X-bit labs

Intel, SiS, Via Technologies to Support DDR2 800MHz Officially.

Category: Chipsets

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/20/2006 | 11:57 PM ]

Ready or not, the DDR2 800MHz speed-bin is set to be supported by the majority of chipset designers, including Intel Corp., this year. At least, this has been a plan so far, according to documents seen by X-bit labs.

A roadmap of Intel Corp. indicates that Intel’s Q965, G965 and P965 chipsets will support dual-channel DDR2 memory at 800MHz, 667MHz and 533MHz along with support for dual-core processors with 1066MHz processor system bus. The difference between the chipsets is mainly in market positioning and integration of the graphics core: the Q965 and G965 both have built-in graphics processor, but the latter is intended for home users, while the former is for business users.

The situation with support for the code-named Conroe Extreme Edition processors with 1333MHz processor system bus and 4MB of cache is unclear. So far no details concerning a core-logic that supports such a processor have been leaked.

Via Technologies at CeBIT 2006 indicated that it would release its PT900 chipset that also officially supports PC2-6400 memory. The chipset is expected to be launched before Computex 2006, which kicks off in early June in Taipei, Taiwan. It is possible to expect mainboard makers to showcase the appropriate platforms during the Asian largest technology trade-show.

It have already been have reported that SiS is going to support DDR2 800MHz memory late this year with SiS 665 chipset, moreover, the company would support the PC2-6400 memory with its SiS 671 core-logic with integrated graphics core.

While it is known that the AMD Athlon 64 processors for Socket AM2 have “unofficial” support for DDR2 memory at 800MHz, it remains to be seen whether AMD will actually enable such a speed bin formally.