The Intel ICH9R South Bridge is an excellent solution for home servers. Southbridges Intel ICH9 Intel ich7 southbridge

New chipsets get updated south bridges.
Quite comparable to its northern brothers, ICH9 has a number of evolutionary improvements compared to ICH8, and also supports (only ICH9R) one technology that can be considered revolutionary.
Let us briefly list the main functional characteristics of the new family of south bridges:

Up to 6 PCIEx1 ports;
. up to 4 PCI slots;
. 4/6 (4 for ICH9, 6 for ICH9R) Serial ATA II ports for 4/6 SATA300 devices (SATA-II, second generation of the standard), with support for AHCI mode and functions like NCQ (for ICH9 this mode is guaranteed to work only under Windows Vista), with the ability to individually disable, with support for eSATA and port splitters;
. the ability to organize a RAID array (only for ICH9R) levels 0, 1, 0+1 (10) and 5 with the Matrix RAID function (one set of disks can be used in several RAID modes at once - for example, RAID 0 and RAID can be organized on two disks 1, each array will have its own part of the disk allocated);
. 12 USB 2.0 devices (on two EHCI host controllers) with the ability to individually disable;
. Gigabit Ethernet MAC controller and a special interface (LCI/GLCI) for connecting a PHY controller (i82566 for Gigabit Ethernet implementation, i82562 for Fast Ethernet implementation);
. Intel Turbo Memory support;
. High Definition Audio (7.1);
. harness for low-speed and outdated peripherals, etc.

ICH9R traditionally differs from ICH9 in the presence of support for RAID arrays, as well as two extra SATA ports.
Special versions of the southbridge ICH9DO (Digital Office) and ICH9DH (Digital Home) are based on the ICH9R, but the first of them offers additional functions of Active Management Technology 3.0, Trusted Execution Technology and Virtualization Technology, and the second - Viiv Technology (the positioning of both of these variations is obvious) .

Minor evolutionary changes include the increased number of USB 2.0 ports to 12, the implementation of the eSATA function and port splitters (which is relevant specifically for external eSATA connectors) for chipset SATA ports, and SATA connectors are now (like USB, starting with ICH8) subject to individual customization shutdown.

An alternative to creating RAID arrays for data safety can be the new Intel Rapid Recover Technology, which allows you to create a disk image on another hard drive, quickly update it without touching unchanged files, and quickly restore data if the first hard drive is damaged.

The southbridge still integrates a Gigabit Ethernet MAC controller, but we have not seen its use in any i965-based board - apparently, for ordinary desktop systems, a network controller from Marvell, Broadcom, Realtek and others like them, connected via PCI Express bus turns out to be cheaper.

At the same time, users of corporate vPro systems will certainly appreciate the functions of the proprietary Intel controller.
It would be strange to expect the return of PATA support after abandoning it in ICH8, and it really did not happen - Intel considers this issue closed despite the abundance of problems with “replacements” for chipset PATA.

The most intriguing thing about the new series of south bridges is the support for Intel Turbo Memory technology (under development known as Robson Technology).
Its essence is to install a module with a certain amount of NAND flash memory on the board (to begin with, it is planned to produce variants with 512 MB and 1 GB).

Basically, apparently, the module will be installed in the PCIEx1 slot, although in principle other connection options are possible (for example, to the contacts for an external USB port).
Windows Vista users will benefit from Turbo Memory, and unlike, say, USB key fobs with flash memory, the module integrated on the board can be used by the new Microsoft OS for both ReadyDrive and ReadyBoost.

Briefly, in the first case, we get the opportunity to use a flash drive as cache memory for a hard drive - for linear read-write operations there cannot be much gain here (flash memory is slower than a hard drive), so the benefits of ReadyDrive will be observed with regular operations of exchanging small pieces of data, which are typical for reading and updating the paging file (the access time of flash memory is noticeably less than that of a hard drive).

An additional advantage is the reduction in the number of accesses to the hard drive (data is merged onto the disk in batches during idle moments, and reading is not performed at all if the necessary data is available in the Turbo Memory cache), which saves energy - of course, this is a real benefit only for mobile devices devices.

ReadyBoost expands the available amount of memory for preliminary reading and caching of data (from the hard drive), and although flash drives cannot compete with RAM in speed, they still read not from the hard drive, but from flash memory with its low random access time allows you to significantly speed up loading applications and opening files (numbers are called up to 2 times).

The disadvantage of Turbo Memory is the potential fragility of flash drives, the best of which are characterized by a number of rewrite cycles on the order of a million (possibly several million), which, even taking into account some capacity reserve, can lead to loss of drive capacity long before the end of the PC’s service life, in which it is installed.

Heat dissipation.
The heat dissipation of the new chipsets deserves special mention.
Despite being manufactured using the same 90nm process technology and more complex logic, the 3x series chipsets consume noticeably less power than their predecessors: P35 - 14.5 W (P965 - 19 W), G33 - 16 W (G965 - 28 W) .
Moreover, the difference is so noticeable that it can be easily determined even by touch, although the chipset heatsinks for those P35 boards that we saw are no longer larger.

This is a very pleasant trend, because after the hot i965 and scorching nForce 600i, it seemed that we would soon have to develop new standards for chipset cooling devices.

