Pentium 4 Chipsets Comparison

Until the most recent times there existed only one core logic for Pentium 4 CPUs, so those users willing
to get a Pentium 4 system didn’t have any actual choice. Since the arrival of the first Pentium 4
processor and almost till nowadays, that is, for nearly a year, Intel 850 has been the only chipset
supporting Pentium 4 CPU. In India for long Intel 850 GB was default choice as Intel was bundling the
SDRAM chips along with these processors. Perhaps, this state of things could perfectly last on, if it
hadn’t been for one unhappy trait of i850. To be more exact, i850 supports nothing only one type of
memory: RDRAM, which is considerably more expensive than any other memory type available in the
today’s market. For this reason Pentium 4 family faced a serious obstacle on their way to the market:
because of the pricy Rambus memory Pentium 4 CPUs remained quite expensive, no matter how hard
Intel tried to reduce the prices. This way the market gave people to understand that there is a real need
in alternative non-RDRAM Pentium 4 platforms. Intel as well as other core logic manufacturers realized
that completely. So, it’s was quite natural that this fall the chipset developers including Intel prepared a
number of new Pentium 4 solutions supporting memory other than RDRAM. The introduction of these
products was timed to the launch of new Socket478 Pentium 4 CPUs. Subsequently, there are three
Pentium 4 chipsets produced in mass quantities at this moment:

 Intel 850 with RDRAM support;

 Intel 845 with PC133 SDRAM support;

 VIA P4X266 with PC2100 DDR SDRAM support.

It is worth mentioning that all these chipsets are absolutely different products due to different
memory types supported. In its turn, this fact tells on the memory bus bandwidth of these chipsets,
which is known to decisively influence the overall system performance in general.

You should always bear in mind that for Pentium 4 based systems the memory type used tells
much greater on the overall system performance than, for example, in systems built on Pentium III or
Athlon CPUs. Pentium 4 with NetBurst architecture has a CPU bus with an unprecedentedly high
bandwidth totaling 3.2GB/sec. None of the today’s memory types provides bandwidth like that, so in
most Pentium 4 based platforms the memory subsystem appears the limiting factor. Only i850 with its
two-channel Rambus memory provides the same bus bandwidth as the Pentium 4 processor. The other
two chipsets, i845 and VIA P4X266, suffer in-balanced CPU and memory bus bandwidths. This way,
making the right choice of the chipset matters much more for Pentium 4 based platforms than for
Pentium III or Athlon based ones, where the CPU bus bandwidth is smaller than in Pentium 4 based
systems. Later on in this article we will try to illustrate this idea, and in the meanwhile we would like to
point out that we have not included two more Pentium 4 chipsets (from Ali and SiS) into our today’s
comparison. Although both these manufacturers have already announced their Pentium 4 products, SiS
645 and Ali Aladdin-P4, there are no stable samples of these chipsets yet, so they are not included in our
race list. Nonetheless, these chipsets are of great interest to all of us from both practical and theoretical
points of view, because these are the first chipsets supporting today’s fastest DDR SDRAM – DDR333
(PC2700) with 2.7GB/sec bandwidth. We take a look at then three challengers who compete for the top
slot in the race for making it into a PC with “Intel Pentium 4 inside”
Intel 850
The first core logic for Pentium 4 CPUs launched together with the announcement of the very first
processors from this family, i850, still stays the best balanced Pentium 4 core logic. In order to make use
of the whole

(Diagram)

3.2GB/sec Quad Pumped CPU bus of Pentium 4 CPUs, Intel equipped i850 with a dual-channel
RDRAM controller. With PC800 RDRAM it ensures 3.2GB/sce memory bus bandwidth (i.e. equal to
the Pentium 4 CPU bus bandwidth). So, from the technical point of view, i850 is a real success.

Like all the latest chipsets from Intel, i850 features Hub architecture comprising two Hubs
connected via a special bus with 266MB/sec bandwidth. The Memory Controller Hub (aka North
Bridge) supports up to 2GB PC800 RDRAM with or without ECC, AGP 4x and 400MHz Quad Pumped
Pentium 4 CPU bus. The role of the South Bridge in i850 plays ICH2 chip supporting 4 USB 1.1 ports,
ATA/100 devices, PCI bus, 6-channel AC’97 sound and CNR/AMR slots.

