G31 chipset: overclocking, characteristics and supported processors. Chipsets What is the difference between north and south bridges for INTEL and AMD

After the release of new processors of the family Intel Core 2, turmoil began in the market for budget motherboards designed to work with these processors. The fact is that the release of new chipsets designed for building low-cost computer systems based on the presented processors, is scheduled for a much later date and motherboard manufacturers tried to fill the gap with the help of solutions based on chipsets of the Intel 945 Express family. As a result, a number of inexpensive motherboards with support for Intel Core 2 Duo processors, but... only budget models of these processors operating with a FSB frequency of 800 MHz (in this case, chipsets from the Intel 945 Express family are often used, which do not support the system bus with a frequency of 1066 MHz). Such motherboards have one more disadvantage: since these solutions are aimed at building inexpensive PCs, most of them are based on chipsets with integrated graphics (Intel 945G Express, Intel 945GC Express, Intel 945GZ Express), but their graphics core Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (Intel GMA950) does not meet the requirements to run the Windows Vista Aero interface (in Lately it is this criterion that has become one of the main ones when assessing the performance of integrated graphics solutions). But now, with the release of the new family of Intel P31/G31 Express chipsets, which replaced the sets Intel chips 945 Express, everything falls into place. GIGABYTE UNITED has expanded its line of budget motherboards with new solutions based on the Intel P31/G31 Express family of chipsets. In this article we will talk about the capabilities of two of them - the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 and Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboards.

System Gigabyte boards The GA-G31MX-S2 and Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L, which join the range of GIGABYTE UNITED S-series solutions, are designed to work with the full range of Intel processors, made in the LGA775 form factor and operating at a system bus frequency of 800, 1066 or 1333 MHz, including the new quad-core Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Extreme processors, as well as the soon-to-be-expected Penryn-core processors, which will be produced using a 45-nanometer process technology.

The Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 motherboard is made in the microATX form factor (dimensions - 24.4x21.5 cm) on a dark blue PCB, traditional for GIGABYTE UNITED products. It was based on a set system logic Intel G31 Express (Intel G31 Express + ICH7), the capabilities of which are complemented by the ITE IT8718F I/O controller.

To install modules system memory(it is assumed that unbuffered memory modules of the DDR2 SDRAM 533/667 or 800 standard will be used) the board has two DIMM slots. The memory subsystem can operate in both single- and dual-channel modes. The maximum amount of system memory supported by the board is 2 GB.

The Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 motherboard has an integrated graphics core Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 (Intel GMA 3100), which fully supports the DirectX 9c API and OpenGL 1.4 and meets all the requirements of the new Windows Vista operating system for working with the Aero interface. If the capabilities of this integrated graphics solution do not seem sufficient to the user, then a PCI Express x16 slot is available, where you can always install a discrete graphics card that meets your needs. By the way, in addition to this slot for installing additional cards that expand the capabilities of the motherboard, there are two more PCI slots and one PCI Express x4 slot.

For organization network connection Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 provides the user with a Realtek RTL8110SC gigabit Ethernet controller. “Sound” here is implemented by a combination of the HDA (High Definition Audio) and Realtek ALC888 audio codec, which provides the ability to reproduce 7.1 audio. To connect external audio devices, there are six audio connectors on the output panel of the motherboard.

In addition to the mentioned audio connectors, the output panel of the board contains two PS/2 connectors (for connecting a mouse and keyboard), parallel (LPT) and serial (COM) ports, a D-Sub video connector, an RJ-45 connector and four USB port 2.0.

In total, the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 supports eight USB ports: four more, in addition to the four available on the output panel, can be implemented using additional expansion strips, for connecting which there are two connectors on the board (two ports per connector).

To build a disk subsystem, the board has four SATA II ports, one PATA connector that supports connecting up to two devices with an ATA 100 or ATAPI interface, as well as a connector for connecting FDD.

The system components are powered by a three-channel VRM unit.