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All three chipsets provide a comparable feature set, and you won't notice much of a difference in performance unless you do some in-depth benchmarking. RAID support for the three chipsets is the same, each of them issues a visual alert if one of the hard drives fails. All three chipsets lack professional features such as email alerts, as they require a local mail server installation.

nVidia nForce 6 is without a doubt the most attractive chipset for Intel-based computers in terms of functionality. It provides a rich set of features including six SATA ports, 10 USB 2.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports with many tasty features. And all this with a very user-friendly interface. But that doesn't mean the nForce 6 is the best choice for everyone.

Although the Intel ICH7-R southbridge has been on the market for more than a year and a half, it provides very decent performance. It is inferior to the newer ICH8 and nForce 6 MCP in terms of I/O performance, but this is still not a reason to change the system to ICH7. Intel chipsets with ICH7 and ICH8 support Matrix Storage technology, which allows you to install multiple RAID arrays on a single set of hard drives.

The ICH8 was a real surprise, although the technical specifications are not very different from the ICH7: there are 10 USB 2.0 ports instead of eight, and six Serial ATA ports instead of four. But the performance of this southbridge has increased. Transfer performance slightly exceeds the ICH7 in almost all tests, with the Southbridge winning most I/O tests and our USB 2.0 throughput test. The ICH8 is the only bridge in our testing that provides superior transfer speeds even when connected to two high-speed USB 2.0 devices simultaneously. And taking into account the fact that motherboards based on P965 and ICH8 are cheaper than products based on nForce 680i SLI, choosing one or another chipset becomes more difficult.

ViewSonic expands myViewBoard ecosystem with screen sharing solutions

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AOC introduces the G2 line of gaming monitors: IPS matrix, refresh rate up to 144 Hz, response time 1 ms

AOC, one of the world's leading brands in the monitor market, introduces the new G2 line. The series consists of four models with Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels): 27-inch (68.6 cm) 27G2U and 27G2U5, as well as 23.8-inch (60.4 cm) 24G2U and 24G2U5. All models feature an aggressive, modern design with red accents on the front and back, and feature a 130mm height-adjustable stand for better ergonomics.

The future is beyond limits: the NEX 3 series of smartphones offers users the ultimate 5G experience

At a presentation in Shanghai, vivo officially introduced the new NEX 3 series smartphones. Following its commitment to future technologies, the company demonstrated 5G and 4G versions of the devices. The breakthrough innovations of vivo's flagships redefine industry standards and the mobile experience. Advanced 5G technology, unique design with innovative display and smart features are the main features of the new flagship series from vivo.

Transcend Information Inc., a global leader in multimedia and storage solutions, is hosting a photo contest with the theme “Summer Dream”, which will consist of two stages: “Landscape Photography” and “Creative Photography”. Post your photos on Transcend's Facebook and VK pages and get a chance to win valuable prizes from Transcend.

Profitable printing formula: pull a ticket with cashback

Until the end of September, buying printers with CISS of the PIXMA G series is doubly pleasant. Firstly, these are reliable and easy-to-maintain devices that provide high productivity and low printing costs. And secondly, you will receive cashback and a chance to win a certificate for a family trip!

Huami presented two new products and one concept product at IFA 2019

Technology company Huami held a successful presentation at the IFA exhibition in Berlin. Following its international debut at MWC earlier this year, at IFA the company announced the launch of two new products - the Amazfit GTS watch and the Amazfit Stratos 3. Another recently launched product, the Amazfit GTR watch, received the IFA Product Technical Innovation Award 2019. Finally, Huami also introduced a new technology that will be used in future Amazfit smartwatches - a curved HD screen. Huami announced the release of new products at a press conference, the slogan of which was “Intelligent Movement.” The press conference was attended by representatives of almost 70 media from around the world.

HUAWEI introduces Sport Bluetooth Headphones Lite

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The first ever high-end audio-video exhibition Hi-Fi & High End Show URAL starts this week!

This week the first ever high-end audio-video exhibition Hi-Fi & High End Show URAL starts. What you need to know and cannot miss: Aalt Jouk van den Hul himself, the founder of the Van Den Hul brand, is coming, Mikhail Borzenkov, Oleg Lyugin, MMS-Cinema, Pult.ru will give lectures. Prizes will be drawn: Yamaha WXA-50 networked compact preamplifier, Yamaha YAS-108 Black soundbar, KEF M500 headphones, Ruark R1MK3 compact radio. For the first time in Russia they will show the Olympica NOVA and Minima Amator II acoustics from the Italian company Sonus Faber, the Jamo C 97 II from the updated Concert series, the Cambridge AX line, the Thorens TD 148A vinyl player and the Q Aciustics Concept 300 acoustics.

