Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
Integration takes another hop on Seattle, this time in the form of a pair of USB ports, so new at this time that hardly any devices were available to use them. The USB functionality derived from the PIIX4E southbridge controller. Even more significant was the 440BX northbridge, which was the second from Intel to support Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). The AGP slot is peeking out to the left of the Slot 1 interface.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

You’d think that our first Intel board code-named for a place might have been Santa Clara, Hillsboro, Portland, or some other major Intel location. But no. The first quarter of 1998 brought us Seattle, Intel’s first board to make it to a 100 MHz front-side bus (FSB). This was also the company’s time-to-market board for supporting the Pentium II launch. Hmmm, where is that CPU socket? Oh, right—there wasn’t one! Instead, we had the Slot 1 design supporting processor cartridge packages often informally known as “candy bars.” Launch speeds of the 100 MHz bus parts were 350 and 400 MHz.

Compared with Thor, you can see that Seattle is a cleaner board. A lot of the extra and oversized chips are vanishing. All of those real estate-sucking memory chips are gone, for instance, although 512KB of L2 cache is still on the motherboard, and large capacitors are starting to crop up like mushrooms around the CPU slot. Note again that we have a shared PCI/ISA slot, this time second in from the far edge.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
Looking behind the board, it’s a little miracle--the birth of motherboard integration. Forget those Super I/O cards. Now we have integrated serial, parallel, and game ports. Remember 15-pin game ports for joysticks (support for these disappeared under Windows Vista)? Under the game port, behold—three audio jacks fueled by a Crystal Semiconductor ASIC mounted under the third and fourth PCI slots. In the bottom-right of the image below, you can also see the four-wire audio header for connecting to the CD-ROM so systems could play music discs.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
There are a lot of nifty tidbits on this board. The Socket 7 design was novel, not only because it provided split rail voltage—what? over 10 years before AMD made a fuss about Barcelona’s split rail power?—but it was also backward compatible with Socket 5 CPUs. Imagine that, a backward compatible CPU socket. Better yet, Socket 7 worked with processors from AMD, Cyrix, IDT, and others. True, friendly, open craziness. No wonder it didn’t last. And hey, believe it or not, those are Sony 32-bit SRAM chips sitting alongside the CPU socket.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
By the beginning of 1996, the industry was in clear need of a return to the simple form factors that made AT and Baby AT desktops so easy to work with, only without AT’s legacy technologies. Intel had released the first specification for ATX in 1995, and Thor was the first Intel board to use the new form factor. While ATX has been updated a few times, the form factor, along with its microATX derivative, still remains the dominant format used in PCs today.

Thor featured a maximum bus speed of 66 MHz for Socket 7 Pentiums and up to 128MB of Extended Data-Out (EDO) SIMM memory. EDO marked a 10% to 15% improvement over the prior Fast Page Memory technology by allowing the memory controller to start a new column address instruction while concurrently reading a different address—multitasking. Of course, this required support in the chipset, and Thor’s Triton (430FX) core logic proved to be immensely popular and really established Intel as a leading chipset company. Triton also supported PCI level 2.0 and pipelined burst cache.

You’ll notice several blank spots on this Thor model. That’s because it was common for Intel, then as now, to produce reference designs that OEMs could then customize to taste. Not everyone needed an extra ISA slot or additional on-board memory.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
The Plato motherboard was famous within Intel for being the first model to sell over one million units for the company. It was also a sign of the times that boards should be loaded with as many slots as possible—five ISA and three PCI in this case. Maximum expansion capability, summed up by the phrase “slots and watts,” was both a sign of coolness as well as a practical necessity since practically nothing was built into the board. Not how close together the last PCI slot is to the ISA slot on the board’s edge. This was one of the first instances of a shared slot design, in which either slot could make use of one opening in the chassis’s rear.

Other curiosities: Notice how there are no plastic walls around the floppy and hard disk headers on Plato, although there were on Batman? This is an odd step backward since it was all too easy to bend pins during cable attachment and removal. Enough bending and you’d snap a pin or two clean off. And do you see that power connector between the fourth ISA and first PCI slots? Not even the oldest of the Intel old timers helping us could remember what that was for. Bonus kudos to anyone who can solve the mystery in our feedback section.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
By September of 1994, Intel was ready to bail on the 5V Pentium plan. The Plato motherboard jumped to Socket 5 while preserving many of Batman’s quirks. You still only find PS/2 on the back. There’s 256KB of cache mounted on the PCB—a laughable amount compared to the several megabytes now baked into modern CPUs—and the board could support system memory configurations up to 128 MB across two banks. Plato supported Pentium 75 or 90 chips, and there was a jumper on the motherboard (JP7) you had to set in order to enable the correct processor.

Gateway came out with an OEM version of Plato called Neptune, which just makes you wonder if someone in the company erroneously thought the name was Pluto and wanted to be one planet closer to Earth.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

In 1993, Bill Clinton became President, CERN unleashed the World Wide Web, and motherboards integrated practically nothing. That’s right—the only I/O integrated on Batman is a couple of PS/2 ports. If you wanted to add audio, you could use one of those ISA buses for something like a Sound Blaster Pro. That monster-sized Dallas DS1887 real-time clock could select between Motorola and Intel bus timing. (Motorola timing? Chalk that one up to the round file of history.)