Unfortunately, the marketing position of i850 looks not so nice as its specifications. The trouble
is that this core logic doesn’t allow to assemble more or less low-cost systems because the memory
typei850 supports as well as the mainboards based on it are pretty costly. Unfortunately, RDRAM
modules are now considerably more expensive than PC133 SDRAM and PC2100 DDR SDRAM
modules of the same capacity. The price of RDRAM modules are correspondingly 3-4 and 2-3 times
higher (as of mid September). This undermines the chipset’s popularity, of course. Besides, most i850
based mainboards have six-layer PCBs, which tend to be more pricy than commonly used four –layer
PCBs. Then, i850 itself costs about $45, which is quite a sum. Accordingly, i850 based mainboards are
destined to be positioned as expensive high-performance solutions. With these characteristics Intel 850
fits neither value, nor even mainstream platforms.

That is why Intel devoted a lot of time and effort to developing a new Pentium 4 core logic,
which would become a moderately priced basis for mainstream systems, though maybe not so fast as the
predecessor.

Intel 845
That’s what i845 is like. According to Intel’s plans, i845 (also known under the codename “Brookdale”)
should help Pentium 4 CPUs to conquer the mainstream sector, where system blocks are priced starting
from $800. Sadly, Intel is hog-tied by a contract signed with Rambus. It writes that until 2002 Intel
cannot launch any chipsets with memory bus bandwidth of over 1.06GB/sec. So, the only solution Intel
can offer now is a Pentium 4 chipset with PC133 SDRAM, however weird it may sound.

(Diagram)
 Nonetheless, Intel has enhanced i845 with DDR SDRAM support from the very beginning,
though real mainboards with DIMM slots for DDR memory will arrive no sooner than in the beginning
of next year. For the time being, the users can only get hold of PC133 SDRAM systems with
1.06GB/sec memory bus bandwidth, which is about 3 times slower than the system bus of Pentium 4
CPUs. Taking into account that the architecture of Pentium 4 processors is optimized to process
steaming data, the limited memory bus bandwidth may theoretically result into a tangible performance
drop. An enlarged L2 cache could somehow save the situation probably, but unfortunately, Pentium 4
has a comparatively small L2 cache – only 256KB. Thus, the performance gap between i845 and i850
based systems should narrow, when the Pentium 4 line migrates to the 0.13micron technology and the
new Northwood core with 512KB L2 cache (the event is scheduled for the end of this year).

We’d like to point out that in nominal mode i845 and PC133 SDRAM work asynchronously,
because with the 100MHz FSB frequency used in today’s Pentium 4 systems, the memory works at
133MHz. Still, with i845 you may clock the CPU and memory buses synchronously. It implies that you
may combine this chipset with the older PC100 SDRAM as well. It’s noteworthy that when i845 gets
DDR support next year, DDR memory modules will work in i845 based mainboards in the synchronous
and asynchronous modes. In other words, i845 will support not only PCI600 DDR SDRAM. As for the
faster PC2700 DDR SDRAM, Intel will probably implement the support for this memory type only in
the next chipset from the Brookdale family aka Brookdale-G, which is due in mid 2002.

PC133 SDRAM used instead of RDRAM will make Pentium 4 based systems not so expensive,
but it’s not the only reason why i845 is so much awaited in the marketplace. It is important that the new
core logic will allow the main board makers to return to four-layer PCBs. Together with the pleasantly
low price of i845 itself, it should help to reduce the cost of i845 based main boards.

So, i845 is a tremendous move of Intel’s aimed at making Pentium 4 based systems cheaper.
Even though the lower price will be reached at the expense of performance, it will hardly matter for
good many buyers, because very often the CPU clock frequency appears a more important determinative
than its performance. In other words, there’ll be barely any headache for Intel.

Intel 845 core logic is also built on Hub architecture. MCH (the North Bridge) of i845 supports
Pentium 4 CPUs with 400 MHz Quad Pumped Pentium 4 CPU bus (based both on Willamette and the
upcoming Northwood core), AGP 4x and up to 3GB PC133 SDRAM with or without ECC. As for the
DDR version of i845, which is to come out in early 2002, it will support only 2GB PC1600/PC2100
DDR SDRAM. The
South Bridge of i845, ICH2, is the same as in i850, so it makes no sense to repeat everything mentioned
above. However the Intel 845 prices are the lowest. See the table given at end of the article.

