ED#67 : Intel X48 Express & 1600MHz FSB Processor Details

The Intel X38 Express is the new hot chipset on the block. Not only is it the first Intel chipset to support PCI Express 2.0, it is also the first Intel chipset to allow two PCI Express graphics cards to run at X16 speeds. Before the X38, you would have to buy either an ATI or an NVIDIA motherboard to do that.

However, its reign will not be a long one. We had earlier reported that it will soon be superseded by the Intel X48 Express chipset. Now, we have information that the Intel X48 Express chipset is slated to be launched sometime in mid-January, 2008. That firms up the previous estimate of Q1, 2008 or 10 weeks after BoneTrail's launch.

What's great about the Intel X48 Express? Well, this will be the first Intel chipset to officially support a front side bus (FSB) speed of 1600 MHz as well as a 1600 MHz DDR3 memory bus. It won't be cheap, but it will offer a significant performance advantage over the Intel X38 Express.

Of course, the new FSB speed will mean a new slew of Intel processors. To be launched together with the Intel X48 Express chipset in mid-January are two 1600 MHz FSB processors. These will be the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 and QX9770. Both are quad-core processors running at 3.2 GHz with a 1600 MHz FSB and a 12 MB L2 cache. They only differ in two aspects - TDP and price.

The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 has a TDP of 150 W, which is 20 W more than the 3 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 which was launched today. It will be priced at $1,499 in quantities of 1000. The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, on the other hand, has a lower TDP of 136 W. It will be priced at $1,399 in quantities of 1000.

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