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Weak-Chested: P4/2600

It's not so long ago that Intel officially bid adieu to the outdated and slow 100 MHz FSB clock by introducing the P4/2533. And now it's back again. However, we find that it makes little sense to re-introduce processors with 100 MHz FSB, even if marketing strategists want to make it attractive for OEM manufacturers who still have old 100 MHz FSB boards in stock. There is a stark difference in performance compared to CPUs with 133 MHz FSB, which is clearly shown in our extensive benchmark results.

AMD Responds: Athlon XP 2800+ Coming Up In October

The next step in evolution for the AMD Athlon has been planned: the manufacturer is going to launch an Athlon XP 2800+ based on the new Thoroughbred B core. In the previous comparison , we showed how overclockable the Athlon XP 2600+, which officially runs at 2133 MHz, is. We were easily able to overclock it to a stable 2400 MHz, using a conventional CPU cooler. This clock speed corresponds to an Athlon XP 3000+. AMD has to be on the offensive when it reacts to the P4/2800, so it's obvious that the Athlon XP 2800+ will be launched by the end of October at the latest. As the past has shown, AMD cannot afford to lose ground with regard to clock speed.

Comparison: 12 Different Chipsets For P4

The table below lists all chipsets for the Socket 478 platform. In any case, if you count the chips that are soon to come, there is a total of 12 different chips from Intel, SiS and VIA for the Pentium 4. Regarding the best performance, the Intel chipsets should be well-positioned, while VIA's P4X chipset, which, strictly speaking, does not have a license, is at somewhat of a disadvantage. The development at SiS is interesting: the manufacturer has a license and is working on the SiS 658, which is the first chipset from this company with a Rambus memory interface.

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

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