To cool the microcircuits of the north and south bridges, light-alloy plate radiators are used. Note also that this motherboard has two four-pin connectors for connecting the processor (CPU FAN) and system (SYS FAN) fans. The rotation speed of these fans is controlled using Gigabyte's proprietary Smart Fan technology, which is part of the Smart feature set. By the way, it’s worth talking about the set of functions implemented in this motherboard separately. Like all S-series motherboards from GIGABYTE UNITED, the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 motherboard has a set of proprietary innovations - a set of S-functions. In this case, this kit includes a set of Smart and Safe functions (this is what the combination S2 in the model name means). The Smart feature set includes a number of intelligent utilities that make it easier to work with the system and automate certain actions. Among them:

• Download Center is an intelligent utility that allows you to find and download the necessary drivers and utilities from the official GIGABYTE UNITED website;
• @BIOS - a utility that allows you to automatically find and download BIOS firmware from the GIGABYTE UNITED official website and update the BIOS code in Windows environment;
• Q-Flash low-level utility(accessible from the CMOS Setup Utility menu), which allows you to flash the BIOS without loading any OS;
• Xpress Install is a utility that provides installation of drivers and utilities necessary for the operation of the motherboard, in automatic mode;
• Boot Menu - allows you to select the device from which to boot without changing the settings in CMOS Setup Utility;
• Smart Fan - technology intelligent control rotation speed of cooling fans.

The Safe feature set includes a number of utilities that increase the reliability of your computer system. Among them:

• Virtual DualBIOS - utility Reserve copy BIOS (a backup copy of the BIOS code is created in a locked partition of the disk with the ability automatic recovery in case of BIOS crash);
• BIOS Setting Recovery - a utility that allows you to restore user CMOS Setup settings;
• C.O.M. (Corporate Online Manager) - a utility that gives system administrator the ability to remotely receive comprehensive information (versions installed drivers and client machine software) about the configuration of user PCs on which the client part of the software is installed, as well as monitor in real time a number of subsystems of these computers (processor temperature, fan speed, power supply voltage);
• Xpress Recovery2 is a utility (loaded before loading the OS and does not depend on it) that allows you to create backup copy system with the ability to subsequently restore it from the created image;
• PC Health Monitor - provides monitoring of the main operating parameters of a computer system through the CMOS Setup or EasyTune utility.

If the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 is an excellent option for building compact computer systems with an integrated graphics core, for example, HTPC (Home Theater PC) class systems or office PCs, then the second of the motherboards under consideration - Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L - is already a solution more focused on creating productive home systems, in particular PCs for hobbyists computer games, although this may seem strange if we are talking about a budget-level motherboard. Unlike the first model, the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard is made in the ATX form factor (dimensions - 32.4x21.5 cm). The basis for it was the Intel P31 Express system logic set (Intel P31 Express + ICH7), the capabilities of which are complemented by the ITE IT8718F I/O controller.

To install system memory modules (it is assumed that unbuffered memory modules of the DDR2 SDRAM 667 or 800 standard will be used), in this case there are four DIMM slots - thus, the maximum amount of system memory supported by the board is 4 GB.

Motherboard Output Panel
Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

Since this model does not have an integrated graphics core, there is only one way to build a video subsystem - using a discrete graphics card, for installation of which the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L has a PCI Express x16 slot. In addition to this interface, there are three more PCI slots and three PCI Express x1 slots to accommodate additional expansion cards.

Just like the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2, the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard has a Realtek RTL8110SC gigabit Ethernet controller and an audio controller, which is implemented by combining the HDA (High Definition Audio) controller integrated into the ICH7 and the Realtek ALC888 audio codec.

The capabilities of constructing the disk subsystem of this motherboard are similar to those described for the Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 model.

The output panel of the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard contains two PS/2 connectors (for connecting a mouse and keyboard), parallel (LPT) and serial (COM) ports, a D-Sub video connector, an RJ-45 connector and four USB ports 2.0, a set of six audio connectors, as well as optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs.

The system components are powered by a four-channel VRM unit. By the way, when creating the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L motherboard, the manufacturer used proprietary Ultra Durable technology, within which electrical circuits This solution uses only high-quality solid-state capacitors, which have better characteristics and a much longer service life than electrolytic ones.