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
One thing you’ll notice on the really old boards is that some of the SIMM slots closer to the board edge are angled 45 degrees. This was due to chassis height restrictions for items like the hard drive or power supply. The real nugget here is the “OverDrive Ready” stamp on the CPU socket (Socket 4), a feature so ancient that it stumped our first set of Intel engineers. Socket 4 supported a 5V connection and only worked with the Pentium 60 and 66 chips. Socket 5 (3.3V) would later support the Pentium 75 to 133 and used staggered pin rows. The Pentium OverDrive chip used a clock doubler to take the speed to 120 or 133 MHz on Socket 4 systems. The net result was slower than a true 120 or 133 MHz product, but it was the poor man’s answer to a system upgrade. There were also OverDrive chips for Socket 5, Pentium Pro, and, most famously, the 486, which allowed a Pentium core to run on a 486 platform with somewhat hit and miss results.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
For you trivia buffs, the original Batman TV series debuted in 1966. Twenty-seven years later, Intel delivered the “Batman” motherboard, the first commercial release from the company’s motherboard group. Prior to Batman, Intel had merely produced reference boards for major OEMs and MNCs (multi-national corporations). The trouble was that the CPU group would launch a chip but there were no motherboards on the market to support it. Intel was stuck in a chicken-and-egg conundrum, and the best solution was to release both items together. Marketing-speak for this is “time to market,” or TTM. Batman was Intel’s first TTM board, and it was meant to accelerate the adoption of Pentium.

Those rectangular chips near the CPU socket are cache, because L2 had yet to be integrated into the processor. And the big, square chips? No, those aren’t part of the chipset. They’re for I/O.

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History

Return To Castle Intel: 16 Years Of Motherboard History
Last month, we took you deep into the hidden recesses of Intel’s Hawthorn Farm facility, where the company’s enthusiast motherboards are designed and refined. On our way out of the building, we walked down a long hallway that ends with the metal detector gate one passes through when entering the building. This hallway is lined with dozens of mounted, framed motherboards—a veritable walk-through museum documenting Intel’s many years of motherboard innovation.

As tech enthusiasts, we tend to be amnesiacs. There’s just so much good stuff to focus on now, and even better stuff coming soon, that we forget where we’ve been and the massive effort that went into moving through those stages. Walking this hallway, we felt a bit like archeologists or perhaps sudden visitors to the Galapagos Islands, granted a rare glimpse at the sweep of natural evolution. Some fits of creativity grew into the technologies we have today. Others blossomed for a moment and died ingloriously.

At the end of our last visit, we got about half-way down this hallway, then stalled in our tracks. After nearly two decades in the hardware business, it was impossible not to stop at each frame with a “I remember that!” or a “Oh, what was that called again?!” We wanted to stay for hours. So on a return visit with a camera and tripod, we did. Sure, we had to shoot the boards under poor lighting and through the high-glare glass of their frames, but it turned out well in the end.

What follows are our picks for the best dozen of the mobo brood, the ones that stood out as having exceptional historical significance. We had a blast taking this walk down memory lane and rediscovering our roots. Hopefully, you will, too.

History of Intel motherboards

Hardware geek heaven: a pictorial history of Intel motherboards

If you’ve been computerizing a long time, you’ll probably remember the days of putting together systems with 4MB of RAM, freaking out about the Turbo button, and you may remember a few of these motherboards. During a tour of Intel’s mobo-designing facility, Tom’s Hardware encountered a hallway filled with framed motherboards, the way you might find platinum records displayed in Atlantic Records or whatnot. Being slightly nerdy, they decided to stop and take a trip down random access memory lane. (See what I did there?)
Now I’m no old salt when it comes to hardware, but I do appreciate some of the changes going on. The size of certain components, the layout, the addition of stuff like PATA and SATA ports, etc. This is for hardcore tech nerds only, people. Lots of capacitor porn.

The History of Intel

Intel was founded on July 18, 1968 with one main goal in mind: to make semiconductor memory more practicle. Intels first microprocessor, the 4004 microcomputer, was released at the end of 1971. The chip was smaller then a thumbnail, contained 2300 transistors, and was capable of executing 60,000 operations in one second. Shortly after the release of th 4004 the 8008 microcomputer was released and was capable of executing twice as many operations per second then the 4004. Intels commitment to the microprocessor led to IBM's choice of Intel's 8088 chip for the CPU of the its first PC. In 1982, Intel introduced the first 286 chip, it contained 134,000 transistors and provided around three times the performance of the other microprocessors at the time. In 1989 the 486 processor was released that contained 1.2 million transistors and the first built in math coprocessor. The chip was approximately 50 times faster then Intels original 4004 processor and equaled the performance of a powerful mainframe computer. In 1993 Intel introduced the Pentium processor, which was five times as fast as the 486, it contained 3.1 million transistors, and was capable of 90 million instructions per second (MIPS). In 1995 Intel introduced its new technology, MMX, MMX was designed to enhance the computers multimedia performance. Throughout the years that followed Intel released several lines of processors including the Celeron, the P2, P3, and P4. Intel processors now reach speeds upwards of 2200 MHZ or 2.2 GHZ.

