It's approaching the end of the year for Intel and we were able to get our hands on the latest chipset roadmap. It gives us a good idea of where Intel will be headed in 2006 and beyond. Chipsets were broken down into four main categories: value, mainstream (business/stable), mainstream (consumer) and performance. Although not all categories will be receiving an update between now and the 2nd quarter of 2006, there are quite a few new parts.
Starting at the low-end, Intel shows no changes for their value chipsets. 865GV and 910GL/915G(L/V) variants will remain consistent well into the 2nd half of 2006 with no updates between now and then. This remains typical of value products on past Intel roadmaps.
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Current and late '05 generation Intel Chipsets |
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975X |
955X |
945PL |
945GZ (coming Q1, 2006) |
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1066/800MHz FSB |
1066/800MHz FSB |
800/533MHz FSB |
800/533MHz FSB |
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Dual DDR2-667/533MHz |
Dual DDR2-667/533MHz |
Dual DDR2-533/400MHz |
Dual DDR2-533/400MHz |
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8GB w/ ECC support |
8GB w/ ECC support |
1 DIMM / Ch (2GB Max) |
1 DIMM / Ch (2GB Max) |
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Flexible PCIe Configs |
PCI Express x16 |
PCI Express x16 |
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Intel Memory Pipeline Technology |
Intel Memory Pipeline Technology |
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Includes 945P technology |
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Intel GMA 950 Graphics |
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ICH7, ICH7R |
ICH7, ICH7R |
ICH7, ICH7R |
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Intel HD Audio |
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Current generation business or Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP) chipsets are carried forward by Intel's 945 chipset, which also will be used in the majority of the mainstream consumer products into Q2 of 2006. Flavors will include the current 945G, 945P and 945PL (no high definition audio). For those that have been following the transition for Apple onto an Intel platform, Intel's 945G will be familiar. Rumors circulating about Intel dumping 945G are true, and by the end of this year we will see the last of these chipsets with integrated graphics until Q2 of 2006. Intel will be introducing a 945GZ chipset in Q1 of 2006 with integrated graphics, but it will not support discrete graphics add-in cards. 945GZ will contain the same Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics core as 945G.
It's somewhat interesting that Intel includes mainstream-for-business chipsets as SIPP options, but most of the other chipsets do not receive such a distinction. Intel's large corporate buyers that produce B2B systems require guaranteed stability, support, and availability from Intel. SIPP components are guaranteed not to be phased out for at least 18 months after launch. Intel has also begun referring to SIPP configurations as "Stable Image Technology."
On the top end of the scale, Intel is migrating everyone to its 975X chipset from the currently available 955X, with the transitional period lasting roughly 6 months. An important piece of information to keep in mind is that 975X is the only current performance chipset to support Extreme Edition processors and will continue to be the only chipset to do so through to the 2H of 2006 -- clearly the demand for Extreme Edition processors are not very high.
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2006 generation Intel Chipsets |
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G965 |
P965 |
Q965 |
Q963 |
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1066/800/533MHz FSB |
1066/800/533MHz FSB |
1066/800/533MHz FSB |
1066/800/533MHz FSB |
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Dual DDR2-800/667/533MHz |
Dual DDR2-800/667/533MHz |
Dual DDR2-800/667/533MHz |
Dual DDR2-667/533MHz |
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Intel GMA Graphics |
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Intel GMA Graphics with dual-head display |
Intel GMA Graphics No Discrete graphics support |
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Stable Image Technology |
Stable Image Technology |
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Advanced Media Capability |
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ICH8DH |
ICH8DH |
ICH8DO |
ICH8 |
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$42 (1ku) launch price |
$38 (1ku) launch price |
$42 (1ku) launch price |
$39 (1ku) launch price |
Coming in Q2 of 2006, Intel will be introducing 4 new chipsets which depart from traditional Intel convention. The first notable change from previous chipsets is the naming convention Intel will be using beginning in Q2, 2006. Letters are now in front of numbers, and with the Q963 Intel has also departed from numbering its chipsets in multiples of 5. We've seen P and G designations with chipsets for a while now, but Q is a new variant.