To cool the microcircuits of the north and south bridges, light-alloy plate radiators are used. To connect cooling system fans, the motherboard has three connectors: two four-pin - for the processor (CPU FAN) and system fan SYS FAN2 and one three-pin - for the system fan SYS FAN1.

Like the motherboard described above, the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L has a set of proprietary S-functions, but this time, in addition to the Smart and Safe sets, it also includes a Speed ​​set, which includes utilities that are well known to fans of GIGABYTE UNITED products overclocking like EasyTune and M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker).

To summarize the above, we note that although motherboards Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 and Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L are built on related chipsets, but they are aimed at different categories of users. At the same time, both of these models undoubtedly have in common the fact that they combine the promise of solutions based on the new Intel 3x Express family of chipsets and the availability of motherboards based on the Intel 945 Express chipset (the price of these motherboards, according to price.ru, is about $100 .) and can be an excellent solution for building low-cost computer systems with an eye to the future.

The diversity of Intel's chipset portfolio is difficult to understand, as some features overlap from model to model. Choosing a higher model number will not necessarily give you a more advanced chipset. So, for example, the G35 offers more advanced graphics, but doesn't support DDR3 memory or work with the newer ICH9 southbridge like the G33 does. However, the Intel G31 chipset is actually a chipset entry level and consumes minimal energy.

The G31 falls into the category of mass-market desktop chipsets designed for "core computing." This means that this set of system logic is completely unsuitable for high-end systems and does not support any advanced functions. The G31 chipset was designed to be a cost-effective option for regular user. Therefore, it is aimed at processors such as Core 2, Pentium Dual Core or similar Celeron based Core microarchitecture 2.

The G31 chipset is limited to 4GB of memory, while the G33 and G35 support up to 8GB. The low-end chipset only supports dual-channel DDR2-800 memory (although this is not a disadvantage compared to DDR3) and works with an ICH7 southbridge instead of an ICH8, ICH9 or ICH10. As a result, the G31 supports only four SATA/300 ports, but provides two more UltraATA/100 channels, while newer chipsets support either one legacy ATA channel or none at all. The G31 with the ICH7 southbridge provides eight USB 2.0 ports, HD audio, traditional PCI slots, and just a 100Mbps network controller. If you need a faster Ethernet connection, then look for a motherboard that comes with network controller PCIe to provide Gigabit Ethernet. Both motherboards presented in our review are exactly like this. And finally, although the G31 chipset has one x16 PCI Express slot for upgrade, it is not compatible with PCI Express 2.0.

Although FSB1066 was originally specified, all current G31 motherboards we've reviewed also support FSB1333 processors. Both of our motherboards support all Core 2 processors, including Core 2 Quad processors. Incredibly, even the three-phase voltage regulator on the Foxconn G31 motherboard is quite enough to run the Core 2 Quad Q9550, if you decide to abandon the dual-core processor in favor of a quad-core one.

GMA3100 graphics core

Integrated graphics solutions will not provide the same performance and features as decent 3D graphics cards such as Radeon HD4850/4870 and Nvidia GeForce 260/280. Even "mass-produced" video cards GPUs GeForce 9600GT vastly superior to integrated solutions. However, we decided to stick with integrated graphics to keep power consumption as low as possible.

The G31 chipset contains an integrated Intel GMA3100 graphics core, based on the GMA3000 core. This is the same graphics core that Intel first used in the 965 line of chipsets (called GMA X3000), and although the G965 supports pixel shaders 3.0, the G31, G33, Q35 chipsets are limited to the SM 2.0 model, which means support for DirectX 9.0c. However, this is sufficient for all Aero interface functions in operating system Windows Vista. Motherboards with the G31 chipset typically have one analogue D-SUB15 display output, and sometimes a digital DVI output. Since the GMA3100 is not suitable for HTPC (home theater), motherboards are not equipped with HDMI outputs; You shouldn't expect two digital outputs from such boards either.

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo came out in late summer 2006 and created a sensation. Suddenly the processors AMD Athlon 64 X2 outperformed a product that provided better performance and at the same time consumed less energy. Launched with a clock speed of 2.66 GHz (2.93 GHz for the expensive Extreme version), the Core 2 Duo maintained its excellent status for more than two years.