Intel® High-Performance SATA Solid-State Drives and Caching

Intel® Turbo Memory with User Pinning

Overview

Intel® Turbo Memory with User Pinning

Enhancing system performance through memory innovation

Intel® Turbo Memory with User Pinning brings mobile and desktop systems performance to new heights through the innovative extension of Flash Memory architectures into computing platforms. User Pinning offers more options to the user to improve system applications launch time and responsiveness.

Product information
Download the product brief

User Pinning
The new User Pinning capability feature, via the Intel® Turbo Memory Dashboard, allows the user to choose and control which applications or files are loaded into the Intel Turbo Memory cache for performance acceleration. Custom pinning profiles can be created to pin applications or files that match the user's activity, such as PC gaming, office work, or home tasks

Download the User Pinning Basic Tutorial

Performance
Intel® NAND Flash Memory, working with the Microsoft Windows Vista* ReadyBoost* and ReadyDrive* technologies, adds a new low-latency, non-volatile memory cache between the system memory and the hard drive. This enables fast access to critical data and applications.

Fast application load times, hibernation and resume

Fast overall application responsiveness

Fast boot time

Quick access to frequently used applications and/or files from User Pinning

Enhanced data loss protection using RAID 1, 5 and 10

Platform compatibility
Intel Turbo Memory cards are compatible with Intel® Centrino® and Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology for notebook PCs and Intel® Core™2 processor family with Series 4 chip sets for business desktop PCs and digital home media.

Be sure to ask for Intel Turbo Memory with User Pinning and Intel Turbo Memory Dashboard when purchasing your next Intel-based PC.


Related links
Watch the Intel® Turbo Memory overview animation
View customer testimonial: Lenovo

Intel® Solid-State Drives and Caching

Intel® Z-P140 PATA Solid-State Drive

Overview

Ultra-small, low-power storage solution with the right features and performance for mobile Internet devices, digital entertainment and embedded products

Right fit: smallest form-factor complete PATA solid-state drive (SSD) solution

Right capacity: meets the storage capacity requirements for mobile devices

Right performance: speed, power and solid-state reliabilit

Product information

Download product brief
Download datasheet

Features and benefits

Scalable capacity

2, 4, 8 and 16GB

Scalable capacity to meet storage needs for operating systems, applications and data. Please see your Intel sales representative for details on the extended density products

Standard interface

Interface to any platform using standard parallel ATA (PATA)

Small footprint

12 x 18 x 1.8 mm, 0.6 grams (400 times smaller and 75 times lighter than a conventional hard disk drive) for thinner and lighter mobile designs

Performance

Fast to boot, load and run applications (40MB/s read, 30MB/s write) with no mechanical latency and no moving parts

Low power

Extends battery life (idle 1.1mW, typical operating 315mW)

Fully solid state

No moving parts mean ultimate ruggedness for mobile designs

Designed for mobile computing

Ultra-small package-on-package BGA solution designed with ultra-mobile platforms in mind

Applies Intel computing experience to optimize solid-state technology for computing and storage

Intel® Solid-State Drives and Caching

Intel® Z-P230 PATA Solid-State Drive

Overview

Affordable and low-power storage solution for netbooks and nettops

The Intel® Z-P230 PATA Solid-State Drive (SSD) is an innovative storage solution for value mobile and desktop systems such as netbooks and nettops.

Four times smaller than a traditional 1.8" hard disk drive and as little as one-fourth the weight, the Intel® Z-P230 PATA SSD is designed to replace traditional hard disk drives in netbook and nettop systems.

The solid-state design means no moving parts, providing ruggedness that's perfect for mobile designs. And the Intel Z-P230 SSD's low power requirements translate to longer battery life.

The Intel® Z-P230 PATA SSD is now available in two sizes: 40-pin ZIF module (top) and a space-saving mini-card module (bottom).

Product information

Download product brief

Download datasheet

Features and benefits

Scalable capacity

4GB and 8GB

16GB available Q4 08

Standard interface

Standard 40-pin ZIF PATA (IDE) system interface or space-saving PATA (IDE) on mini-card version

Small footprint

38mm x 54mm x 3.2mm (ZIF version) or 30mm x 50.95 x 3.8mm (mini-card version) - one-fourth the volume of a standard 1.8" hard disk drive for smaller, more portable designs

Lightweight

Only weighs 11 grams (ZIF) or 8g (mini-card) for lighter, more portable designs

Low power

Extends battery life (idle 1.65mW, typical operating 314 mW)

Fully solid-state

No moving parts, so ideal for portable designs. 600G (2ms) shock tolerance

Intel® High-Performance SATA Solid-State Drives and Caching

Intel® X25-M and X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives

Overview

High-Performance Storage for Notebook and Desktop PCs
The Intel® X25-M and X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive (SSD) brings a new level of performance and reliability to laptop and desktop PC storage.

