X-bit labs

December 2003 Hardware News Overview (page 5)

Category: Editorial

by Andy Yaschenko

[ 12/19/2003 | 05:36 PM ]

As for Intel and its chipset prices, the company is going to drop them again in December, so that prices for all i865 family chipsets and for the 845GE went down a couple of dollars. The relatively fresh i848P is to be selling for a dollar less, for $28. It seems like the planned preparations for the Grantsdale series chipsets (to replace the i865 family) are combined with a routine opposition to the pressure from SiS and VIA.

The i875P keeps on at its $50 price, as it is demanded for this money (in its niche). November, DFI reported a new version of its i875P-based mainboard, the LANPARTY PRO875B. The “B” signifies the availability of an onboard Gigabit Ethernet controller (in addition to the standard 10/100 one), a heat-spreader on the South Bridge, free space around the AGP slot for better cooling and around the processor socket for mounting a water-cooling solution, and a 4-channel SATA RAID controller. As usual, it’s all for enthusiasts.

Intel has prepared something to replace the i875P, too. The Canterwood (the codename for the i875) should be ousted out by the Alderwood in the second quarter of 2004. We’ll have the 800MHz FSB and dual-channel DDR-II, and no significant differences from the Grantsdale P (well, they mention “Turbo Mode”; the name reminds me of something…). On the other hand, there are no fundamental differences between the i875P and i865PE, as we’ve shown numerous times. November, Soltek offered one more confirmation of the point by releasing their SL-865Pro-FGR. The product is intended for entry-level servers and workstations, right where the i875P is targeted.

The top-end i875P has enough of competitors, besides Intel’s own lower-end chipsets, though. The notorious SiS R659 is doing its best to become one. The chipset was again announced by SiS in October, but this announcement was different. We are now able to see this four-channel RDRAM PC1200-supporting chipset in action as ASUS released samples of its R659-based P4S13G at last. They promise a 10% performance advantage over the i875P across a number of tests.

SiS is also competing with itself, releasing another product for practically the same niche. November, there appeared first SiS655TX-based mainboards, although the chipset is not yet officially announced! Anyway, the fact of the Gigabyte GA-8S655TX is substantial and pleasing. Just to remind you, the SiS655TX differs from the announced SiS655FX in its Advanced HyperStreaming Engine (the other has just HyperStreaming, without “Advanced”). Theoretically, the newer chipset should more efficiently handle peak workloads on various data busses inside itself.

After the peace treaty with Intel, VIA Technologies just couldn’t help responding with its PT880 with the same basic characteristics like the 800MHz FSB and dual-channel DDR400 support. Regrettably, the standard DDR SDRAM is only supported, as VIA still cannot realize the QBM memory developed by Kentron. In theory, such memory would provide a double growth of the memory bus bandwidth at no cost practically. So we should wait again, until the new revision of the PT880, expected in the beginning of the next year.