Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2

Chipset Feature Comparison

With all of the new chipset options and features, a scorecard might help to understand the new 925X/915 chipsets and supported options.

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1 Adaptive Synchronization aligns to the closest FSB to memory clock ratio, setting memory channel to 320 MHz. 2 Does not support Pentium® 4 or Celeron® processors with a .18µ core. 3 ICH5R support Intel® RAID. 4 Supports only Pentium® 4 processors based on 90nm manufacturing technology 5 Hyper-Threading Technology support starting with B-step. 6 DDR 333 support starting with Bstep.

If you look closely at the features, you will see that Intel High-Definition audio is available on all the new chipsets, even the value-oriented 915GV. This is only part of the story, however, since the Southbridge must be combined with an audio codec that supports all the High-Definition features. You will need to look closely at the motherboard specifications to see what audio features are actually supported by the motherboard manufacturer.

Intel's commitment to Gigabit LAN is also apparent in the across-the-board support for Gigabit LAN on the new 775 chipsets. PCI Express x16 is the only Graphics Slot supported. 4 SATA ports and one IDE channel are available on all the new 775 chipsets.

Much good and bad has been reported about Intel's use of DDR2 with the new 925X/915 chipset. Intel is apparently hedging their bets on DDR2, since you will see that DDR2 is only required for the top-end 925X. All of the 915 chipsets can support either DDR or DDR2, depending on what the motherboard manufacturer chooses to support. There are even a few dual-memory socket 775 boards, like the Gigabyte that we use later in the review to compare the performance of DDR and DDR2 memory. Intel is clearly supporting DDR2 on the Intel 915 board that we are testing, but most 3^rd party manufacturers appear to be supporting DDR on their 915 motherboards.