The Intel P35 Express
Northbridge chipset replaces the P965 Express as Intel's mainstream performance
core logic part. The P35 Express not only supports all current Socket 775
processors running on a 533/800/1066 MHz Front Side bus, it also supports
Intel's 45nm "Penryn" processor and 1333 MHz FSB. The P35 Express ships with the
ICH9 series of Southbridge chipsets.
The
southbridge used with the MSI P35 Platinum motherboard is the ICH9R model, it
supports RAID via Intel's Matrix storage technology.
Intel quad core processors to set to be the mainstream
CPU by mid-2008, so motherboard chipsets have to keep up with the demands
of the hungry CPU. An increased Front Side Bus, from 1066MHz
to 1333 MHz speeds up data communication to the necessary levels.
Intel also modified the memory controller, boosting DDR2 memory to 1066
MHz from 800 MHz. That increases maximum theoretical bandwidth to 16GB/s (in
a dual channel configuration).
These changes are largely incremental, the most
significant improvement in the P35 Express chipset has been the inclusion of
DDR3 RAM support. Initial DDR3 memory modules from Crucial, Corsair and OCZ will
be pegged at 800 and 1066 MHz speeds, as the standard matures it's will go
to 1333MHz. The Intel P35 Express supports a maximum of 8GB of non ECC
unbuffered memory, either DDR3 or DDR2, depending on what the manufacturer has
chosen to implement.
Here's a quick look at how the new P35 stacks up to the
P965 Express and 975X chipsets. Apart from the speed increases and new memory
standard, there are a few extra ports here and there.
Intel P35 & 975 / 965 Series Chipset
Feature Breakdown |
|
Intel 975X Express
|
Intel P35 Express Express |
Intel P965 Express
|
Intel G965 Express
|
CPU |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
Front Side Bus (FSB) |
1066/800 MHz |
1333/1066/800 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
Intel Flex Memory Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Dual Channel Memory Support |
DDR2 800/667/533 |
DDR2 1066/800/667 DDR3
1333(unofficial)/1066/800 |
DDR2 800/667/533 |
DDR2 667 |
Maximum Memory Capacity |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
Integrated Graphics |
- |
- |
- |
GMA 3000 |
|
PCI Express x16 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
PCI Express x1 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
Intel Matrix Storage Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SATA/IDE HDD |
4/1 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
|
SATA Speed |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
|
RAID |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH9R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
|
Hard Drive NCQ |
- |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
USB 2.0 Ports |
8 |
12 |
8 |
10 |
PCI Masters |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
Audio |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia) |
|
|
|
|
| | |
By default the Intel P35 Express chipset only
supports a single PCI Express x16 slot for videocards however most boards like
the MSI P35 Platinum has two physical slots. There are six PCI Express lanes
associated with the ICH9R Southbridge and four of them can be used for a
secondary graphics card, thus the second PCI Express x16 slot. It's not as ideal
a solution as two videocards receiving a full 16 or 8 PCI Express lanes each but
it works and allows the Intel P35 Express to support AMD CrossFire. It's been
said that Intel tweaked the P35 Express to support CrossFire more efficiently
than with the P965.
Let's have a quick look at the Intel G35 while we're at it.
Adding in Graphics: Intel P35 Express and G35
Between
the Intel P35 Express Express Northbridge and ICH9R Southbridge is
a dedicated 2GB/s I/O bus. This might be a little tight if you have many
high bandwidth devices installed, but should suffice for the average user.
The MSI
P35 Platinum motherboard comes installed with the ICH9R Southbridge which
includes a ton of features.
There are
six 3GB/s Serial ATA II channels (which support RAID modes 0, 1, 5 and 10) as
well a 7.1 channel Intel Azalia high definition audio, 12 USB 2.0 ports in total
(split between headers and the I/O slot), six PCI Express x1 lanes, and an
integrated Intel GigABIT MAC that runs through the PCI Express bus specific to
this chipset.
Noticeably lacking from the chipset is parallel IDE
support. In this case, MSI rely upon a stand alone IDE controller. Without this
there would be no way to hook up a DVD-ROM or similar optical drive. A
block chart of the Intel P35 Express Express chipset's major features is
illustrated above.
Onboard Video with the Intel G35
Express
Even though the MSI P35 Platinum motherboard is equipped
with the Intel P35 Express, we're going to talk briefly on Intel's new onboard
graphics chipset. It contains Intel's X3500 Graphics Media Accelerator,
which is DirectX 10 compliant and supports technology like Shader
Model 4.0. Of course considering how radical the DirectX 10 standard is, you'll
be happy to hear that the X3500 GMA is also backwards compatible with DirectX
9.0C.
The Intel X3500 GMA accomodates Blu-Ray and HD-DVD
playback as well as MPEG2 and VC1 acceleration. The chipset integrates HDCP and
supports HDMI, DVI and analog video outputs, of course it's up to manufacturers
discretion to implement. The Intel G35 is expected to compete directly
against AMD's 690G and nVIDIA's GeForce 7000 series integrated platforms.
Finally some time to check out the highlights of MSI's
P35 Platinum motherboard...