Intel 865 (Springdale) Chipset: Mainstream Dual DDR

Looking Ahead - Intel's Grantsdale Chipsets

We mentioned earlier that Intel wouldn't introduce a new integrated graphics core until Q2 2004 with their Grantsdale family of chipsets, but what exactly is Grantsdale?

The successor to Canterwood/Springdale is a family of chipsets known as Grantsdale, due out in about a year, to be launched alongside the first 775-pin Prescott CPUs. As you are well aware, current Northwood based Pentium 4 processors feature a 478-pin micro-PGA package. The second-generation of Prescott CPUs (and eventually CPUs based on the Intel Tejas core), will feature a 775-pin LGA (Land Grid Array) package. The benefits of the LGA packaging include better power delivery to the CPU, lower manufacturing costs and the ability to more densely pack contacts into a small CPU. With a new pin-out, these CPUs will obviously require a new motherboard, and thus what better time to introduce a new family of chipsets?

The Grantsdale family will have multiple members, but their basic features are:

- 800MHz FSB support (initially, moving up to 1.06/1.2GHz eventually)
- Dual DDR400/333 SDRAM
- Dual DDR2-400/533 SDRAM (probably reserved for the higher end Grantsdale chipsets, and obviously depending on market availability of DDR2 SDRAM)
- Optional integrated graphics (Grantsdale-G) using a brand new integrated graphics core
- One PCI Express x16 slot for graphics
- ICH6 with support for 4 independent Serial ATA channels and PCI Express x1 slots

And as we just mentioned, these chipsets will have support for all LGA775 CPUs. We know it's a bit early, but we thought it would be helpful to provide you with a bit of insight into what's coming down the pipe.

Our pals at The Inquirer were the first to widely report information about Grantsdale and the LGA775 CPUs, so head on over there for pictures of LGA775 CPUs as well as some more information on the interface.