Intel P35: Intel's Mainstream Chipset Grows Up
by Gary Key & Wesley Fink on May 21, 2007 3:45 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
X38 and G35 Chipsets - 3rd Quarter
While the X38 replacement for the 975X chipset will not launch until the 3rd quarter, Intel did provide enough information to make us wish it were here today. In addition to the feature enhancements on today's P35 chipset, X38 will add several unique features.
X38 will be the only Intel 3 series chipset to fully support dual x16 PCIe graphics. It was interesting that Intel did not specify CrossFire graphics in their literature, but we don't want to read too much into what wasn't said. The X38 will also be the first chipset to support PCI Express 2.0, which will replace the current PCIe standard. The other intriguing feature is something Intel calls "removing overspeed protection". This apparently refers to the fact X38 that will not have artificial bus speed limits on the chipset. We have seen what appeared to be artificial speed limits on Intel chipsets in the past, and an Intel chipset that can be pushed without artificial speed limits will be welcomed by all computer enthusiasts.
Other X38 features appear to be common to the P35 chipset, including full support for the 1333 processor bus and 1333 memory. X38 will also support all existing Intel processors and upcoming Penryn 45nm processors, just like other Intel Series 3 chipsets. X38 may also support other processor offerings, but Intel is not saying anything about that at this point.
G35
The third quarter will also see the introduction of Intel's G35 chipset, which will be Intel's most advanced integrated graphics chipset to date. While this may not be of huge interest to our readers, please keep in mind that the vast majority of computers sold today include integrated graphics. The G35 will be a very big deal for Intel and will be closely scrutinized by large-volume OEMs.
The G35 will be based on Intel's next-generation X3500 Graphics Media Accelerator. Full DX10 support is claimed, including support for Shader Model 4.0. For backwards compatibility X3500 also will support Shader Model 3.0 and Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L). High Resolution DVD playback is also featured, with support for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray playback. X3500 also is said to support HDMI and DVI. MPEG2 and VC1 1080i/p are also supported by the Intel Clear Video feature of X3500. Like the other series 3 chipsets, all current Intel processors are reported as well as future Penryn 45nm processors.
With DX10 support, all of the basic features are set in stone by Microsoft. That means that X3500 could actually be a true competitor on entry level configurations. Compared to previous Intel IGPs, X3500 certainly looks to bring some nice improvements to the platform, but we'll have to test actual performance and drivers before we can say for sure whether that's the case.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
58 Comments
View All Comments
Wesley Fink - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Early boards will be expensive, just like always. The prices will likely drop to the same levels as current P965 boards they replace, with a broad range for P35 boards from basic to "Asus Commando" level gaming boards. It is too early to be discouraged.Comdrpopnfresh - Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - link
I'm willing to bet we'll see them replacing the older boards quickly too. If intel and other manufacturers really want DDR3 to go through, you'll see DDR2 boards disappearing quickly. Its like what happened to s939. Basically the same chips were used for AM2, but the boards and chips quickly dried up and disappeared. The same can be said or PCI-e. In the beginning there wasn't much of a real world benefit, just the theoretical bandwidth increase. Because developments in AGP ceased, we might never know if the switch was necessary.Comdrpopnfresh - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
If something other than NAND flash could be used, it would be very interesting to see a pci-e 1x board that can house DDR2 memory for use in turbo memory. That way, when people upgrade their ~35 boards to DDR3 when performance and price changes, the DDR2 can be used further. This would make a lot of sense too, because unlike Gigabyte's i-RAM device and logical ramdrives, the high speed, low latency properties of RAM could be used for turbo memory as a way around the 8gb limit of RAM on these cards. And since they are not used for storage, merely access, no redundancy on power supply is needed as with the i-RAM. Someone should start development on this...Comdrpopnfresh - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Why would the TDP on the P35 higher if it has no integrated video? Will third-party manufactures implement their own SLI into the P35 given that the reference model only had on x16 pci-e slot? Also, when can we expect to see pci-e2 and more than 4 dimm slots on intel mobos?yacoub - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Including a jumper to change the strap setting for the fsb is a nice feature on the MSi board. A little disappointed in the memory comparison test that that board had the lowest bandwidth and most latency. Is that something BIOS updates can improve or is that generally hardware (i.e. board design related)?Gary Key - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
It is all BIOS tuning in regards to the MSI board. Our first results with the board had the memory performance being equal to the 945P boards. Two BIOS releases later and the improvements have been remarkable. I think MSI is about two BIOS spins behind ASUS and Gigabyte now. Gigabyte finally caught up but ASUS still has the better feature set and options in my opinion.michal1980 - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
hardocp, seems to take a 180 different outlook on these boards. so werid.skaterdude - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
What's so weird? Kyle is an extension of AMD's marketing department. He has not cared for Intel in a very long time, at least since he was caught cheating on some Intel benchmarks and was hung out to dry for it. Personally, it is alright to have a favorite company to root for but to do so in such an open and bias way is wrong if you are not running a company specific website. I would not have an issue at all if it was called HardAMD, at least you know what you are viewing is not tainted by free trips, booze, products, and general hostility against a company.
Back on subject....The P35 is a nice upgrade and it may not set the world on fire but it appears Intel listened and improved on a chipset they could have let ride for a lot longer. DDR3 will be interesting and at least the kinks will be worked out by the time X38 and the new processors get here. If I had not already bought a 965 board then P35 would have been the one. I am still miffed about not having a native IDE port as JMicron just plain sucks most of the time.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - link
the P35 does not have native IDE either, and why use an IDE drive anyway?Spoelie - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
ahum, AMD biased? After reading some of their recent gpu reviews, I thought it was the other way around... Check yourselfanyway, not a worthy upgrade, but a worthy new board. Which is what you could reasonably expect.