Donor Day LG Electronics AND TH "KIRGU"

Taking the baton of goodness from the city of Makhachkala, the social project #LGKirguMarathon of Goodness arrived in Khasavyurt, becoming the 101st donor day for the LG company and the second joint with the Kirgu Trade House. A large-scale event with the support of the FMBA of Russia, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Dagestan and the Republican Blood Transfusion Station was held at the modern Sports Palace named after. Hamida Hamidova. The event was attended not only by local residents and representatives of both companies, but also by honored guests, including the Minister of Industry and Energy of the Republic of Dagestan Umakhanov Saygidpasha Darbishevich, as well as the head of the city of Khasavyurt Okmazov Zainudin Dadabegovich, chief physician of the State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Dagestan "Khasavyurt Central City Hospital named after R.P. . Askerkhanov" Khiriev Titalav Khairullaevich, Hero-Afghan Bulakhanov Umaroshab Abdulaevich, People's Hero of Dagestan Omarov Zaibodin Laduevich.

Over the past six months, Intel's newly created platform for LGA775 processors with support for the latest technologies like DDR-II and PCI Express has been receiving completely polar reviews from consumers. Dissatisfaction is mainly caused by the fact that, in total, state-of-the-art components do not have high enough performance to warrant significant bonuses, given the hefty costs of purchasing new hardware that is almost incompatible with the previous generation. Reasons for dissatisfaction include the high latency of current DDR-II memory, the slight difference between graphics performance under PCI-E x16 and AGP 8x, core and system bus clock speeds comparable to the previous generation of Pentium 4 processors, and much more.

In turn, opponents emphasize the real novelty of the platform, the great potential for its development, especially against the backdrop of the exhausted capabilities of the same DDR-I or AGP. Yes, they agree, at the current stage the possibilities inherent in theory are implemented in practice in a somewhat “raw” form, however, this is only the beginning and in any case there will be no return to the old, as well as alternatives, and prices are already gradually becoming more civilized view. As for the further evolution of the platform, please, nothing stands still, and the recent announcement of the Intel Pentium 4 EE 3.46 GHz processor with the new 925XE Express system logic, supporting a 1066 MHz system bus, is direct proof of this.

Need I once again mention which way the wind is blowing: very soon support for FSB 1066 MHz will migrate from Extreme (Xtreme) Edition versions of chipsets and processors to mass platforms, DDR-II 667 memory will receive certification and support, the market will be saturated with affordable video cards, and finally It will be possible to talk about the fact that the transition from Socket 478 to Socket 775 has taken place. Those who want a new one right now will have to spend a lot without clear prospects; those who want to purchase with an eye to a subsequent upgrade, it would be wiser to wait six months. But one way or another, if we are talking about processors from Intel, in any case you will have to work with the LGA775 platform.

Okay, the nightingale is a fable... Today we will talk about exactly what awaits us in 2005, namely the new generation of Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets with a series of ICH7 southbridges, replacing, respectively, the current Alderwood/Grantsdale (i925X/ i915) with ICH6, as well as about new processors and a little about the corresponding system wiring of new PCs.

Everyone knows Intel's penchant for giving fancy names to ongoing work projects. There was also a new name for the platform based on Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets, however, like almost all of the company’s current projects, the idea is being promoted within the framework of the “digital home” concept. So, for 2005, Intel plans to promote the East Fork (EF) strategy, which, in addition to the traditional set of processors and system logic, will be related to the development of network controllers and related software.

It cannot be said that the new chipsets are designed exclusively for use in desktop PCs; such a clear division in Intel's chipset strategy has long since disappeared. The same Lakeport will appear in the third quarter of 2005 as part of the Napa mobile platform (a new version of Centrino) called Calistoga, with an ICH7-M south bridge and will be tailored for processors with Yonah/Merom cores, support for DDR2-667 memory and the Serial ATA-300 interface . It is already known that specific versions of the Lakeport chipset will work with server versions of the Xeon series chips. Today we will not delve into these jungles and will limit ourselves only to options for desktop PCs.

Judging by the currently known rumors/leaks, the release of new versions of chips with the Prescott core will be completed this year; the oldest with a maximum frequency of 3.8 GHz for the NetBurst architecture will remain the Pentium 4 570J, which has an 800 MHz FSB, 1 MB of L2 cache and NX bit support. The next core, Prescott 2, which will be implemented in the Pentium4 630, 640, 650, 660 and 670 models, at first will differ little from its predecessor - the same frequency barrier (3.8 GHz), the same socket (LGA775), the same FSB (800 MHz) and the same technical process (90 nm), only the L2 cache will be increased to 2 MB, support for EM64T instructions, EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology) technology and possibly Vanderpool/LaGrande will appear. Although I strongly doubt the latter, the time for hardware and software support for these technologies has not yet come.

By mid-2005, the release of a 2-core processor with the Smithfield core is being prepared. The processor will be available in three versions. One, for the performance systems sector, will be supported by the Glenwood chipset, the other two versions for mainstream systems will work with the Lakeport chipset. In the second half of 2006, Smithfield will move to the 65 nm process technology.

For now, we will have to be content with processors of the Pentium 4 series with the Prescott core and for some time with the Prescott 2 core. But the Glenwood and Lakeport chipsets with the ICH7 south bridges, which will be presented very soon, may well outlive all versions of Prescott, and maybe even and the NetBurst architecture. :)

Glenwood/Lakeport North Bridges

If we think from the point of view of generational continuity, then the Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets can be called direct evolutionary heirs of the Intel 925/915. There are changes, but they affected mainly clock frequencies. Now each of them (not just the new i925XE) will support FSB 1066 MHz. For the first time, support for 2-channel DDR2-667 memory will debut, and the south bridges will acquire standard support for Serial ATA 300.

