The New Intel i9x5 Chipsets
Fast forwarding from the i8xx chipsets, the brand-new i9x5 series introduces many new features that only techies would have heard of, like the new LGA (Land Grid Array) 775 socket, PCI Express x16 support, dual channel DDR2 support and Intel's High Definition Audio. The table below shows the differences between the Intel i875P and the latest i9x5 Express chipsets.
Intel®
925X Express Chipset |
Intel®
915G Express Chipset |
Intel®
915P Express Chipset |
Intel®
875P Chipset |
|
HOST |
925X Chipset |
915G Chipset |
915P Chipset |
875P Chipset |
Processor
Positioned |
Intel® Pentium®
4 Processor Extreme Edition, Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor |
Pentium® 4 processor |
Pentium® 4 processor |
Pentium® 4 processor |
System
Bus |
800
MHz |
800/533
MHz |
800/533
MHz |
800/533
MHz |
Processor
Package |
LGA775 |
LGA775 |
LGA775 |
mPGA478 |
MEMORY CONTROLLER HUB |
925X
Chipset |
915G
Chipset |
915P
Chipset |
875P
Chipset |
Type |
82925X
MCH |
82915G
GMCH |
82915P
MCH |
82875P
MCH |
Package |
1210 FC-BGA |
1210 FC-BGA |
1210 FC-BGA |
1005 FC-BGA |
|
||||
MEMORY |
925X
Chipset |
915G
Chipset |
915P
Chipset |
875P
Chipset |
Memory
Type |
Dual-Channel DDR2
533/400 |
Dual-Channel: DDR2
533/400, DDR 400/333 |
Dual-Channel: DDR2
533/400, DDR 400/333 |
Dual-Channel DDR
400/333/266 |
FSB/Memory
Configurations |
800/DDR2-533 800/DDR2-400 |
800/DDR2-533 800/DDR2-400 800/DDR400 533/DDR400 533/DDR400 |
800/DDR2-533 800/DDR2-400 800/DDR400 533/DDR400v 533/DDR400 |
800/400 800/333 533/333 533/266 |
Error
Correction |
ECC/Non-ECC |
Non-ECC |
Non-ECC |
ECC/Non-ECC |
Intel® 925X Express Chipset |
Intel® 915G Express Chipset |
Intel® 915P Express Chipset |
Intel® 875P Chipset |
|
EXTERNAL
GRAPHICS |
925X
Chipset |
915G
Chipset |
915P
Chipset |
875P
Chipset |
Interface |
PCI
Express x16 |
PCI
Express x16 |
PCI
Express x16 |
AGP8X (1.5V) |
I/O
CONTROLLER HUB |
925X
Chipset |
915G
Chipset |
915P
Chipset |
875P
Chipset |
Type |
Intel® ICH6 Family:
ICH6, ICH6R, ICH6W4, ICH6RW |
Intel® ICH6 Family:
ICH6, ICH6R, ICH6W4, ICH6RW |
Intel® ICH6 Family:
ICH6, ICH6R, ICH6W4, ICH6RW |
Intel® ICH5 / ICH5R |
ICH
Package |
609
mGBA |
609
mGBA |
609
mGBA |
460
mGBA |
PCI
Support |
(4) PCI Express x1 |
(4) PCI Express x1 |
(4) PCI Express x1 |
PCI 2.3 |
Storage
Interface/Ports |
SATA
150/4, UDMA ATA100 |
SATA
150/4, UDMA ATA100 |
SATA
150/4, UDMA ATA100 |
SATA
150/2 |
Storage
Technology |
Intel®
Matrix Storage Technology with ICH6R/ICH6RW |
Intel®
Matrix Storage Technology with ICH6R/ICH6RW |
Intel®
Matrix Storage Technology with ICH6R/ICH6RW |
RAID
w/ICH5R |
USB
Ports/Controllers |
8 ports, USB 2.0 |
8 ports, USB 2.0 |
8 ports, USB 2.0 |
8 ports, USB 2.0 |
Audio |
Intel®
High Definition Audio, AC’97/20-bit audio |
Intel®
High Definition Audio, AC’97/20-bit audio |
Intel®
High Definition Audio, AC’97/20-bit audio |
AC’97/20-bit
audio |
From the table above, you can see that Intel has abandoned support for their 533MHz FSB processors with the advent of the i925X chipset. This is pretty much the same thing they did with the i875P chipset which dropped support for the older 400MHz FSB processors.
In addition, the i925X will only support DDR2, while its lower-end brother, the i915 will support both DDR and DDR2. Both the i915 and i925 chipsets will come with four SATA channels and one ATA100 channel, which will automatically provide support for a maximum of six devices!
And in an attempt to catch up with NVIDIA's Soundstorm initiative, Intel has decided to improve the onboard sound with their High Definition Audio which supports up to eight audio channels and audio fidelity of up to a sampling rate of 192KHz and 32-bits of accuracy.
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