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Traditionally, Intel chipsets have always been the fastest and most stable for Intel processors; just
consider the venerable i440BX, i815E or even the i850E.
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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 |
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Epox
4BEAV |
Epox 4G4A+ |
Iwill
P4GS |
Albatron
P4X845E Pro |
Abit
BD7II-RAID |
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| 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 |
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Abit BG7 |
Iwill P4ES |
Abit IT7 MAX |
Soltek SL-85DR2 |
ECS L4IBAE |
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| 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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