Tom's Blurb: Intel's 'Almador' Chipset, Solano News and the MTH-Debacle. tom. You might have heard the good news; Intel is developing a chipset (code name 'Almador') that will use SDRAM, possibly even DDR SDRAM as main memory. You can imagine, that the lower GTL+-voltage requires a newchipset and that's what 'Almador' is going to be. A large production of i815 chipsets and the plan for the upcoming 'Almador' chipset with the possible support of DDR SDRAM could be read as a strong sign that Intel has finally got the message. The Latest News From The MTH-disaster Front The MTH-reboot/hang issue is already quite old news by now, but the computer users out there who are stuck with an MTH-motherboard have still not received any decent help....

This new enhancement reduces some of their memory bottlenecks within their 750 chipset.. This isn't good news with Intel's Coppermine already nipping at AMD's heels. It would be better to secretly insert this new feature and as soon as the old chipsets are flushed from inventories, begin talking about super bypass. Looking at the performance benefit the Athlon platform gains when removing some of the memory latencies makes me anxious to see what the next generation chipsets will have to offer, such as VIA's KX133 Athlon chipset. Given that the AMD's 750 chipset is quickly falling behind the times with their 800MB/sec memory throughput and 532MB/s AGP 2X performance, VIA's newchipset should breathe even more performance into the Athlon platform....

Affordable Alternatives: DDR400 Dual-Channel Chipsets for the Pentium 4. affordable alternatives. Both are meant to slam Intel in the performance desktop chipset segment, both are more attractively priced and both eventually herald the Serial ATA era, since they come paired with new Southbridges. Even though none of the two newchipsets addresses the highest performance segment, features like this one shouldn't just be left out. The PT880 implements VIA's newly developed dual-channel memory interface, which could also be used in other upcoming chipset products for AMD's processors. Apart from the news, the PT880 includes all features that you likely already know....

Sneak Preview: Intel Alderwood/Grantsdale Chipsets. sneak preview. The buzzwords of Intel's newchipsets are Wireless LAN (802.11 a/b/g), Dolby Pro Logic IIx support (including automatic audio jack remapping in order to do away with searching for the right jack), Intel Extreme Graphics 3 with DirectX9 support (without vertex shaders), plus a dual display option. It is obvious that Intel will continue to use its successful strategy with the newchipset family. Independent from the transition to PCI Express, this is a smart move, as customers are given the option to use the integrated Intel Extreme Graphics for the time being, while further elevating Intel's respectable market share in this area: A G-version of the newchipset series will be available to serve the value market. Other news concern the network interface: While gigabit Ethernet adapters have been attached via the specifically introduced CSA interface with 875P and 865PE, the Alderwood and Grantsdale chipsets will implement GbE-support via PCI Express....

Slot 1 Chipset Comparison. slot 1 chipset comparison. Intel tries to spread their CPUs almost emphatically and since the Intel chipsets are not always cheap enough for low end multimedia or gaming computers, somebody else has to provide an adequate product. Cheap chipsets of course lead to cheap motherboards, and the more cheap Slot-1 motherboards become available, the bigger ist the amount of CPUs Intel would be able to sell. SiS and VIA now have got all necessary licenses for a Slot-1 chipset. After this review you will know if the newchipsets could force you to come to some kind of compromise or if they can be recommended as real alternative to Intel's BX chipset. ...

Dual DDR For Pentium 4: Intel E7205 Chipset Put To The Test. dual ddr for pentium 4. Three motherboards - Asus, Gigabyte and Tyan - run Intel's new Granite Bay chipset through its paces in the THG laboratory. But in the meantime, newchipsets for DDR SDRAM entered the market. The E7205 and E7505 chipsets (codenamed Granite Bay) are the producer's first offer of dual-channel DDR-SDRAM with AGP 8X support. The chipsets can be used on both Pentium 4 and Xeon platforms....

One Tough Cookie: 10 Boards with Intel i875P Chipset: Part I. one tough cookie. The Intel i875P chipset promises the best performance yet for the Pentium platform. Intel, its reputation preceding it, has chipsets that have often been rather more mature than those from the competition. P4 with 200 MHz FSB and the i875P Dual DDR400 Chipset provided some first impressions of the newchipset....

Affordable Alternatives: DDR400 Dual-Channel Chipsets for the Pentium 4. affordable alternatives. These days, products with VIA's new PT880 and the SiS 655FX are becoming available. Both are meant to slam Intel in the performance desktop chipset segment, both are more attractively priced and both eventually herald the Serial ATA era, since they come paired with new Southbridges. Intel's 865PE and 875P chipsets perfectly fit into the idea of synchronous memory, since two 200 MHz dual data rate channels (PC3200) result in an effective clock speed of 800 MHz, matching with FSB800. The most important question, however, is the following one: Do the newchipsets stick up to our expectations?...

The King of the Heap: 4 Chipsets for the Athlon64. the king of the heap. Except for their layouts, the four chipsets are technologically identical. Newchipsets are being launched all the time, giving Christmas shoppers a multitude of motherboards to choose from this year. Unsurprisingly, NVIDIA, whose first nForce chipset broke new ground in HyperTransport implementations for desktop systems, has developed a single-chip solution that is also based on HyperTransport. Now let's take a closer look at the individual chipsets....