Intel LGA 775 915 925 Platform :: Chipset and Features

The i925X is the new flagship chipset for the high-end desktop market and will have support for the latest PC5300 533MHz DDR2 and PC3200 400MHz DDR memory. The i915X chipset on the other hand is aimed at the mainstream market and initial boards support the pricier DDR2 as well as having on-board graphics for those seeking an all in one solution. The initial release of the new platform shows three boards, the D915PBL, D915GUX and the D925XCV. There are four chipsets. The D915HGV being the fourth with the option of no on-board VGA, but a board has yet to be seen. The i925XCV will only use discreet graphics instead of any on-board graphics support like its counterpart the i915GUX. Although Intel originally claimed that the i915/i925X platforms would not come equipped with the standard PCI bus, the initial boards I have seen from the major manufactures come with at least two PCI slots. This is a plus for people on the upgrade path who want to maintain as much of their current system as possible and either does not want to or cannot wait for the appropriate PCI 1X part to become available.

PCI 1X offers up to 500 MB/s of bandwidth for the PCI x1 bus, versus the 75 MB/s for the PCI bus. The higher bandwidth of the PCI 1X equates to lower system latencies and less use of on-chip buffering, this results in better overall system performance and frees up the CPU to handle other tasks. The PCI 16X slot is currently aimed as the newer faster video slot, replacing the soon to be obsolete AGP 8X bus as the standard graphics interface that has theoretically twice the existing 8X bandwidth. The drawbacks to the AGP 8X standard were its limitation in transferring information, as it utilized only 2GBs of shared read/write bandwidth and could only be optimized for single task operations. The PCI Express 16X bus on the other hand is optimized for 8GBs of dedicated read/write bandwidth and multiple task operations in a single clock cycle allowing a major amount of headroom for performance gains. The new i915G embedded graphics solution is a much better solution than its predecessors and will be the only embedded VGA card compatible with Direct-X 9 and Open-GL 1.4, it also moves from single to dual display pipes and can utilize up to 224MB of system memory instead of the 64MB limitation of the i845/865G chipsets.

Intel is trying to turn your PC experience into what they call the Digital Home by offering a complete wireless solution for your home network. The wireless network is AP WiFi certified for the new 802.11b/g (54Mbps) standard and offers security via WEP & WPA-PSK protocols along with a step by step network setup wizard. The wizard automatically configures your ICS with firewall, NAT, and DHCP servers in a 192.168.x.x sub net. Minimal networking experience is required to navigate your way through a more secure and easy to setup network. Intel's new Audio Studio is a complete sound shaping tool that allows users to customize their 2.0 through 7.1 surround sound atmosphere, it includes many tools that have yet to be realized including sliding controls for the size of room, the distance from the music and preset rooms/environments. I worked in the background of the IAS project with Sonic Focus in an effort to develop custom sound presets that allow users to hear 2.1 audio remixed and shaped in the 5.1 surround sound environment with vastly improved clarity. I personally wrote three of the settings used in the shipping version of Intel's i915/925 Express motherboards. The Metal Edge, Country and Motown settings were written in my living room.

What we hear is important to audiophiles and gamers alike, and this applies especially to those who spend a lot of time stuck to their computer. On-board solutions, once considered the bane of audio connoisseurs have come along way since their humble beginnings when companies like ESS made barely audible chipsets. Companies like ADI and Realtek, working in conjunction with Intel and Sonic Focus, want to change the way you hear your PC--in a big way. Intel's new High Definition Audio is their answer to the enthusiasts' call and offers the user a vast improvement over the previous generation's technology. Things like DTS, THX, Dolby Digital EX and 8-channel audio are all possible with this new standard. The audio link bandwidth is a whopping 48MB, capable of supporting the 192 KHz/24-bit/2-channel or 96 KHz/24-bit/6-channel DVD-Audio formats. The HD Audio spec also allows for expanded retasking functionality. Although not an original idea, it can now be fully taken advantage of with Intel's new HDA solution. The user can simply plug in their speakers or a microphone into any audio port and the Jack Retasking will auto-sense the impedance of the connection and set the jack the appropriate input or output state.