Looking ahead to Intel's 925XE chipset and FSB1066

Test System

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Intel Processors (Socket 775)
560Pentium 4 3.60 GHz (3200 MHz 12-16/1024 kB)Unlocked engineering sample
Memory
Crucial/MicronBallistix DDR2-667 (PC5300)2x 512 MBOfficial Timings : CL4-4-4-10Voltage : 2.0 V
CorsairTwin2X CM2X512-5400C4PRO XMS5402 v1.12x 512 MBOfficial Timings : CL 4-4-4-12Voltage : 1.9 V
SamsungPC2-5300U2x 512 MBOfficial Timings : CL5-5-5-10Voltage : 1.8 V
Motherboard
Intel Platform(socket 775)Asus P5GD2Intel 915P ChipsetBIOS : 1004 Beta
Common Hardware
Graphics CardATI Radeon X600 Reference Card, 128 MBPCI Express x16
Hard DriveWestern Digital WD800JB, 80 GB7.200 rpm, 80 GB per platter, 8 MB Cache
Software
Intel Chipset Install UtilityV 6.0.1.1002IAA 4.1.0.6325
ATI GraphicsVersion 8.02
DirectX9.0b
OSWindows XP Professional, SP2

Up to now, the motherboard manufacturers weren’t able to provide a 4:5 clock ratio between FSB and DDR2 memory. Because the 925X is practically unchanged and offered as the 925XE, it could only be a matter of changing a few things to make it run at FSB1066. This option was not available to us however, so we also had to restrict ourselves to 3:4 in order to operate the system memory with 355.5 MHz or DDR2 711

Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.