The first update was to increase the processor bus frequency from FSB1066 to FSB1333 in the summer of 2007 with the release of the P35 platform and slightly modified processors. The second modification is the FSB1600 frequency in high-end models and a change in the technological process from 65 nm to 45 nm. All Core 2 Duo E7000, E8000, and Core 2 Quad Q8000 and Q9000 processors are based on 45nm Wolfdale cores. Quad-core Yorkfield processors use two Wolfdale crystals.

Wolfdale processors have improved over time; The most recent modification was the introduction of the M0 stepping, which reduced processor power consumption at idle compared to L steppings. We looked for a suitable processor that would use the latest stepping and found a Core 2 Duo E7200 with only 3 MB L2 cache instead of 6 MB . Of course, the reduced capacity of the L2 cache is another opportunity to reduce power consumption, which we did not fail to take advantage of.

Currently, the E7000 line consists of only two models: the E7300 with a clock frequency of 2.66 GHz and the E7200 with a frequency of 2.53 GHz. Both models are based on the Wolfdale core, but have only 3 MB of L2 cache and a reduced frequency of the FSB1066 system bus (for comparison: all Core 2 Duo E8000 processors have FSB1333 and 6 MB of L2 cache). The E7000 line does not support either Virtualization Technology (VT) or Trusted Execution Technology (TXT); For our purposes, this is not a problem, since both technologies are irrelevant for users of "mainstream" desktops. Reduced L2 cache capacity combined with reduced clock frequencies makes this processor an excellent choice for a highly power efficient computer, as you'll see in our testing. Despite the declared thermal package of 65 W, the Core 2 Duo E7200 consumes energy much less than this ceiling.

The Intel G31 chipset is designed to create low-cost office computers. Motherboards built on its basis usually have the MicroATX form factor and basic expansion capabilities. The integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics core is designed exclusively to work with office applications, as well as with simple three-dimensional programs. We also note that budget motherboards do not have overclocking functions, and the few exceptions to this rule are not popular with computer enthusiasts.

In our today's review we will take a look at two boards based on the Intel G31 chipset. One of them is manufactured by Foxconn, which has a fairly strong position in the budget sector. The second board was developed by abit, whose products have almost completely disappeared from store shelves. And, sad as it may be, but most likely abit I-G31 is last fee once famous company.

Specifications

Boxes

Foxconn Packaging Design:

We received the Foxconn product in a completely serial version, but the abit board came to our laboratory in a test version - only the board itself in the package, therefore, we will not be able to evaluate its configuration.

Equipment Foxconn G31MG-S

The package package of the Foxconn G31MG-S board cannot be called rich, but for a product costing $45 it includes all the necessary components.

Boards

Developing a budget product limits engineers to fairly strict limits, so motherboards of this type have exactly the same characteristics as competing products. This can be clearly seen from the tested motherboards: both development teams were given the task of “creating a board on the G31 chipset that costs less than $50.” The result is almost identical boards:

To cool the north bridge, massive radiators are installed on the boards:

They are necessary, among other things, because the North Bridge has a GMA 3100 graphics core built into it, which increases the overall level of heat dissipation. It should be noted that the Foxconn model has a radiator installed on the south bridge, but abit saved on this detail.

The boards have two 240-pin DIMM sockets for DDR2 memory modules, and the maximum amount of supported memory is 4 GB.

Each board has one PCI Express x16 slot, one PCI Express x1 slot and a pair of PCI slots.

Now let's talk about expansion possibilities. Both boards have four SerialATA II channels, but the ability to create RAID arrays is not provided. The fact is that the boards use one of the cheapest versions of the ICH7 south bridge.

Here we note that the “south bridge” ensures the operation of one ParallelATA channel. Next, both boards have eight USB 2.0 ports. The port configuration is the same for both boards: four ports on the rear panel and four additional ones. Now - a few words about the High Definition Audio sound subsystem. The abit board has the Realtek ALC662 (5.1) codec installed, and the Foxconn board has the ALC888 (7.1) codec. Both boards have high speed network interfaces- the abit board has a Realtek RTL8111C controller, and Foxconn has an RTL8111B controller.