Wait less. Do more.
Why wait for a traditional hard disk drive to spin up? Unlike traditional hard disk drives, Intel solid-state drives have no moving parts, resulting in a quiet, cool, highly rugged storage solution that also offers faster system responsiveness. And for laptop PCs, the lower power needs of Intel SSDs translate to longer battery life and lighter notebooks. Higher performance with more durability means you can be truly mobile with confidence.

Better by design
Drawing from decades of memory engineering experience, Intel Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives are designed to deliver outstanding performance, featuring the latest-generation native SATA interface with an advanced architecture employing 10 parallel NAND flash channels equipped with multi-level cell NAND flash memory. With powerful Native Command Queuing to enable up to 32 concurrent operations, Intel Mainstream SATA SSDs deliver higher input/output per second and throughput performance than other SSDs on the market today - and drastically outperform traditional hard disk drives. These drives also feature low write amplification and a unique wear-leveling design for higher reliability, meaning Intel drives not only perform better - they last longer.

Two options. No worries.
Intel® Mainstream Solid-State Drives are available in either 2.5in (Intel® X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive) or 1.8in (Intel® X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive) standard hard drive form factors. And all Intel Mainstream SSDs are tested and validated on the latest Intel-based mobile and desktop platforms for your peace of mind.















Product information
Download product brief
View animation: "Intel® Solid-State Drives: Better by Design"
View customer testimonial: Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems

Technical specifications

Model Name
Intel® X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive
Intel® X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive

Capacity
80GB and 160GB

NAND Flash Components
Intel® Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash Memory10 Channel Parallel Architecture with 50nm MLC ONFI 1.0 NAND

Bandwidth
Up to 250MB/s Read SpeedsUp to 70MB/s Write Speeds

Read Latency
85 microseconds

Interface
SATA 1.5 Gb/s and 3.0 Gb/s

Form factor
X18-M: Industry Standard Hard Drive Form Factor
80GB drive: 1.8in by 5.0mm
160GB drive: 1.8in by 8.0mm

X25-M: Industry Standard Hard Drive Form Factor
80GB drive: 2.5in by 7mm and 2.5in by 9.5mm options
160GB drive: 2.5in by 7mm and 2.5in by 9.5mm options

X25-M: 2.5in Industry Standard Hard Drive Form Factor

Compatibility
SATA Revision 2.6 Compliant. Compatible with SATA 3.0 Gb/s with Native Command Queuing and SATA 1.5 Gb/s interface rates

Life expectancy
1.2 million hours Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)

Power consumption
Active: 150mW Typical (PC workload¹)Idle (DIPM): 0.06W Typical

Operating shock
1,000G / 0.5ms

Operating temperature
0°C to +70°C

RoHS Compliance
Meets the requirements of EU RoHS Compliance Directives

Product health monitoring
Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) commands plus additional SSD monitoring

Intel® High-Performance SATA Solid-State Drives

Intel® X25-E Extreme SATA Solid-State Drive

Overview

Extreme performance, reliability, and power savings for servers, storage and workstations
The Intel® Extreme SATA Solid-State Drive (SSD) offers outstanding performance and reliability, delivering the highest IOPS per watt for servers, storage and high-end workstations.

Reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Enterprise applications place a premium on performance, reliability, power consumption and space. Unlike traditional hard disk drives, Intel Solid-State Drives have no moving parts, resulting in a quiet, cool storage solution that also offers significantly higher performance than traditional server drives. Imagine replacing up to 50 high-RPM hard disk drives with one Intel X25-E Extreme SATA Solid-State Drive in your servers — handling the same server workload in less space, with no cooling requirements and lower power consumption. That space and power savings, for the same server workload, will translate to a tangible reduction in your TCO.

Better by design
Drawing from decades of memory engineering experience, the Intel X25-E Extreme SATA Solid-State Drive is designed to deliver outstanding performance and reliability, featuring the latest-generation native SATA interface with an advanced architecture employing 10 parallel NAND flash channels equipped with single-level cell NAND flash memory for even greater overall performance and reliability. With powerful Native Command Queuing to enable up to 32 concurrent operations, these Intel SSDs deliver higher Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS) and throughput performance than other SSDs on the market today - and drastically outperform traditional hard disk drives. These Intel drives also feature low write amplification and a unique wear-leveling design for higher reliability, meaning Intel drives not only perform better - they last longer.

Validated and tested by Intel, on Intel
All Intel® X25-E Extreme SATA Solid-State Drives are tested and validated on the latest Intel-based server and workstation platforms, for your peace of mind.

Product information
View animation: "Intel Solid-State Drives: Better by Design"
View customer testimonial: Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems
View customer video: Espial IPTV Solution
Download product brief

Intel® Server chipsets

Intel® 3200 and Intel® 3210 Chipsets

Overview

The Intel® 3200 and Intel® 3210 Chipsets are designed for use with Intel® Xeon® processors 3000Δ sequence, in the LGA775 package in UP server platforms. The chipset contains two components: Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and Intel® I/O Controller Hub 9 (ICH9). The MCH provides the interface to the processor, main memory, PCI Express*, and the ICH9. The ICH9 I/O Controller Hub provides a multitude of I/O related functions.

