The Intel P965 Express
chipset is Intel's latest mainstream chipset and it works with all Socket 775 processors on the
market. Along with the P965 Express Intel also released the ICH8 Southbridge to
replace the ICH7. The version found on the Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H is the plain
ICH8 model, which does not include RAID. Bummer.
Intel has increased its DDR2 memory support to 800 MHz with the P965 Express
chipset, putting Intel's latest and greatest at par with AMD's Socket AM2
Athlon64's. Intel calls the new memory controller FMA or 'Fast Memory Access'
and gives the system a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 12.8GB/s. Below is
breakdown on the full feature set of the Intel 975 / 965 Express series
chipsets, including the P965 Express which is used on the Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H
motherboard.
| Intel 975 / 965 / 955 Series Chipset Feature
Breakdown |
|
Intel 975X Express |
Intel
P965 Express |
Intel Q965 Express |
Intel G965 Express |
Intel Q963 Express |
Intel 955X Express |
| CPU |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Pentium D |
| Front Side Bus (FSB) |
1066/800 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz
2 threads |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800MHz |
| Intel Flex Memory Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Dual Channel Memory Support |
DDR2 667/533 |
DDR2 800/667/533 |
DDR2 667/533 |
DDR2 667 |
DDR2 667 |
DDR2 667/533 |
| Maximum Memory Capacity |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
| Integrated Graphics |
- |
- |
GMA 3000 |
GMA 3000 |
GMA 3000 |
- |
|
PCI Express x16 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
PCI Express x1 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
| Intel Matrix Storage Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SATA/IDE HDD |
4/1 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
4/1 |
|
SATA Speed |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
|
RAID |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R/ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R) |
|
Hard Drive NCQ |
- |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- |
| USB 2.0 Ports |
8 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
| PCI Masters |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
| Audio |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 | |
Initially
Intel's P965 Express
chipset only supports a single PCI Express x16 videocard however with the
recent ATi announcement that may change. At the moment all P965 Express motherboards that
have been released, like the Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H, only have a single PCI Express
x16 slot.
A dedicated
2GB/s I/O bus connects the Intel P965 Express Northbridge and ICH8 Southbridge
together, which might be a little tight if you have many high bandwidth devices
installed but should be just fine for the average user.
The Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H
motherboard comes installed with the ICH8 Southbridge which includes a ton of
goodies. There are four Serial ATA II channels as well a 7.1 channel Intel
Azalia high definition audio, 10 USB 2.0 slots (any, or all of which can be
disabled which is an important feature for businesses), six PCI Express x1 lanes
and an integrated Intel Gigabit MAC which runs through the PCI Express
bus.
Noticeably lacking from the chipset itself is any parallel IDE support.
This is forcing many motherboard manufacturers to integrate a standalone IDE controller onto their
motherboards so consumers have something to plug their optical drives into... A block chart
of the Intel P965 Express chipset's major features are illustrated below.
Luckily parallel IDE technology isn't overly expensive to
add to a motherboard. While I admit that Intel is the leader in computer
technology, the notion that it has ceremoniously done away with IDE in one fell
swoop seems a bit premature.
Next up,
we take a tour of the Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H motherboard highlights.
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