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Massive 10 Motherboard i845E/G Roundup
Massive 10 Motherboard i845E/G Roundup - PCSTATS
Traditionally, Intel chipsets have always been the fastest and most stable for Intel processors; just consider the venerable i440BX, i815E or even the i850E.
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Various Oct 23 2002   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Various

Massive 10 Motherboard i845E/G Roundup
Traditionally, Intel chipsets have always been the fastest and most stable for Intel processors; just consider the venerable i440BX, i815E or even the i850E. The characteristics of motherboards based on these chipsets were all very good, but that changed with the release of the i820+ MTH... Thet chipset was buggy, caused data problems, and was eventually recalled.

Every DIY'er knows that finding the "perfect" motherboard can be a pretty difficult task. There are so many different manufacturers to consider, and then the amount of chipsets is pretty diverse. For example, Intel itself has at least eight mainstream Pentium 4 chipsets currently on the market.

There are the Intel i850, i845 and the i845D chipsets which all work with 400 MHz FSB Pentium 4's, and then there are the i850E, i845E, i845G, i845PE/PG which work with both 400 and 533 MHz FSB P4's. Tack on SiS's 645, 645DX, 648 and VIA's P4X266, P4X266A, P4X266E, P4X333 and the P4X400, you're bound to have some headaches deciding what to get!

Today, we'll be focusing on just the Intel i845E and i845G chipsets. Both Northbridges are based on the original i845 chipset which originally brought the Pentium 4 and SDRAM together. The main differences that exist on the i845G are that it has onboard 'Intel Extreme Graphics' and support for PC2700 DDR memory. The native i845 chipset has no on board graphics, and is only officially compatible with PC2100 DDR memory.

The origins of the i845 chipset.... a long time ago, in a far off galaxy...

When Intel originally released the Pentium 4 microprocessor in 1999, it could only be used with the then "evil" RDRAM. That posed quite a problem for Intel because RDRAM wasn't widely accepted by consumers as Intel thought it would. Little things like Rambus suing everyone for royalties didn't help Intel, Rambus, or RDRAM's image.

With Pentium 4 sales sluggish and the price of RDRAM high, Intel had to do something before the Pentium 4 was totally dead and AMD had all the market share. What Intel decided to do was release an SDRAM based solution for the Pentium 4.

Yes, performance of the P4 and i845 + SDRAM was low, but it appealed to people's wallets and was quite successful.

Early this year Intel released the i845D revision of the i845 chipset which now allowed the Pentium 4 to be paired with PC1600 or PC2100 DDR RAM. Officially, the i845D chipset only supported a 100 MHz (400 MHz) Front Side Bus processor, so another chipset was due for the new 533MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors.

socket 478 motherboards
Epox 4BEAV Epox 4G4A+ Iwill P4GS Albatron P4X845E Pro Abit BD7II-RAID

Northbridge Intel i845E Intel i845G Intel i845G Intel i845E Intel i845E
Southbridge Intel ICH2 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4
Supported FSB 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz
Form Factor ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX
DIMM Slots Three PC1600/2100 Three PC1600/2100/PC2700 Two PC1600/2100 Three PC1600/2100 Three PC1600/2100
Max Memory 2 GB 2 GB 2GB 2 GB 2 GB
Integrated video No Yes, Intel i845G Yes, Intel i845G No No
Shared Video memory N/A 1,8MB 1,8MB N/A N/A
IDE 2 Ultra/100 2 Ultra/100, 2 Ultra/133 2 Ultra/100, 4 Ultra/133, 1 Serial ATA/150 2 Ultra/100, 2 Ultra/133 2 Ultra/100, 2 Ultra/133
AGP 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock 4xAGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP, 1.5 Lock
PCI 4 32bit PCI's 6 32bit PCI's 5 32bit PCI's 6 32bit PCI's 5 32bit PCI's
ISA None None None None None
CNR/AMR/ACR Nine 1 CNR None 1 CNR None
LAN 10/100 VIA VT6105 10/100 Realtek 8100B 10/100 Realtek 8100B 10/100 Intel 82562ET 10/100 Realtek 8100B
Audio Avance Logic 2.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97
USB 2 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0
Power Supply Standard ATX Standard ATX Pentium 4 Pentium 4 pentium 4
Misc 2 Serial, 1 Parallel 2 Serial, 1 Parallel 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, Optical Out 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, WoL, Memory Stick, Smart Card 2 Serial, 1 Parallel
Price $140 CDN ($80 US) $175 CDN ($100 US) $190 CDN ($125 US) Unknown $175 ($100 USD)

socket 478 motherboards
Abit BG7 Iwill P4ES Abit IT7 MAX Soltek SL-85DR2 ECS L4IBAE

Northbridge Intel i845G Intel i845E Intel i845E Intel i845E Intel i845E
Southbridge Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4 Intel ICH4
Supported FSB 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz 100/133 MHz
Form Factor ATX ATX ATX ATX ATX
DIMM Slots Three PC1600/2100/PC2700 Two PC1600/2100 Three PC1600/2100 Two PC1600/2100 Three PC1600/2100
Max Memory 2 GB 2GB 2GB 2 GB 2 GB
Integrated video Yes, Intel i845G No No No No
Shared Video memory 1,8MB N/A N/A N/A N/A
IDE 2 Ultra/100 2 Ultra/100, 4 Ultra/133, 2 Serial ATA/150 2 Ultra/100, 4 Ultra/133 2 Ultra/100 2 Ultra/100, 2 Ultra/133
AGP 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP 1.5V Lock 4xAGP, 1.5V Lock 4x AGP, 1.5V Lock
PCI 5 32bit PCI's 5 32bit PCI's 4 32bit PCI's 6 32bit PCI's 6 32bit PCI's
ISA None None None None None
CNR/AMR/ACR None None None None 1 CNR
LAN 10/100 Realtek 8100B None 10/100 Realtek 8100B None 10/100 Realtek 8100B
Audio Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 Realtek ALC650 5.1 AC'97 CMI 9738 5.1 AC'97
USB 6 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0 10 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0 6 USB 2.0
Power Supply Pentium 4 Pentium 4 Pentium 4 Standard ATX Pentium 4
Misc 2 Serial, 1 Parallel 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, Optical Out Legacy Free, 4 IEEE 1394 2 Serial, 1 Parallel 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, WoL, IEEE 1394
Price $175 CDN ($100 US) $190 CDN ($125 US) $235 CDN ($150 US) $140 CDN ($80 US) $160 CDN ($95 US)

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Contents of Article: Various
 Pg 1.  — Massive 10 Motherboard i845E/G Roundup
 Pg 2.  The i845E, i845G and the new ICH4
 Pg 3.  Epox 4BEAV
 Pg 4.  Iwill P4GS
 Pg 5.  Epox 4G4A+
 Pg 6.  Albatron PX845EPro
 Pg 7.  Abit BD7II-RAID
 Pg 8.  Abit BG7
 Pg 9.  Iwill P4ES
 Pg 10.  Abit IT7-MAX
 Pg 11.  Soltek SL-85DR2
 Pg 12.  ECS L4IBAE
 Pg 13.  Benchmarks: Bapco Sysmark 2002
 Pg 14.  Benchmarks: Winstone 2001
 Pg 15.  Benchmarks: Winbench 99
 Pg 16.  Benchmarks: Sisoft Sandra 2002
 Pg 17.  Benchmarks: PCMark 2002
 Pg 18.  Benchmarks: 3DMark2001SE
 Pg 19.  Benchmarks: QIII Arena
 Pg 20.  Best Value / Overclocking Motherboards
 Pg 21.  Best Overall Motherboard

 
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