The Intel® 3200 Chipset supports one PCI Express x8 port for I/O. Intel® 3210 Chipset supports two PCI Express x8 ports or one PCI Express x16 port for I/O.



















Features and benefits

Supports processors
Provides four execution cores in one physical processor helping increase system responsiveness and performance for multi-tasking. Also supports dual-core processors.

1333/1066/800 MHz FSB
Supports Intel® Xeon® processor 3000Δ sequence and processors in the LGA775 socket, with scalability for future processor innovations.

Supports Intel® 64 architecture
Runs 64-bit code and accesses larger amounts of memory while also capable of running existing 32-bit applications.

Memory Support for Dual Channel DDR2 800/667 with ECC support
Improved memory speed over previous generation and provides ECC for data integrity protection. Delivers up to 12.8 GB/s (DDR2 800 dual 6.4 GB/s) of bandwidth and 8 GB memory addressability for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.

PCI Express* I/O Interfaces supports 1 x8 with the Intel® 3200 Chipset, and 2 x8 or 1 x16 with the Intel® 3210 Chipset
The Intel 3210 Chipset supports flexible I/O with 2x8 or 1x16 PCI Express, and the Intel 3200 Chipset provides a single PCI Express I/O x8 port . Also provides configurable Intel® I/O Controller Hub (ICH9R) 6x1 PCI Express ports to meet higher I/O server demands. Multiple interfaces eliminates the need for bridge solutions and reduces server bottlenecks.

Serial ATA* (SATA) 3 Gb/s
High-speed storage interface supports faster transfer rate for improved data access.

Intel® Matrix Storage Technology◊1
With a second hard drive added, provides quicker access to data files with RAID 0, 5, and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA* (eSATA*) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology
Enables focused platform and software power management to lower average power consumption while maintaining application performance and improving acoustics.

PCI-X Interface
Support legacy PCI-X server adapters using the Intel® 6702PXH 64-bit PCI hub.

Supports Hyper-Threading Technology◊2
Delivers higher processing throughput and faster response times for multi-tasking, multi-threading workload environments.

Intel Mainstream desktop chipsets

Intel® 945GT Express Chipset

Overview

The Intel® 945GT Express Chipset, combined with the Intel® Core™ Duo processor, delivers innovative features and new benefits for both home and business at low power consumption. These features provide enhanced manageability, security and responsiveness to meet evolving business needs.

The Intel 945GT Express Chipset offers outstanding system performance through high-bandwidth interfaces such as PCI Express*, Serial ATA*, and Hi-Speed USB* 2.0, and the enhanced Gen 3.5 integrated graphics controller.

Features and benefits

Supports Intel® Core™2 Processor with Viiv™ TechnologyΔ
Get ready for a new kind of consumer entertainment PC that will change the way you enjoy entertainment at home. With a system based on the Intel® 945G Express Chipset*, control the music, movies, games, and photos you want to enjoy both from your personal entertainment collections and endless entertainment options from a wide range of Intel® Core™2 processor with Viiv™ technology verified service providers delivered right to your living room.

Gen 3.5 Integrated Graphics

Delivers richer visual color and picture clarity without the need for additional graphics cards. Also supports TV Out, LVDS, CRT and SDVO for increased flexibility, allowing users to maximize the Digital Entertainment experience.

Intel® Matrix Storage Technology◊2
Provides quicker access to digital photo, video/data files with RAID 0 and data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1.

Intel® Flex Memory Technology

Facilitates easier upgrades by allowing different memory sizes to be populated and remain in dual-channel mode.

Intel Performance desktop chipsets

Intel® Chipset X58 Express

Overview

Desktop PC platforms based on the Intel® X58 Express Chipset, combined with the Intel® Core™ i7 processor family, drive breakthrough performance and state-of-the-art technology to performance and mainstream platforms.
The Intel X58 Express Chipset supports the latest 45nm Intel Core i7 processor family at 6.4 GT/s and 4.8 GT/s speeds via the Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (Intel® QPI). Additionally, this chipset delivers dual x16 or quad x8 PCI Express* 2.0 graphics card support, and support for Intel® High Performance Solid State Drives on ICH10 and ICH10R consumer SKUs.

Features and benefits

Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (Intel® QPI) at 6.4 and 4.8 GT/s
Intel’s latest system interconnect design increases bandwidth and lowers latency. Supports the Intel® Core™ i7-965 processor Extreme Edition, Intel® Core™ i7-940 processors and Intel® Core™ i7-920 processors.

Intel® Matrix Storage technology◊2
With additional hard drives added, provides quicker access to digital photo, video and data files with RAID 0, 5, and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.

Intel® Rapid Recover technology
Intel's latest data protection technology provides a recovery point that can be used to quickly recover a system should a hard drive fail or if there is massive data corruption. The clone can also be mounted as a read-only volume to allow a user to recover individual files.

Intel® Turbo Memory◊3
Intel's innovative NAND cache designed to improve the responsiveness of applications, application load times, and system boot performance. Intel® Turbo Memory, paired with the Intel® X58 Express Chipset, also allows the user to easily control the applications or data in the cache using the new Intel® Turbo Memory Dashboard interface, boosting performance further.