Expected characteristics of the new generation of chipsets

Chipset Glenwood Lakeport-G Lakeport-P

The integrated controller's support for 2-channel DDR2-667 will increase the peak performance of the memory subsystem from 8.5 GB/s for DDR2-533 to 10.8 GB/s. Please note that the notorious Turbo memory operating mode, which gives about 3% - 7% performance gain, first introduced in the i875P (PAT) chipset and then migrated to the Intel 925X, will also remain in the new Glenwood version.

The "flagship" chipset's support for an 800 MHz system bus is not a tribute to compatibility with older Pentium 4 or Celeron processors. Rather, it is aimed at supporting the first processors with the Smithfield core, which, due to the 2-core architecture and related issues of increased power consumption, will initially still only support 800 MHz FSB. And, as has been repeatedly stated in print, with lower clock speeds than modern P4s.

As for the replacement for the Intel 915, both chipsets expected at the time of announcement will support the PCI Express x16 slot (and no AGP!). Two versions will remain traditional - the discrete version Lakeport-P and Lakeport-G with an integrated graphics core, but nothing has been heard about the GV/GL options yet. It's not surprising, since even the i915GV/GL appeared recently and is sold mainly to system integrators. They say different things about the graphics integrated into Lakeport-G, but it looks like it will be either the current DirectX 9 GMA 900 core with a clock frequency of 333 MHz, or its “overclocked” version. As for ADD2 expansion cards, which can support a second display with CRT, LCD, TV and HDTV formats, there is talk of further expanding the feature set and video output capabilities with something like ADD2+.

At the stage of launching a new generation of chipsets, Intel is finally and irrevocably abandoning support for DDR1 memory. In return, DDR2-667 certification appears, manufacturers promise samples of which by the first quarter, and mass quantities by the second quarter of 2005, right in time for the start of deliveries of boards to Glenwood/Lakeport. The step, of course, is bold, since the cost of DDR2-533 modules is still slightly higher than the prices for DDR400. However, perhaps Intel believes that by the time Lakeport chipset deliveries begin, prices for DDR400/DDR2-533 will already be equal.

As shown in the table above, the older Glenwood chipset supports up to 8GB of memory in 4 slots. By the time boards appear on it, along with modules on chips with a capacity of 256 Mbit and 512 Mbit, versions on 1 Gbit chips will be quite widely available. Nothing is really known yet about support for EM64T (AMD64) instructions, but most likely systems on the Glenwood chipset will be designed for 64-bit instructions.

South bridges ICH7

The new ICH7 family of southbridges, upon closer inspection, are also improvements to the ICH6 with the same 2.0 Gb/s Direct Media Interface (DMI) interbridge connection. As you know, by adding and/or combining RAID and Wi-Fi support, it was assumed that in addition to the basic ICH6, versions ICH6R, ICH6W and ICH6RW would appear on the market. It ended up that the last two remained on paper, and the public, puzzled by the integration of wireless networks into a desktop PC, had to purchase external Wi-Fi devices or kits from manufacturers with an included PCI card.

Meanwhile, the East Fork strategy will still support Wi-Fi, at least in part of the digital home platforms. So far, Intel does not promise new south bridges with Wi-Fi support. There are already some leaks coming from manufacturers in Taiwan on this topic; they say that when the first samples of chips with the Smithfield core appear, a special IEEE802.11a/b/g Caswell 2 module will be presented. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end will do without integrating elements of wireless controllers into the south bridge, it is already hot enough without it. :)

The list of new south bridges includes five versions of ICH7. This refers to the basic ICH7, ICH7DH (Digital Home, basic for family entertainment PCs), ICH7DO (Digital Office, SOHO-class digital office), ICH7DE (Digital Enterprise, something very productive with support for RAID levels 5, 0, 1 and 10 , for enterprises) and the trivial ICH7R, with support for RAID levels 0, 1 and 10.

New south bridges of the ICH7 series:

Of course, the first thing that catches your eye is the increase in the number of PCI Express x1 slots (or buses, that is, lanes) from four in ICH6 to six in some versions of ICH7. This fact will allow advanced motherboard manufacturers to make their own versions of SLI motherboards on Intel desktop chipsets.

Another improvement is more interesting: now there is support for Serial ATA 300 (Serial ATA II) with the same number of integrated ports. And the most significant difference between the new south bridges and each other is the set of RAID levels that changes from version to version. True, RAID5, which appeared for the first time, will be typical only for the ICH7DE version.

Only the ICH7DE southbridge is planned to support Intel AMT (Intel Active Management Technology) software technology. This cannot be described in a nutshell; technology implies a new level of active management and control of enterprise resources, from operational diagnostics and administration to resource development strategy planning, etc. Even such miracles as remotely turning on client PCs, upgrading the operating system, data recovery and much more will be available. AMT was talked about a lot at the latest Intel Developer Forums in San Francisco and Moscow; those who are interested can read briefly about this technology. I haven't delved into this in detail yet, but according to Intel management, implementing AMT could give the company an annual 10% cost savings on enterprise resource management.

EnergyLake technology, which will appear as part of the ICH7DH southbridge for “digital homes”, involves development on the currently pressing topic of energy saving. I don't know the details about this technology yet.

But we can already say that simultaneously with the new Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets, two LAN chips for the PCI Express bus will debut: Tekoa with support for Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) and Ekron with support for Fast Ethernet (100BASE-TX). The Tekoa chip with the PCI Express bus, among other things, is interesting in terms of reduced power consumption compared to the previously promoted Northway GbE chip, as well as support for iAMT technology.

The remaining functionality of the ICH7 family is practically known to us from the previous generation. Of course, Intel HDA (High Definition Audio) technology will be fully present with support for 7.1 audio codec, Dolby Digital/DTS systems and VoIP (Voice-over-IP) technology. Eight USB 2.0 ports will remain unchanged.

A few words about what will follow the Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets in the future. The Internet is already telling scary tales about the Broadwater North Bridge paired with ICH8. The chipset will support the mythical Allendale/Millville chips with DSB 800/1066 MHz, a new DMI bus with a bandwidth of 1 Gb/s in both directions, 2-channel DDR-2 533/667 and DDR3-800 memory, and its integrated version will have fourth generation Intel graphics. However, all this is still in the eerie prospect, since the release of Broadwater is not planned until the end of 2006.

In conclusion, we can guess a little about the timing of the start of deliveries of Glenwood/Lakeport chipsets and motherboards based on them. Rumors from Taiwanese OEMs say that trial shipments of the new A0 stepping chipsets will begin towards the end of the 4th quarter of 2004, that is, before the New Year. I would not be surprised if the East Fork strategy, complete with new chipsets and processors, will be announced with pomp at the spring Intel Developer Forum, which traditionally will be held in February. So, if nothing goes wrong, the first samples may appear in the news and reviews before March, and we will see enough mass samples of boards at the CeBIT exhibition. All that's left is to survive the winter. :)

While the most ardent computer enthusiasts ran to the store for the newest, cutting-edge chipset from Intel i955X, calmer and more rational users were waiting for the appearance of the younger series of chipsets - i945 Express, developed under the code name Lakeport. The calculation is simple - get most of the functionality of the i955X at a lower price. And then it happened - by the beginning of summer the series was released. The release of the i945 Express was timed to coincide with the release of dual-core Pentium D processors. Moreover, with the release of the i945 Express series, the last hopes that the new processors would be supported by old motherboards disappeared. According to rumors, dual-core processors are actually compatible with the i925/915 Express, but not all samples run reliably on these chipsets. Naturally, Intel, which makes every effort to strengthen the reputation of its products as the most reliable and stable, could not allow the release of partially compatible products. Therefore, the corporation has finally and irrevocably announced its refusal to try to teach the Pentium D to work with the i925/915 Express.

Intel 945PExpress

But let's see what the new chipset gives us, besides the aforementioned support for dual-core processors, compared to its predecessors.

The second significant innovation is compatibility with DDR2 667 memory. Looking ahead, let's say that Asus decided to go further and endowed the motherboard in question with the ability to work with DDR2 800.

The South Bridge has also undergone changes and received a new encoding - ICH7/ICH7R. The new bridge provides support for four SerialATA II channels with a throughput of up to 3 Gbit/s (ICH6/ICH6R provided only 1.5 Gbit/s). In addition to increased interface bandwidth, we also get NCQ technology, which should also increase the performance of the disk subsystem. RAID 10 (0+1) and RAID 5 have been added to the ability to create RAID arrays of levels 0 and 1.

The number of PCI Express x1 lanes has increased from four to six, four of which can be combined into a PCI Express x4 bus. Thus, it became possible to combine 2 video cards. Many manufacturers took advantage of this by equipping motherboards based on the new chipset with an additional slot for video cards, and marketers rushed to call this slot a second PCI Express x16. The fact that the slot for video cards with a PCI Express x16 interface actually communicates with the south bridge via the PCI Express x4 bus did not stop them from writing support for 2 PCI Express x16 in the board specifications.

That, by and large, is all the changes. Time will tell how useful the additional capabilities of the south bridge will be. Dual-core processors have already appeared on sale, but are not yet available to most users. In the meantime, we are all interested in the question of how different the new i945 Express chipset is in terms of performance from the recent leader i925 Express. Today we will try to find out, but first things first.

ASUS P5LD2 DeluxeWiFi-TV Edition

ASUS was the leading participant in the announcement of the new product. Even before the official release of the new chipset, the company has already presented a sample of the i945P board - ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe.

The board's rich capabilities are partially realized through the capabilities of the new chipset, and partially through the installation of additional controllers and devices.

As we have already said, not all of the board's capabilities are determined by the i945P hardware, but more on that below. ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe belongs to the new series of ASUS motherboards produced under the motto AI Life. The ASUS idea is being promoted in tandem with the Intel Digital Home concept and is designed to make the computer a “smart, reliable and humane” center of the digital home. A number of proprietary functions and technologies are designed to help your computer become just that, including:

• AI Quiet– lowering the frequency and voltage of the processor during idle times and low load and, as a consequence, temperature, which makes it possible to reduce fan speeds down to a complete stop. The result is reduced power consumption and noise of the system as a whole;
• Stack Cool 2– board design without active cooling of components;
• Multi-language BIOS - the name speaks for itself, but since there is no Russian among the available languages, it is useless for us. We can only hope that Russian will appear in future versions of the Multi-language BIOS;
• AI NOS(Non-delay Overclocking System) – dynamic overclocking system, depending on the processor load;
• MyLogo2– the ability to record your own picture, which will be displayed on the screen when the computer goes through POST and prepares to load the operating system.

And also functions with self-explanatory names: CrashFree BIOS 2, CPU Lock Free.

The board specification looks quite impressive.

As they say, no comments. The board's capabilities will satisfy the needs of even the most demanding user.

Packaging and equipment

The board comes in a nice, fairly impressive size box with a carrying handle. The solid weight of the box only spurs interest in its contents.

But, despite your readiness to see something unusual inside, when you open the package, you are still surprised. When you take everything out of the box, you can no longer understand how it all got there. And indeed, to put everything back, you will have to work hard. The following components were inside:

• ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe motherboard;
• 2 IDE cables 133/100/66 (80-pin) with them 3 jumpers for setting hard drives in Master and Slave modes;
• IDE cable (40-pin) for connecting optical drives;
• FDD cable;
• 5 SATA cables;
• 2 power adapters from Molex to two SATA and 1 power adapter from Molex to one SATA;
• plug for the rear wall of the case;
• plug for the rear panel of the case with a FireWire connector;
• a plug on the rear wall of the case with two USB ports and one GAME port;
• plug for the rear wall of the case with a COM port;
• GT bridge – connector for combining two NVIDIA video cards in SLI;
• TV tuner card - wireless network adapter;
• antenna for wireless network;
• FM antenna;
• adapter for TV cable;
• cable with two RGB TV outputs, an RGB TV input and an S-Video connector;
• USB IR receiver;
• control panel with batteries;
• manuals for setting up and operating the motherboard and TV tuner - wireless network adapter, a sticker indicating the connectors on the board;
• 2 disks with software and drivers;
• WinDVD Suite CD book.

As you can see, all, or almost all, needs of even a demanding user are taken into account. It is unlikely that you will have to run to the store for some additional cord or connector, not only during assembly, but also when subsequently connecting additional devices. To be honest, given that the platform is designed to connect to the most modern power supplies with an EATX 12V connector, the manufacturer could not have equipped the product with adapters from Molex to SATA at all, or at least not as many of them. I don’t think there are units with the mentioned power connector, but without the required number of connectors for SATA drives. But still, the manufacturer conscientiously included adapters for all five drives in the kit. But they still forgot to put the screws and threaded pins for fastening the board in the case. Although, if you think about it, no one will install a product of this class in the cheapest Chinese case, and more or less decent cases are equipped with everything necessary for installing components. So the lack of screws in the kit is more likely not a drawback, but a simple calculation. But the IDE cables included in the kit personally made a double impression on me. On the one hand, they attract with their stylish combination of black insulation of conductors, blue connectors and white ASUS inscriptions, on the other hand, these are the most ordinary, wide IDE cables, which significantly complicate ventilation in the case. And no matter how stylishly such trains are colored, in the assembled competition they still look extremely unaesthetic. I just don’t understand the reason why manufacturers don’t want to switch to equipping their products with modern round cables, which look much more attractive both from the standpoint of aesthetics and good ventilation. And this is against the backdrop of the Stack Cool2 technology of silent and high-quality cooling of board components, for the implementation of which, according to ASUS, the PSB design is very carefully thought out. And then all this is isolated from the environment by a pile of J cables. The only reassurance is that IDE does not have long to live, and the cables that replaced SATA are initially devoid of these disadvantages. However, given that round cables included in the kit are still a rarity, the supply of cables instead of them cannot be considered a disadvantage either.

Design and Layout

The layout of the motherboard elements cannot be called mediocre at all. This is largely due to the large number of additional controllers. The abundance of different connectors and the bright colors in which they are painted are pleasing to the eye.

After a quick inspection of the design, the eye is certainly attracted by two PCI-E x16 slots, which makes it possible to use two video cards at once. As we already said when analyzing the capabilities of the chipset, and now, having studied the BIOS and wiring, we can say that the second (black) slot is still not a full-fledged PCI-E x16. In fact, this is a PCI Express slot that can operate in x2 or x4 modes, with the latter mode disabling the PCI Express x1 slot. 4x bandwidth should be enough not to cause delays in the operation of modern video cards. Thus, you can organize a system with four monitors. And the GT bridge included in the kit allows you to organize video combining in SLI mode. In general, the ability to work with two cards in conjunction for ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe is not documented. Therefore, the question of what the same SLI will look like on this board in terms of performance remains open. In the future, we will definitely test ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe and some other i945P motherboards to see if they support this position.

To connect additional expansion cards there are 3 PCI slots and one PCI-E x1.

The northbridge of the chipset is cooled by an impressively sized passive aluminum heatsink located near the main PCI-E x16 slot. There is a sufficient distance between the slot and the radiator so that the latter does not interfere with the installation of video cards with efficient cooling systems.

