Intel has classified the 875P as a chipset for high-end desktops or entry-level workstations. That makes it a perfect choice for the kind of application Asus has envisioned here, and also shows how closely related the Pentium 4 and the Xeon actually are. Otherwise, developing a motherboard like the PC-DL would have been much more involved than it actually was.

The basic idea of the board is to enhance memory performance. Intel's desktop chipsets are prime examples of how to do it. Ever since the first 845 was launched for PC133 SDRAM, average performance has shot up considerably as memory technologies have gotten faster. Today, a fast Pentium 4 with dual DDR400 will even score better than the Xeon in memory-intensive benchmarks. You can see that for yourself in the charts.

AMD has also demonstrated how important memory performance is with the Opteron. This processor has an entire memory controller integrated into it (dual DDR333), eliminating the slow back-and-forth between the CPU and the chipset.

Overclocking Made Easy

Oh, and the 875P-Xeon tag team has one more advantage - it's overclockable. Since the chipset is officially able to run with 800 MHz FSB, but can often be overclocked to over 1000 MHz , it should be fairly easy to eke out the last little spark of performance from the Xeon with its 533 MHz FSB. Please note, however, that it isn't so much the 800 MHz system clock that will do the trick, but the enormous load placed on the processor core.