Connecting People and Information for Better Health

Intel in healthcare

Around the world, healthcare costs are rising. Too many people lack access to high-quality healthcare services. Paper-based workflows introduce errors and hamper productivity. Aging populations and swelling rates of chronic disease threaten to overwhelm even the most efficient healthcare systems.

Intel is delivering innovative leaps in digital technologies to help address those challenges.

We share the vision of healthcare leaders who recognize technology's potential to evolve healthcare toward more proactive, consumer-centric models of care as well as the potential to improve the quality, cost, and accessibility of healthcare services. In homes and hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, we collaborate with healthcare leaders to better connect people and information, and enable new models of care.

By helping individuals, families, and the extended healthcare community connect to the right information at the right time, we empower them to make better, more informed decisions—and accelerate the ability to radically improve health and healthcare.

Intel Laptop

Intel Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading) 17" Laptop, 3.0 GHz

Item Description

Advanced multimedia functions include a DVD and music player with excellent sound. This laptop features a high quality stereo system with five built-in speakers and 5.1 channel output. It's also packed with a Super DJ that lets you play music from CD, HDD or USB flash discs without powering up the system. Supports wireless LAN and a Gigabit Ethernet.

LCD: 17" WXGA (1440 x 900) TFT LCD display.

Processor: 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper Threading

technology, 512 KB L2 cache, FSB 800 MHz.

Memory: 512 MB system memory, expandable up to 1 GB system memory,

Support DDR-266 / 333 / 400 module.

Hard Drive: 60 GB, 2.5" 9.5mm height, ATA66/100 support.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition.

Optical Device: 5.25" 12.7 mm height Combo Drive (DVD-ROM + CD-RW)

Wireless LAN: 802.11g, 54Mbps transfer rate.

Ethernet: 10/100Mbps & Gigabit Ethernet on board.

Audio: AC97 2.3, SPDIF out, 5.1 channel support, three headphone jacks

support 6 channels surround sound output, 5 built-in high quality

stereo speakers (2 high frequency, 2 median frequency, 1

subwoofer), Control panel with LED display. Music CD play without

powering on the system.

Graphics: ATi MOBILITY RADEON 9700(M11) AGP 8X, external 64 MB DDR

VRAM.

Measurements: 15.55"W x 11.22"D x 1.53"H.

Weight: 9.9lbs.

Battery: 12 cell Li-Ion battery pack, Battery Life: Approximately 2 hours by

12 cell Li-Ion battery pack.

Accessories Quick Guide, Support CD (Driver, Utility, Manual), AC Adapter,

Included: Power Cord, Remote Control.

I/O Port: One Type II PCMCIA slot, support CardBus, Four USB2.0 ports, up

to 480Mbit/s.

Misc: TV Tuner: Built in TV tuner card with coaxial connector for TV-in,

supports PAL or NTSC, Modem : internal 56Kbps Fax/Modem,

Kensington Lock, BIOS password protection.

Intel Legit Memory Reviews

Intel P35 Chipset: DDR2 Versus DDR3 Memory

DDR3 Finally Enters The Market

Nearly two weeks ago we brought you a preview of DDR3 memory modules that detailed the differences between DDR3 and DDR2. At the time we couldn't provide performance numbers as Intel did not have their DDR3 motherboard chipset officially announced. This morning Intel Intel has officially launched a new chipset called the Intel P35 Express Chipset. This is the first chipset from any manufacturer that supports DDR3 and DDR2 memory modules. JEDEC specifications for DDR2 stopped at 800MHz (PC2-6400), yet today DDR2 is available up to 1200MHz (PC2-9600). Right off the bat JEDEC had released specifications for DDR3 that go up to 1600MHz and they expect DDR3 to scale to 2133MHz. Even today on the day that DDR3 memory modules and chipsets are launching we are able to overclock DDR3 memory modules to speeds over 1700MHz, which is amazing on something so new.

Since the Intel P35 Express Chipset can be enabled to use DDR2 or DDR3 memory modules a number of companies have released two versions of this chipset. This means that you need to decide if you want to run DDR3 or DDR2 memory modules right off the bat. DDR3 memory modules are expensive right now, but that doesn't stop gamers, enthusiasts and early adaptors from wanting to have the latest and greatest technology to tinker with it.

To do some DDR2 versus DDR3 testing we used the ASUS P5K Deluxe and ASUS P5K3 Deluxe motherboards. These motherboards are nearly identical with the main difference being the type of DDR memory that is used. This is ideal for testing DDR2 versus DDR3 as it's basically the same board! We got early 2GB samples of high-end DDR3 memory from Kingston and Corsair to try out and it was clear that Kingston and Corsair took different approaches to their first DDR3 memory kits.

Kingston sent over a 2GB PC3-11000 HyperX memory kit that was rated to run at 1375Mhz had tight memory timings of 7-7-7-20 and operated at 1.7V. This memory kit is the fastest DDR3 memory kit from anyone to our knowledge and has really tight timings compared to other DDR3 kits at the same speed. Kingston will offer 1GB and 2GB PC3-11000 memory kits with these timings.

