Integrated Graphics: 3D Is Unconvincing
First, the good news: the Intel 845G offers the best on-board graphics currently available. And now for the bad news: while Intel is comparable to the GeForce 2 MX 200 (with a 64 bit memory interface) in terms of performance, our test results show a very different picture. Here, it should be mentioned that Intel's own, similar graphics chip with 175 MHz GPU and 143 MHz memory never showed up on the market. The performance values of the 845G can be briefly summed up: with 200 MHz core clock and 133 MHz memory clock in combination with DDR 266, or 166 MHz when used with DDR333, the technical foundations are not bad at all. The only restrictions are in the BIOS: a maximum of 8 MB can be assigned as 2D memory, as dictated by the shared memory concept.
If certain applications need more graphics memory, as is the case with 3D Mark 2001 SE, then the graphics driver automatically allocates more memory. Because the operating system also needs to access the system memory, the graphics performance is dampened considerably. An overview of the Intel 845G's graphics performance is shown by the three benchmark charts with Quake III and 3D Mark 2001 SE.
Comparison: Chipsets For Pentium 4
| Chipset | Intel 850E | Intel 845G | Intel 845E | SiS 648 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | May 2002 | May 2002 | May 2002 | July 2002 |
| Processor Platform | Socket 478 | Socket 478 | Socket 478 | Socket 478 |
| Supported CPU | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 |
| Chipset Northbridge | Intel KC82850E | Intel RG82845G | Intel RG8245EES | SiS 648 |
| Chipset Southbridge | Intel 82801 BA | Intel 82801 DB | Intel 82801 DB | SiS 961 |
| Front Side Bus Clock | 100/133 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 100/133 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 400 MHz/533 MHz | 100/133/166 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 400/533/600 MHz |
| Asynchronous Memory Clock | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| FSB Overclocking | up to 166 MHz | up to 166 MHz | up to 166 MHz | up to 200 MHz |
| max. # DIMM-Slots | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| max. Memory | 2048 MB | 3072 MB | 3072 MB | 2048 MB |
| SDRAM Support | no | yes | yes | no |
| DDR SDRAM Support | no | yes | yes | yes |
| VC SDRAM Support | no | no | no | no |
| RDRAM Support (Rambus) | yes | no | no | no |
| Dual RDRAM Support (Rambus) | yes | no | no | no |
| Ultra-DMA/33/66/100 | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes |
| Ultra-DMA/133 | no | no | no | yes |
| Max. # USB | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| USB 2.0 | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Max.# PCI Slots | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Integrated Graphics | no | yes | no | yes |
| AGP 1x / 2x / 4x | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes |
| AGP 8x | no | no | no | yes |
| ACPI Features | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Chipset | SiS 645DX | SiS 645 | Intel 850 | Intel 845D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | March 2002 | November 2001 | January 2001 | December 2001 |
| Processor Platform | Socket 478 | Socket 478 | Socket 423/478 | Socket 478 |
| Supported CPU | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 |
| Chipset Northbridge | SiS 645DX | SiS 645 | Intel KC82850 | Intel 82845 |
| Chipset Southbridge | SiS 961 | SiS 961 | Intel 82801 BA | Intel 82801 BA |
| Front Side Bus Clock | 100/133 MHz | 100 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 66/100/133 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 100/133/166/200 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 400 MHz | 100/133 MHz |
| Asynchronous Memory Clock | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| FSB Overclocking | up to 166 MHz | up to 133 MHz | up to 133 MHz | up to 166 MHz |
| max. # DIMM-Slots | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| max. Memory | 3072 MB | 3072 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB |
| SDRAM Support | yes | yes | no | no |
| DDR SDRAM Support | yes | yes | no | yes |
| VC SDRAM Support | no | no | no | no |
| RDRAM Support (Rambus) | no | no | yes | no |
| Dual RDRAM Support (Rambus) | no | no | yes | no |
| Ultra-DMA/33/66/100 | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes |
| Ultra-DMA/133 | no | no | no | no |
| Max. # USB | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| USB 2.0 | no | no | no | no |
| Max.# PCI Slots | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Integrated Graphics | yes | yes | no | no |
| AGP 1x / 2x / 4x | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes |
| AGP 8x | no | no | no | no |
| ACPI Features | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Chipset | Intel 845 | VIA P4X333 | VIA P4X266 | VIA P4X266A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | July 2001 | May 2002 | August 2001 | December 2001 |
| Processor Platform | Socket 423/478 | Socket 478 | Socket 423/478 | Socket 478 |
| Supported CPU | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 | Intel Pentium 4 |
| Chipset Northbridge | Intel 82845 | VIA P4X333 | VIA VT8753 | VIA P4X266A |
| Chipset Southbridge | Intel 82801 BA | VIA VT8233A | VIA VT8233 | VIA VT8233A |
| Front Side Bus Clock | 66/100/133 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 100 MHz | 100 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 100/133 MHz | 100/133/166 MHz | 100/133 MHz | 100/133 MHz |
| Asynchronous Memory Clock | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| FSB Overclocking | up to 180 MHz | up to 200 MHz | up to 180 MHz | up to 180 MHz |
| max. # DIMM-Slots | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| max. Memory | 2048 MB | 3072 MB | 4096 MB | 3072 MB |
| SDRAM Support | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| DDR SDRAM Support | no | yes | yes | yes |
| VC SDRAM Support | no | yes | yes | yes |
| RDRAM Support (Rambus) | no | no | no | no |
| Dual RDRAM Support (Rambus) | no | no | no | no |
| Ultra-DMA/33/66/100 | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes | yes/yes/yes |
| Ultra-DMA/133 | no | yes | no | yes |
| Max. # USB | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| USB 2.0 | yes | yes | no | yes |
| Max.# PCI Slots | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Integrated Graphics | no | no | no | no |
| AGP 1x / 2x / 4x | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes | yes / yes / yes |
| AGP 8x | no | yes | no | yes |
| ACPI Features | yes | yes | yes | yes |
The table above lists all of the chipsets currently available for the Intel Platform (Socket 478). Older chipsets with SDRAM support (e.g., the Intel 845) are not included here, because boards with these chips are no longer produced or haven't been available on the market for a while.