All of the above chipsets fall into the mainstream market but introduce a significant memory support upgrade across the board. All future chipsets will now support at least 1066/800/533MHz FSB configurations as well as support for 800MHz DDR2 memory -- with the exception of Q963 only being able to support up to 667MHz DDR2. All of the new chipsets will be fully compatible with Intel's next generation ICH8 south bridge, which brings with it a new generation of onboard Ethernet MAC options from Intel (1Gbps).
In terms of pricing, Intel remains consistent with previous chipset launches with current generation chipsets declining in price as the year moves forward. The four new chipsets: G965, P965, Q965 and Q963 are priced at $42, $38, $42, and $39 respectively, in batches of 1000 units. Pricing for Intel's top-end 975X chipset will remain at a hefty $50 into the 2H of 2006 with no change in sight, while other products will drop by $1 to $2.
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porkster - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link
Great our Intel beats AMD, yet it doesn't have the advantage of onboard memory controller to suit for single tasks, byt hey who wants single tasking anymore.Compare the frame rates in Farcray to those on a AMD using the bonus of a new ATI dual core driver, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2629">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2629, Intel wins even wihtout the driver yet.
Diasper - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link
Just plain wrong.Porkster - back spreading the same old FUD..
What part of your imagination are you getting the ideas that P4 is better than current AMD64 at games?
Far-cry benchmarks:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlo...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlo...
Dual-core:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
Single-core:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
A good article here:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1854912...">http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1854912...
To be fair P4 generally is good enough to play any games happily as most games aren't CPU limited. However, of course when they are eg Half Life 2 it's outright embarrassing (eg first xbitlabs review) and that's at relavively real settings for most people (eg 1024x768). Now of course loooking more closely (the extremetech review) we can see the more particular problem is the much lower minimum fps of P4 systems - they're more variable.
So, in short AMD *is* better. That said P4s are fine to play current games. Of course, then there's just to additional annoyance of extra heat, power consumption and noise of P4s as well as the inability to overclock them at all - contrast to being able to do that with the AMD and suddenly the P4 gets a complete beasting. Certainly, if not for some current games, a P4 will not be adequate.
Diasper - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link
At least if you're going to be trolling/fanboism wait for something worthwhile enough eg Yonah to come out and be available. Of course, availability will take a while yet and price will undoubtedly make it a no-go for desktop use.Wait for it to come out and then more reviews (eg those including minimum fps) before comparing it to A64 on a performance/price point.
Diasper - Friday, December 9, 2005 - link
Xbitlabs review. Intel gets slaughted.http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/28cpu...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/28cpu...
Doormat - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Whats so new about ICH8DH? Intel already had 1Gbit/s MAC in their ICH5+. I dont think there would be anything neat about it - stuff like TCP/IP offload engines arent in intel's best interest - why offload it from the processor? Its in intels interest to have the CPU do everything so you have to buy a faster processor.tygrus - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
I disagree. It is in Intel's best interest to have Intel based systems feature highly in benchmark tests. One way to boost benchmarks that focus on the network performance is to reduce the load on the CPU and increase the efficiency of the network interface ie. TCP/IP offload, DMA, scatter/gather etc. I think what Intel put into their $300+ NIC's which isn't in the onboard is some of the management, boot ROM, incl. software features.
Doormat - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Who looks at benchmarks nowadays? If they did, they'd all buy AMD-based systems and not Intel. Benchmarks are overrated from a purchase perspective. No one ever gets fired for buying an Intel-based system!tokath - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Intel is not going to use TOE rather its a platform approach with I/OAT.JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Except that Intel also sells chipsets, and business customers - especially workstation customers - want faster networking. If AMD and partners offer TCP/IP offload engines for mainstream platforms, Intel has to follow suit (and visa versa). Of course, I don't think the ICH8DH is going to be equal to a $500 PCI-X networking card.Also, with Intel emphasizing the "digital home theater" or whatever, they have to be concerned about CPU usage. If decoding an HD WMV9 video uses 80% of your CPU, you don't want to run the risk of stutter because your networking, audio, etc. are using the remaining 20%.
Finally, Intel has never really been in the market of holding back technologies that it feels are ready for public use. "If you build it they will come." Give people more CPU power, and software developers will invariably find a use for it.
GentleStream - Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - link
Do you know what the addressable memory will be for the 965chipset series? Will it be 8 GBytes or more?
Also, I'm also interested in whether it will support Conroe?
Thanks,
Dave