Speed Isn't Everything: P4/2800 Meets Athlon XP 2600+

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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It's not so long ago that Intel officially bid adieu to the outdated and slow 100 MHz FSB clock by introducing the P4/2533.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.

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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

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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

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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