The Foxconn G31MG-S motherboard is equipped with one COM and one LPT port, while the abit I-G31 board does not support these interfaces.

BIOS

The boards' BIOS is based on the Award BIOS Phoenix version.

The main memory settings of the Foxconn board are in the overclocking section ("Fox Central Control Unit"), and the abit memory settings are in the "Advanced Chipset Features" section:

An important parameter that affects performance is the memory frequency setting.

Now let's look at the system monitoring sections.

Both boards display the current processor and system temperatures (abit also determines the PWM temperature), as well as operating voltages. The boards determine fan rotation speeds (Abit - three, Foxconn - two) and have the function of adjusting the rotation speed of the processor fan depending on the CPU temperature. On the Foxconn board this technology is traditionally called Smart Fan, and on abit - FanEQ:

The boards provide the user with access to all the latest technologies Intel.

Moreover, on the Foxconn board, energy saving settings are placed in a separate section (“Green System Mode”)

The boards also allow you to adjust the amount of memory allocated to the needs of the built-in graphics core.

Overclocking and stability

Before moving on to overclocking, let's look at power converters. The PWM of the abit I-G31 board has a three-phase circuit, in which two capacitors with a capacity of 820 µF are installed, four with a capacity of 680 µF and another four with a capacity of 1000 µF. The power supply module of the Foxconn board also has a three-phase design, in which six capacitors with a capacity of 820 μF and three with a capacity of 330 μF are installed.

On the Foxconn board, all overclocking functions are concentrated in the "Fox Central Control Unit" section:

Moreover, there are relatively few functions, and they are scattered across numerous subsections.

As for the abit board, its BIOS does not have any overclocking functions at all.

However, the overclocking capabilities of the Foxconn board have little practical effect. In particular, the maximum stable FSB frequency is 350 MHz.

The chipset is an important component of the computer because it contains all the important interfaces and largely determines the set of functions of the system.

For example, all modern chipsets contain many interfaces for expansion cards (PCI Express or PCI), a dual-channel memory controller (on Intel platform), several USB 2.0 controllers (two ports per controller), an HD Audio controller, gigabit network controllers and modern Serial ATA drive controllers with four to six ports. Some chipsets also contain remote control controllers.

Intel G31 Express Chipset

The Intel G31 chipset is an entry-level chipset and consumes minimal power. The G31 falls into the category of mass-market desktop chipsets designed for "core computing." This means that this set of system logic is completely unsuitable for high-end systems and does not support any advanced functions. The G31 chipset was designed to be a cost-effective option for the average user. Therefore, it is aimed at processors such as Core 2, Pentium Dual Core or similar Celeron processors based on the Core 2 microarchitecture.

The G31 chipset is limited to 4GB of memory, while the G33 and G35 support up to 8GB. The low-end chipset only supports dual-channel DDR2-800 memory (although this is not a disadvantage compared to DDR3) and works with an ICH7 southbridge instead of an ICH8, ICH9 or ICH10. As a result, the G31 supports only four SATA/300 ports, but provides two more UltraATA/100 channels, while newer chipsets support either one legacy ATA channel or none at all. The G31 with the ICH7 southbridge provides eight USB 2.0 ports, HD audio, traditional PCI slots, and just a 100Mbps network controller. If you need a faster Ethernet connection, then look for a motherboard that comes with a PCIe network controller to provide Gigabit Ethernet. And finally, although the G31 chipset has one x16 PCI Express slot for upgrade, it is not compatible with PCI Express 2.0.

Motherboards with the G31 chipset typically have one analogue D-SUB15 display output, and sometimes a digital DVI output. Since the GMA3100 is not suitable for HTPC (home theater), motherboards are not equipped with HDMI outputs; You shouldn't expect two digital outputs from such boards either.