(Diagram)

VIA P4X266
As you have just seen, the two Pentium 4 chipsets from Intel have absolutely different memory
subsystems. Intel 850 ensures 3.2GB/sec memory bus bandwidth, but demands more expensive
RDRAM modules. Intel 845 offers 1.06GB/sec bandwidth, but it can work with the cheapest PC133
SDRAM. As a result, the performances of i850 and i845 based systems differ a lot. The situation might
have remained like that for quite a long time, if it hadn’t been for one more memory type – DDR
 SDRAM. Its bandwidth is higher than that of PC133 SDRAM, and DDR modules are far not that
expensive. No wonder, the idea to use DDR SDRAM in Pentium 4 based system was dimly felt. At last,
VIA brought it into life.

The new core logic from VIA, P4X266, allows using Pentium 4 processors with PC2100 DDR
SDRAM, which has 2.1GB/sec bus bandwidth falling between the memory bus bandwidths of i850 and
i845 memory subsystems. Moreover, taking into account that the price of DDR SDRAM is getting
closer to that of PC133 SDRAM, we dare suppose that P4X266 will be the best choice among all the
existing Pentium 4 chipsets from the price-to-performance ratio point of view.

P4X266 is equipped with the same memory controller as the freshly announced KT266A for the
Athlon CPU family. It means that apart from DDR SDRAM, P4x266 supports the regular PC133
SDRAM. Whatever memory type you use, PC2100 DDR SDRAM or PC133 SDRAM, please, keep in
mind that this core logic works in asynchronous mode, because the CPU and memory buses, being
compatible with PC1600 DDR SDRAM and PC100 SDRAM.

As you can see on the chart above, VIA P4X266 comprises two microchips connected via V-Link
bus with 266MB/sec bandwidth. The North Bridge ensures the appropriate interface for Pentium 4
CPUs with 400 MHz Quad Pumped FSB. Then, it supports up to 4GB PC2100/PC1600 DDR SDRAM
and PC133/PC100 SDRAM with or without ECC. It also supports AGP 4x. We’d like to stress that an
accessory VPX-64 microchip can grant PCI64 bus support to this chipset, but then you’ll have to
sacrifice the support of AGP 4x interface. The South Bridge of this core logic supports 6 USB 1.1 ports,
6-channel sound, PCI bus, ATA/100 interface and ACR slot.

Yes, the characteristics of VIA core logic for Pentium 4 processors look smart enough, don’t
they? Besides, the price of P4X266 and main boards based on it is discernibly lower than the prices of
the two Intel chipsets and corresponding main boards. It goes without saying that Intel is not happy to
all to face a competitor like this, since it’s a serious menace for i845.

In order to get rid of the nuisance, Intel is ready to do everything that lies within its power. After
it failed to make P4X266 too pricy with high license fees, Intel filed a lawsuit against VIA for selling the
Pentium 4 core logic without Intel’s license for the corresponding system bus. The outcome of this
lawsuit is still vague, but VIA keeps on shipping P4X266 full blast. Intel’s intimidation policy can
discourage many main board makers and prevent them from dealing with VIA core logic, but we believe
that some of them will still risk to launch a potentially successful product. Most probably, the first
P4X266 based main boards will arrive in the nearest future already.

Chipset Specs Comparison

Here is a brief summary of he chipsets features, so that you could easily compare them with one
another:

Intel 850 Intel 845 VIA P4X266

North Bridge I82850 I82845 VIA VT8753

Processor bus 400 MHz Quad 400 MHz Quad Pumped) 400 MHz Quad
Pumped) Bus (3.2GB/sec Pumped
Bus (3.2GB/sec Bus (3.2GB/sec)
Socket478
Processor interface Socket423 Socket423
Socket478 Socket478
PC133/PC100
Memory Type Dual-channel SDRAM* PC2100/PC1600 DDR
PC800 RDRAM SDRAMPC133/PC100
SDRAM
1.06GB/sec
Max. memory bus 3.2GB/sec 2.1GB/sec
bandwidth
3GB 3 DIMM slots
Max. memory size 2GB 4 RIMM slots 4GB4 DDR DIMM slots
+
ECC support + +
+
AGP 4x + +

Hub Link (266MB/sec)

Inter-Bridge bus Hub Link (266MB/sec) V-Link (266MB/sec)
I82801 BA
I82801 BA
South Bridge 5 VIA VT 8233 (A/C)
5
Max. number of PCI 5
Master +
+
ATA/100 support + (optional ATA/133 support)
+
+ +
AC’97 CNR
CNR ACR
CNR/ACR support +
+ +
10/100 Mbit LAN 4
4 6
USB ports $42
$47 $34
Estimated price $100
$109 $78
Estimated Price of the A
second tier motherboard

* - The integrated DDR SDRAM controller of i845, which Intel will be allowed to introduce in the end
of 2002, supports up to 2GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM.