"Deep
in the sea are riches beyond compare.
But if you seek safety, it is on the shore."
The
Chipset Guide
Overview
Every computer purchase, every motherboard upgrade, every CPU
buying decisions comes back to the same thing: the system chipset.
If the CPU is the brain of your PC, the chipset is its heart.
It controls the flow of bits that travel between the CPU, system
memory, and the motherboard bus. Efficient data transfers, fast
expansion bus support, and advanced power management features
are just a few of the things the system chipset is reponsible
for.
Slot
1 AGP Chipsets
Intel's Slot 1 CPUs are currently the fastest CPUs available for
PCs and Slot 1 is a CPU interface patented by Intel. This is why
there is no other CPU manufacturer producing Slot 1 CPUs currently.
Slot 1 offers Intel's GTL+ bus protocol, known from the Pentium
Pro CPU, which hosts the so called dual independend bus (DIB),
which means that the Slot 1 CPUs have one bus which they use to
communicate with the memory and system devices like the PCI and
AGP bus and another bus for communication with the second level
cache, which is built into the Pentium II CPU cartridges. GTL+
is particularly helpful for multi CPU systems and is a protocol
that is patented by Intel as well. This means to other chipset
manufacturers that they have to license the GTL+ protocol from
Intel if they want to design their own Slot 1 chipsets.
Current Slot 1 CPUs are the Pentium II in the
two flavors of 66 and 100 MHz front side bus (FSB) and the Celeron,
which is nothing else than a Pentium II core without the second
level cache and only designed for 66 MHz FSB.
Intel 440LX AGP Chipset - 66 MHz Front Side Bus
The Intel® 440LX AGPset introduced Accelerated Graphics Port
capability to the Intel architecture PC platform. This popular
chip set provides a fundamental building block for balanced platform
performance in a wide variety of Pentium® II processor-based
desktop systems.
This chip set is a great solution for designers
who wish to improve performance in volume desktop PCs, especially
with data or memory-intensive applications such as multimedia
graphics and video that require concurrent data transfers within
the system.
The Intel 440LX AGPset also supports a manageable
client or server in networked business computing environments
to reduce the total cost of ownership.
The Intel 440LX AGPset introduced Intel's Quad
Port Acceleration optimization for the Pentium(r) II processor.
Enhanced features include distributed arbitration and support
for up to four outstanding transactions from the CPU in the buffer.
Today's Intel® 440LX AGPset Highlights:
High-volume, high-quality platform
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) improves overall system bandwidth
for superior 3D graphics and video performance
SDRAM support enables faster memory reads and writes and supports
faster data streaming between the Pentium II processor and graphics
controller
Dynamic Power Management Architecture (DPMA) enables enhanced
power management and fast resume from powered-down states
Ultra DMA/33 improves access to all IDE devices including hard
disk drives and supports smoother audio/video performance
Quality and reliability of Intel's pre-silicon simulations and
post-silicon validation processes
World-class manufacturing and support capabilities
Intel 440EX AGP Chipset - 66 MHz Front Side Bus
Designed with a feature set tuned for the Basic PC market segment,
the Intel® 440EX AGPset balances the Intel® Celeron™
processor system performance. The result: a new generation of
cost-effective PCs with the added performance feature of the Accelerated
Graphics Port (AGP).
Based on the core technology of the Intel®
440LX AGPset, the Intel 440EX AGPset allows designers to easily
implement support for popular multimedia computing graphics and
applications on volume-priced Basic PC platforms. The Intel 440EX
AGPset helps deliver the popular multimedia computing applications
such as 3D graphics, DVD-ROM applications and video on the Basic
PC platform. The chip set complements AGP even further by supporting
66-MHz SDRAM for improved memory performance.
Good Performance and Low Cost of Ownership
The Intel 440EX AGPset is also ACPI-compliant,
providing the cost-of-ownership advantages of advanced power management
to small business and home office PCs.
Support for Ultra DMA/33 allows designers to implement
the latest high-speed disk drives. The 440EX AGPset also brings
Universal Serial Bus (USB) capability to the Basic PC market segment.
Intel® 440EX AGPset Highlights:
Cost optimization with tuned feature set for Basic PC market segment
Optimizes the performance of Celeron processor-based Basic PCs
Enables design of Net PCs with Celeron processor performance
Brings AGP functionality and multimedia computing capability for
today's graphics and video applications
ACPI-compliance enables enhanced power manageability
Micro ATX motherboard form factor for cost-effective production
Ultra DMA/33 supports high-speed disk drives
Support for 66-MHz SDRAM enhances graphics and video performance
USB enables instant connectivity to peripherals
Quality and reliability of Intel's pre-silicon simulations and
post-silicon validation processes
World-class manufacturing and support capabilities
Intel 440BX AGP Chipset - 66/100 MHz Front Side
Bus - NOW ONLY THESE ARE IN RUN
Intel's BX chipset is the first PC chipset that is offering a
system or front side bus that runs at 100 MHz and therefore enables
a higher memory bandwidth as the common 66 MHz FSB used to.
Intel® 440BX AGPset
The Intel® 440BX AGPset is the first chip
set to deliver 100-MHz system level bandwidth to unleash the full
performance of the Intel® Pentium® II processors at 350-MHz
or 400-MHz. In addition, the Mobile Intel® 440BX chip set
is the first chip set to bring Pentium II processor performance
to mobile systems.
The Intel 440BX AGPset improves system performance
by increasing the bandwidth of the system bus from 66MHz to 100MHz.
Highest System Performance through Technology
Innovation
The chip set features Intel's Quad Port Acceleration
(QPA) to improve bandwidth between the Pentium II processor, the
Accelerated Graphics Port, 100-MHz SDRAM and the PCI bus. QPA
combines enhanced bus arbitration, deeper buffers, open-page memory
architecture and ECC memory control to improve system performance.
Ultimate Design Flexibility
The Intel 440BX AGPset provides developers with
maximum design flexibility by delivering one chip set for both
66MHz and 100MHz system designs. Now, one basic motherboard design
supports all Pentium II processor speeds from 233MHz to 400MHz.
This flexibility can save engineering resources while maximizing
use of investments in BIOS, software development and compatibility
testing.
Closing the Gap Between the Desktop and Mobile
The Intel 440BX chip set architecture supports
Mobile Intel Pentium II processor performance—bringing desktop-like
performance to mobile PCs. It also enables mobile systems to benefit
from advanced power management and Wired for Management capabilities,
allowing mobile platforms to function much like desktop systems
when connected to a network.
Intel® 440BX AGPset Highlights:
Optimizes Pentium II processor 350/400-MHz performance by enabling
100-MHz SDRAM and memory.
Supports both 100-MHz or 66-MHz system and memory bus designs
Quad Port Acceleration improves system performance
Enables "best-of-class" 3D and multimedia and gaming
platforms with the Intel740™ graphics accelerator-based
graphics card
ACPI-compliant power manageability
Supports Wired for Management capabilities in desktop and mobile
platforms
The first chip set to support the Mobile Intel Pentium II processor
Quality and reliability of Intel's pre-silicon simulations and
post-silicon validation processes
World-class manufacturing and support capabilities
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