The Southbridge is also cooled by a passive radiator, but smaller in size. Another aluminum radiator is installed on MOSFETs, which has a positive effect on the power quality. Moreover, when installing a water cooling system, due to the lack of airflow to the MOSFETs by the processor cooler fan, such a radiator is simply necessary.

The space around the processor socket is free of protruding parts that can become an obstacle to the installation of bulky cooling systems. The test cooler became easy and without problems.

The system is powered via a 24-pin connector. Next to it is an additional EZ Plug connector for Molex connection.

Near the processor socket we see an 8-pin EATX 12V connector. Its presence is necessary to support the power-hungry Pentium XE processors and is a strict power supply requirement for the use of these processors. It should be noted that the first serial boards that went on sale were equipped with a simple 4-pin ATX 12V connector, which caused a stir, since this fact indirectly indicated that this board would not support Pentium XE. Later it turned out that a 24-pin ATX power connector and a 4-pin Molex should be enough to “feed” the Pentium XE, but ASUS nevertheless decided to equip the boards with an 8-pin EATX 12V.

One single UltraDMA slot, supported by the Intel ICH7R southbridge, is located in a rather convenient location. Located at the very edge of the board, it is rotated 90° relative to the usual location of such connectors and is clearly intended for connecting optical drives to it. But ASUS thought that this would not be enough and equipped the board with an additional ITE 8211F controller, thus implementing support for two more UltraDMA 100/66/33 channels.

In order to highlight the support of channels by various controllers, ASUS chose blue for the connector controlled by the ICH7R, and bright and eye-catching red for those controlled by the ITE 8211F chip.

The manufacturer also thought that four SATA connectors located next to the blue IDE were not enough, so an additional Silicon Image 3132 controller was installed on the board, providing support for a fifth internal SATA connector and one external one located on the rear panel.

In general, the fifth internal connector was simply added to the load. In fact, the controller was installed just for the slot on the rear panel for connecting external hard drives. In addition to it, the rear panel contains the following ports: parallel, 2 PS/2 for connecting a mouse and keyboard, 4 USB, IEEE1394, S/PDIF output (coaxial + optical), network RJ45, sound card input/output panel. As you can see, the serial COM port has disappeared from the rear panel altogether, but you can connect it by installing the plug included in the kit. In the same way you can get a GAME port, 2 additional USBs and one IEEE1394.

The network capabilities of the board are provided by a Marvell 88E8053 gigabit controller operating on the PCI-E bus.

The sound is implemented on the 8-channel Realtek ALC882M codec, which complies with the High-Definition Audio standard.

The Winbond W83647HF controller monitors voltages, controls rotation speed, and controls fans.

Support for two IEEE 1394a ports is provided by the Texas Instruments TSB43AB22 controller.

All connectors for connecting ports located on the plugs are grouped in the lower right corner of the board, which will allow you to route wires from them without compromising ventilation. In general, the layout of the board is well thought out. All elements are in place. There were no problems during assembly and further connecting and disconnecting various devices.

WiFi- TVEdition

As already mentioned, since we are looking at the ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe motherboard in the WiFi-TV Edition, we get an additional expansion card. It supports a wireless network of 802.11a/b/g standards, a TV and FM tuner.

We also get a fairly functional remote control.

It should be noted: despite the fact that these devices are nothing outstanding and can be purchased separately, they greatly help the board integrate into the idea of ​​Intel’s digital home. Using the remote control, you can, without getting up from the couch, turn on the computer, call up the stylish and convenient shell of the bundled PowerCinema program and watch TV shows, listen to the radio, launch a video and any programs, players, turn on music, look at photos, etc. In addition, you can record TV programs on a hard drive or DVD-RW using a timer (capabilities of the most expensive and sophisticated DVD players). You can also digitize analog video from external sources. Wireless network support makes it easy to connect home computers without unnecessary wires. I think that some of these features will be useful to anyone.

PossibilitiesBIOS

The motherboard uses the traditional ASUS BIOS developed by American Megatrends Inc. As you understand, a description of all BIOS items is beyond the scope of the article, and in our case it is pointless. Therefore, we will focus only on the most interesting and important points, concentrated in the Advanced Menu, which directly affect overclocking. In the "JumperFree Configuration" section we can choose to boot with standard system settings (Auto) or use the following overclocking methods:

• AI NOS – we repeat, dynamic overclocking technology depending on the processor load; the maximum permissible overclocking value is indicated in the range from 3 to 10%.
• Overclock Profile – the overclocking value is set rigidly in the range from 5 to 30(!)%, or select one of the overclocking profiles:
• FSB888/DDR2 667;
• FSB960/DDR2 800;
• FSB1200/DDR2 800;
• FSB1280/DDR2 800;
• FSB1333/DDR2 667;
• FSB1333/DDR2 834.
• Manual is an option for those who know a lot about overclocking and understand that the best results can be achieved only by checking and manually setting each setting item. The following parameters can be changed:
• processor bus frequency ranging from 100 to 400 MHz, while the user can manually select memory frequency dividers from a very decent number of available ones;
• the Performance Mode parameter can be set to Auto, Standard and Turbo;
• PCI Express bus frequency can be changed in the range from 90 to 150 MHz;

• PCI bus frequency can be set depending on the processor frequency or fixed at 33.3 MHz;
• the voltage on memory modules can be changed from standard 1.8 V to 2.3 V;

• the voltage on the CPU varies in the range from 1.2875 V to 1.7 V in increments of 0.0125 V;

• FSB Termination Voltage value varies from 1.2 to 1.5 V in steps of 0.1 V;

• using the MCH Chipset Voltage item, you can change the voltage on the north bridge of the chipset 1.5 to 1.65 V in steps of 0.05 V;

• The ICH Chipset Voltage parameter changes the voltage of the south bridge; in addition to Auto, only two values ​​are available: 1.05 and 1.2 V.