The G31 chipset doesn't have a single feature that makes it special. It doesn't support DirectX 10, doesn't offer 3D performance that would be useful for gaming, and is limited to 4GB of memory. However, all these limitations are not so critical for a basic PC for everyday work. The G31 chipset is cheap, supports all Core 2 processors, including quad-core models, and accepts any high-end graphics card, so it's almost as suitable for gamers as a high-end chipset. It was motherboard manufacturers who turned the G31 from a mass market loser into a chipset for efficient platforms.

What is the difference between north and south bridges for INTEL and AMD

In the case of Intel, the chipset is represented by a north bridge, which is located next to the processor and is “responsible” for all high-speed devices (processor, video card, RAM), and a south bridge, which coordinates the work and connects low-speed interfaces (hard drive, audio, PCI slots, USB, etc.). Bridges are also connected to each other using various options bus implementations, for example, V-Link from VIA.

IN AMD platform there is only one chipset, since the memory controller is built into the processor itself, and the connection of peripheral devices is assigned to an analogue of PCI-E - the proprietary Hyper Transport bus.

History of Intel chipsets

Quite a few Intel chipsets have been released in recent years. We decided to summarize the data in a table reflecting the most important stages development of chipsets with separate graphics, starting with the first SDRAM chipsets for Pentium 4 (2001).

The chipsets that came out after the 915 and 925 didn't have any revolutionary features, but they were still better than the previous models. The 925XE was the first chipset to support the FSB1066 bus (physical frequency 266 MHz), which was required for the first Pentium processors 4 Extreme Edition. The 945 and 955 (Lakeport and Glenwood) increased the DDR2 memory frequency to 333 MHz (DDR2-667), and the ICH7 added two more PCI Express lanes (six instead of four), and the SATA controller was updated to Serial ATA/300. RAID support now includes RAID 5, but Intel has abandoned the two legacy UltraATA/100 interfaces. Dual-core Pentium D processors required a 945 or 955 chipset.

ICH8 became the current south bridge for the 965 (Broadwater) chipset line, which, together with the 975X, became the foundation for the promotion of Intel Core 2 processors. The 965 chipset lost the UltraATA controller, and the AC97 interface was removed in favor of HD Audio solutions (which today can be called a standard ). The ICH8 supports SATA 2.5, including external SATA (eSATA) ports, and contains a Gigabit Ethernet controller. The basic ICH8 model supports four SATA ports, but the ICH8-R RAID version supports six.

Each generation of chipsets has a number of models that use the integrated graphics core, using part of the RAM for the frame buffer. The 915G and 910G chipsets use the GMA900 graphics core with four pixel pipelines operating at 300 MHz, supporting MPEG2 and DirectX 9 hardware decoding. The 945G chipset had an updated graphics core, the GMA950 frequency increased to 400 MHz, but it never received full Shader support Model 3 (DirectX 9.0c). But the GMA950 at least supports HD video. Finally, the 965 line has a GMA3000 graphics core, with eight programmable pipelines, which runs at 667 MHz when running video or graphics calculations.

Intel P45 chipsets

The P35 (Bear Lake) line was replaced by the P45 line, codenamed Eaglelake. New line chipsets consists of four different models(two of them with integrated graphics) and displays PCI standard Express 2.0 to the mass market.

New P45 chipset features: Supports PCI Express 2.0 graphics, effectively doubling the throughput of each PCI Express lane from 250 MB/s to 500 MB/s per lane (one way). However, to benefit from higher bandwidth, PCI Express 2.0 interface requires a PCIe 2.0 compatible expansion card (such as a video card).

PCI Express 2.0 requires more power, so the P45 chipset is less power efficient than its predecessor, even though the P45 is manufactured on Intel's 65nm process.

The P45 is Intel's first mainstream chipset to support 16GB of memory, while the P35 is limited to 8GB.

Block diagram of the Intel P45 Express chipset

All P45 chipset motherboards have the following features.