Corsair Memory sent over one of their PC3-10600 XMS3 DHX (Dual Path Heat eXchange) ES memory kits, which is now their mid-grade XMS3 memory kit. The Corsair XMS3 DHX Dominator memory kit has yet to be announced as Corsair is waiting on better IC's to come out from companies like Elipdia, Qimonda, Micron and Samsung before launching something for die hard enthusiasts. The Corsair 2GB kit came with the part number CM3X1024-1333C9DHX ES, which is rated for operation at 1333MHz with 9-9-9-24 timings at 1.5V. As you can tell this memory kit has much greater memory timings and a lower clock frequency compared to the Kingston HyperX kit mentioned above. No matter how much voltage this kit was given we couldn't get it below CL8 timings at 1333MHz for this reason we used the Kingston kit for performance testing as it performed better although the Corsair kit overclocked better. We will better cover this in the overclocking section.

Let's jump into testing to see how DDR3 memory does when compared to one of the best DDR2 memory kits on the market the 2GB Kingston HyperX PC2-9600 memory kit.

Intel Legit Memory Reviews

Intel IDF 2008: 16GB DDR3 Memory Modules With MetaRam

Is 144GB of Memory Enough For Your Needs?

Intel is demonstrating a server with 144GB of memory using Hynix DDR3 R-DIMMs and Meta SDRAM technology in the Advanced Technology Zone here at IDF this week. MetaRAM just announced their second-generation chipset that supports DDR3 memory today and we happened to walk by the demo and saw it in action. If my memory serves me correctly MetaRAM was created by ex-AMD employee and was designed to allows computers to quadruple their memory capacity (RAM) with minimal cost, lower power consumption and higher performance to boot. This is done by placing a new chipset called the MetaRAM between the memory controller and the DRAM. Processor speeds double about every 18 months, versus the 36 months it generally takes for memory capacity to double. With technology like MetaRAM it is now possible for memory capacity increases to be quicker, back along the lines of processors.



Each of the 18 memory modules in the server platform are 8GB (HMT31GR7AER4C-GC) 2-rank DIMMs by Hynix. Using these modules consumers can triple DDR3 memory capacity in servers and workstations, enabling the world's highest memory capacity per channel without degrading performance. DDR3 MetaRAM technology enables Hynix to introduce cost-effective, high capacity R-DIMMs by using mainstream 1 gigabit (Gb) DRAMs. If this isn't enough it turns out that Hynix is working with MetaRAM and Intel to successfully develop the world's first 16GB DDR3 module, which is shown on the next page.

Here is a closer look at the system that was up and running at IDF. If you were wanting a little more than 144GB then read on!

Intel Desktop Processor

Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 Processor Review

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 - Budget Phenom Slayer

For those that haven't been keeping up with all the new processor launches the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor is the newest 45nm quad-core 'Yorkfield' processor. It is also the entry level 45nm quad-core processor, which means it has the lowest price tag! At $285.99 plus shipping on PriceGrabber the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 is still fairly pricey, but you get what you pay for and it should run circles around the $235 AMD Phenom 9850 quad-core processor. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Processor has been getting a ton of attention these days as retailers are offering it in some pretty killer bundles. Microcenter for example has the Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 (OEM) processor and a 2GB (2x1GB) OCZ Gold DDR2-800 memory kit being offered together for $250. If these deals are looking tempting, but you are unsure about the processor and how it stacks up against others on the market you are in luck as we are going to run the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 against seven other processors to see how it does.

With the latest version of CPU-Z 1.44.2, we can see our quad-core 'Yorkfield' processor is correctly identified at 2.50 GHz with a 1333MHz FSB and 6MB L2 cache.Our processor is an M1 stepping and has a TDP of 95W, which is the same as the Q6600 that it replaces. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 should be a pretty good overclocker, but it only has a 7.5 multiplier (333MHz FSB x 7.5 multiplier = 2.5GHz). With a somewhat low multiplier the FSB will have to be increased beyond 450MHz to break the 3.5GHz mark. This eliminates the use of many low end motherboards as to hit FSB speeds above 450MHz it will really tax the platform. If you increase the FSB to 400MHz that will make the CPU 3.0GHz, which should be easy to reach! We will try to reach these higher clock frequencies in our overclocking section as many enthusiasts will be buying this processor just to overclock it.

Moving over to the cache tab in CPU-Z the 6MB of L2 cache can be seen.

Flipping the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor over, some differences can be noted between the various 45nm processors by Intel.

Intel Desktop Processor

Intel E8600 Core 2 Duo Processor Review

A Brief Introduction

Intel Wolfdale color-enhanced die-shot.

Processors come in various revisions as the manufacturers test and modify the circuits that comprise the finished product. The previous Wolfdale stepping, C0, was introduced with all previous versions of the E8xxx, E7xxx, and Q9xxx series processors. If you need a quick refresher on what was introduced with the original 45nm processors, check out Nate's Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Processor Review.