There are tips for novice overclockers: low and normal voltage values ​​are highlighted in blue, slightly too high voltages are highlighted in yellow, and seriously high voltage values ​​are highlighted in red.

In the Chipset section we have access to memory timing settings in a very wide range:

• DRAM CAS Latency – 3-6;
• DRAM RAS Precharge – 2-6;
• DRAM RAS to CAS Delay – 2-6;
• DRAM RAS Activate to Precharge – 4-18;
• DRAM Write Recovery Time – 2-6.

You can also specify whether Hyper Path 3 memory acceleration technology will be used.

Overclocking and testing

Overclocking and testing were carried out on a bench with the following configuration:

• motherboard: ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe;
• processor: Intel Pentium 4 540J, 3.2 GHz (16 x 200);
• RAM: 512 MB DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM (4.0-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz);
• video card: nVIDIA GeForce 6600 PCI-E (GPU 300 Mhz, Memory 700 Mhz);
• hard drive: Seagate ST3120827AS 120GB SATA 7200rpm;
• case: IN WIN S523 with Powerman 300W power supply;
• cooler Spire SP507B7-U, 2500 rpm;
• case ventilation: 80 mm fan 800 rpm. for injection, 80 mm fan 800 rpm. for suction, 120 mm fan with adjustable rotation speed in the power supply.

Since the ability of the memory modules to operate in abnormal modes was unknown to us, they were the first to be overclocked. We found the following information in the SPD.

As you can see, at a nominal frequency of 266 MHz, the timings are 4.0-4-4-12. But the modules were able to start without problems with delays of 3.0-3-3-8 at the same frequency of 266 (533) MHz. Lower timings were achieved only by reducing the frequency to 200 MHz, which is not at all suitable for us. Therefore, testing in nominal mode was carried out precisely in the 266 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 configuration. The processor also ran in nominal mode at 3.2 GHz (16 x 200 MHz).

But we, of course, are interested in the maximum operating frequencies of the processor and memory. Gradually increasing the delay values ​​and raising the module supply voltage to 2.0 V, it was possible to achieve a memory operating frequency of 331 (662) MHz with timings of 5.0-5-5-15, while the processor frequency was 3980 MHz (16 x 249 MHz).

The attentive reader will notice a small phenomenon. At the standard value of the processor frequency, the cpu-z utility shows a frightening voltage on the processor of 2.816 V, but when overclocked, everything falls into place, and we see a plausible 1.39 V. The essence of this phenomenon lies beyond our understanding. If the voltage were not monitored correctly during overclocking, everything could be attributed to problems with abnormal operation, but this is not the other way around. No matter how we tweaked the voltage values ​​and other settings, everything remained the same, especially since other monitoring utilities showed everything correctly in both cases.

Not wanting to stop at the achieved frequency, we lowered the memory frequency, but the processor could not operate stably at a frequency exceeding 4000 MHz without raising the voltage. After raising the voltage to 1.4125 V, our sample easily surpassed the 4.0 GHz bar, but on the path to further overclocking, the eternal enemy of any overclocker - overheating - became an obstacle. When the temperature reached 62°C (in S&M load), the built-in thermal protection of the processor was triggered, after which it began to skip cycles, reducing the resulting frequency. Discussion of this problem on the network is rapidly developing, and so far the result is the same - air cooling systems capable of keeping the temperature of the Intel Pentium 4 5xx at frequencies above 4.0 GHz (and even with increased voltage) below the mentioned temperature have not yet been found. Therefore, it was decided to conduct overclocking testing at a frequency of 3980 MHz.

The DFI 925X-T2 motherboard on the i925X chipset was chosen as an opponent, specially tested with the same set of components and with similar settings. Testing was carried out under the Windows XP Professional SP1 operating system. After replacing the motherboard, the system was reinstalled.

Conclusions

As you can see, the i945P, presented by ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe, is confidently in the lead, leaving no position for the i925X to gain revenge. The difference in performance when replacing only the motherboard is visible to the naked eye. The board is perfect for overclocking, having all the necessary settings and capabilities for this. The rich set of components, coupled with an equally rich set of additional controllers, sharply distinguishes the board from its competitors, making you forget about its belonging to a specific platform and look at the computer in a slightly different way. More recently, to get a computer with similar functionality, the case would have to be filled to capacity with expansion cards. Of course, you can write down the high cost as a disadvantage without thinking, but that’s without thinking. And after thinking about it, you understand that there is something to pay for.

ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe WiFi-TV Edition motherboard was provided for testing by the Russian representative office of ASUS