• Whole family support Core processors 2, including Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme on 45nm and 65nm process technology, Pentium Dual Core and, as a rule, Celeron.
• Supports ATI CrossfireX configurations with multiple graphics cards.
• PCI Express 2.0, up to two slots physically capable of supporting x16 cards, but on eight lanes each.
• Additional PCI Express 1.0 slots.
• Six Serial ATA 3 Gbps ports.
• Gigabit Ethernet with different PHY chips.
• RAID 0 and 1 (to support RAID 5 you need an ICH10R south bridge).
• AHCI SATA 3 Gb/s with Native Command Queuing (support optical drives SATA and hot swap).
• eSATA interface (if available): All SATA connectors can be routed to the rear panel of the motherboard and used as eSATA.
• High Definition Audio (HD Audio): From a P45 chipset motherboard, you can expect at least a simple audio codec that will handle all the audio processing using the CPU.
• The boards do not support Windows 98 and Windows ME

3x line chipsets (Bearlake)

The 3x (Bearlake) line of chipsets consists of four variants: G33, G35, P35 and X38. All chipsets still use Intel socket Land Grid Array with 775 pins (LGA775).

Note the new ICH9 south bridge. If the south bridges ICH6, ICH7 and ICH8 were packaged in a BGA package with 652 contacts, then ICH9 is packaged in a 676-pin Ball Grid Array package, and the south bridge contains 4.6 million transistors and is manufactured using a 130 nm process technology. Although there are more transistors than in ICH8, the thermal package is still 4 W. The ICH9 provides six full-featured Serial ATA/300 ports with NCQ (Native Command Queuing), and also supports eSATA and port multipliers that allow up to four SATA devices to be connected to a single SATA port. We found that the USB 2.0 and RAID performance of the ICH9 south bridge is superior to the ICH8 and ICH7.

Thus, if a motherboard with a 965 chipset supports VRM 11, it will technically be possible to install 45nm processors on it. VRM 11 programs the power lines using 8-bit voltage IDs (VIDs), which give a step size of 0.00625 V. The minimum operating voltage is no longer 0.8375 V (as in the VRM 10 specification), it has been reduced to 0.5 V VRM 11 also allows you to share the load across more phases, and the lines support the so-called rise and fall modulation (dual edge modulation), which allows stabilizers to supply many pulses to transistors using capacitors of smaller capacity. The goal is not only to reduce voltage steps and lower operating voltage for 45nm processors, but also to ensure sufficient power at different voltage levels, which can change frequently. All this is carried out together with a more stringent specification of the voltage slew level.

Intel plans to begin shipping in the third quarter of this year budget chipsets We already know P31 and G31. These chipsets are intended to replace the i945x series chipsets in the long term. Boards based on the new chipsets will support 45 nm Intel processors, however, it is wrong to attribute this opportunity to the merits of the chipsets themselves. Initially, Intel P31 and G31 chipsets will receive support for processors with a 1066 MHz bus, and in the first quarter they will be allowed to support a 1333 MHz bus. Motherboard manufacturers are already introducing support for the 1333 MHz bus for those chipsets that do not have this capability. Intel P31 and G31 chipsets will be compatible in wiring with i945x series chipsets, the south bridges will remain the same - ICH7 and ICH7R, which will provide native support IDE interface, still in demand in the public sector. In a word, some special innovations, in addition to integrated graphics of the Intel GMA 3100 class for Intel chipset G31, new system logic sets are not offered. They are being introduced with the aim of unifying the range of chipsets - already in the fourth quarter of this year, every second desktop chipset supplied by Intel will belong to the x3x family.

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• i945GT -> $39;
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• i945GZ -> $24;
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Thus, the Intel G31 and P31 chipsets, at a cost of $30, wedge themselves into the friendly ranks of the i945x series chipsets. Note that this will not help the i945x series chipsets leave the market faster - even in the first quarter of 2008 their share will be close to 35%. In the second quarter, the place of the “third series” chipsets will be taken by new chipsets of the Eaglelake family, and the i945x series chipsets will shift to the lowest level of the hierarchy, replacing the i865x series chipsets. Please note that by the first quarter of 2008 the share of i965x series chipsets will be measured in a few percent, and x3x series chipsets will unconditionally dominate (almost 60%). By the way, in the current quarter the cost of the Intel P35 chipset will be reduced from $34 to $33, but this is unlikely to greatly affect the retail cost of motherboards.