait for those.SDA - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
That's just it, though, the FX-53 is just a few tens of dollars more than the 3800+, so some people figure why not? AMD is overcharging because they know they can get away with it..stephenbrooks - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
Maybe replace '3500+' by '3800+' above.stephenbrooks - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
One interesting thing is the difference it makes which AMD chip people compare the 3.6E to in these reviews. Before coming here I read the one at http://www.bit-tech.net/review/326/ and came away thoroughly impressed. The clincher was that they compared to the A64 3200+ whereas this review compared to the FX-53.I'm not totally sure if the 3.6E _should_ be compared to the FX-53, being as it is marketed as a '560', in the 5xx 'mid-range' desktop segment for Intel. A better comparison for the high-price-end might be 3.4/3.46EE vs. FX-53 or '720' vs. FX-55 later on.
I'd think 3.6E vs. A64 3700+, or even better the 3500+ (as it's on AMD's new socket too) would be an informative comparison. It's just a shame Intel's high-end offerings are a bit thin on the ground right now.
Staples - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
Good review. I wish you had compared the 875 with the 925x however both using a Presscott CPU. With one using a Northwood and one using a Presscott fails to show which chipset optimizes the power of the CPU. The fact that you didn't further inphasises that Intel is in one hellava drought. The 3.2 Northwood/875 combo that came out like 8+ months ago is still faster than ANYTHING they have released.I am waiting for a reason to upgrade but this sure isn't something I was looking for. With Intel having these troubles, AMD is going to take their sweet time putting out anything faster.
Pumpkinierre - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
It would be great to see the 915 with Skt478- best of both worlds. I know that Skt775 is appearing on 865 mobos (Abit AS8). At that last Taiwan computer expo they had dual intel Sckt mobos but were they 915s?rjm55 - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
#16 - I disagree with you. I think Northwood on 875 is exactly the right comparison to Prescott 775 on 925X. Both at the same speed as done in the review. Prescott was not designed for 875, so comparing the best last generation 875/Northwood to the new 925X/Prescott is extremely fair. I'm sure Intel would have preferred a comparison of Prescott to Prescott, because they would have looked better. I think that was #4's point, which you apparently missed.Doormat - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
Now I dont feel so bad about buying that P4-3.0C/i875 combo last month...