Intel 915G (PCI Express)

915G may not be the first choice for home users since it primarily runs its integrated GMA900 graphics with shared memory. However, there are quite many of these systems installed today. In addition to the numbers, 915G is an excellent example to show the power consumption difference between an integrated and a powerful dedicated solution.

The 900 chipset series initiated the transition from AGP to PCI Express, although it is hard to justify it from a performance point of view even today. Nevertheless, 915G offers support for dual channel DDR400 or DDR2-533, the integrated graphics unit, PCI Express x16 and a nice south bridge coming with four x1 PCIe lanes, high definition audio support, Matrix RAID and a wireless option that turned out to be useless for what we were trying to do. At the end of the day, the 900 chipset series seems to perfectly represent progress that only few users can actually turn into a real benefit.

Read Intel Stakes Its Vision of the PC Future with 775 Launch for more information.