The differences between the C0 and E0 steppings aren't much on paper. There is a new function called the Power Status Indicator that will let motherboards drop their VRM down from a multi-phase circuit to a single-phase circuit to save power when at idle. There were also two additional instructions added to the instruction set, XSAVE and XRSTOR, neither of which are world changing. This stepping also features a step towards being green with the introduction of a halide-free package, just another step towards being cleaner like the move to lead-free processors. So, since the processors are electrically, mechanically, and thermally identical to the C0 stepping, why do they deserve a brief review? Simply, it's all about that need for speed and the E8600 delivers.

Intel Desktop Processor

Intel Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Processor Review

The Core i7 Series Arrives

Intel has finally lifted the embargo on the yet-to-be-launched Intel Core i7 processors and the Intel X58 Express chipset. Intel strongly believes that this new platform will be the must have work horse for digital media & gaming enthusiasts for many months to come. With so much to talk about this new platform we made the decision to focus just on processor performance for this article and then take a deeper dive at other features in the weeks to come. This should work out nicely as the processors won't be available to purchase until later this month and many companies are just now getting us production grade triple channel memory kits and video card drivers for this new platform.

The Intel Core i7 Processor (known as Nehalem internally) has some very big architecture changes as you can tell from the picture above. The new Core i7 processor has 1366 pins and as a result the size of the processor, socket and heat sink mounting brackets are all larger than LGA 775 based processors that have been out now for a couple of years. The die size of Core i7 processors is 263 mm2 and the transistor count is 731 Million.


Taking a look at the die of the Core i7 processor we see a first for Intel processors -- the integrated memory controller. This on-die, triple channel, DDR3 memory controller is unique in the fact that it allows consumers to run three memory modules together for optimal performance. By moving to an integrated memory controller and triple channel memory the platform has over 25GB/s of throughput between the processor and DDR3 memory modules!

For those that follow processor architecture you will notice a brand new cache structure on the Core i7 diagram shown above. All Intel Core i7 processors feature L1, L2, and shared L3 caches. Before, Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors had just an L1 and L2 cache. The break down on the cache is as follows: there is a 64K L1 cache (32K Instruction, 32K Data) per core, 1MB of total L2 cache, and an impressive 8MB chunk of L3 cache that is shared across all the cores. That means that all Intel Core i7 processors have over 9MB of memory right there on the 45nm processor!

Can it get any better than this?


Of course it can! The new Core i7 processor has a huge list of improvements that have been made to it.

• New SSE4.2 Instructions
• Improved Lock Support
• Additional Caching Hierarchy
• Deeper Buffers
• Improved Loop Streaming
• Simultaneous Multi-Threading
• Faster Virtualization
• Better Branch Prediction

Intel always told us that Hyper-Threading was not dead and they were right as the technology has surfaced again and is enabled on all of the Core i7 processors. With Hyper-Threading enabled on quad-core Core i7's processors the operating system sees eight virtual cores that can be used. Intel has told Legit Reviews that when Hyper-Threading originally came out the idea was solid, but that the Pentium 4 processor might not have been the best processor to bring it to market. The Core i7 series should highlight all the strong points of Hyper-Threading as they are calling it Hyper-Threading "done right" now. If you want a deeper look at the Intel Core i7 architecture take a look at this presentation that was given at the Spring 2008 IDF and this one that was given at the Fall IDF.

Intel will be releasing three Core i7 processors and all have a TDP of 130W and an on-die shared L3 cache of 8MB. All current Core i7 processors are not intended for multi-processor motherboards, so it has only one Quick Path Interconnect (QPI).

• Core i7 965 Extreme Edition - 3.2GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x6.4GT/s QuickPath interconnect - $999
• Core i7 940 - 2.93GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x4.8GT/s QuickPath interconnect - $562
• Core i7 920 - 2.66GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x4.8GT/s QuickPath interconnect - $284.
  
  

Intel Desktop Processor

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200S Processor Review

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200S Processor

With the economy still chugging along not too many people are thinking about buying a processor above $300, so today we will be looking at the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor. This 45nm processor retails for just $169.99 online, which makes it interesting due to the price point alone. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor isn't really anything to laugh at as it operates at 2.33GHz with a 1333MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) and 4MB of L2 cache. The only thing that this processor is really lacking is cache, but how many people really need more than 4MB of L2 cache?

It should be noted that when the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 originally came out it had a Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating of 95W. The processor I have in my hands today is a new stepping that has a TDP of just 65W! Intel is has recently silently launched R0 revisions for both the 95W and 65W TDP Core 2 Quad Q8200 chip, which the 95W TDP chip is currently using an M1 stepping. Intel informed Legit Reviews that the 65W parts would carry an S at the end, so this part is the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200S.

This new 65W part does carry a price premium over the older 95W parts, but they are aimed at the specialty OEM/channel that build small form factor computers and not consumers. It should be noted that 65W TDP does NOT necessarily translate to substantial, measurable AC "at the wall" power savings and doesn't change the performance of the processor. TDP is simply a measure of the maximum power seen with commercially available apps. If you are looking to order a specific Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor be sure to use the sSpec number to make sure you get the right TDP and stepping that you desire.

Intel Q8200 sSpec Numbers:

• SLG9T - 65W TDP w/ R0 Stepping
• SL9GS - 95W TDP w/ R0 Stepping
• SLB5M - 95W TDP w/ M1 Stepping.