Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1106
Intel 865 (Springdale) Chipset: Mainstream Dual DDR
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 21, 2003 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Just last month Intel introduced the biggest leap in chipset technology we have ever seen from the giant with the 875P chipset. The 875P, formerly known as Canterwood, not only offered 800MHz FSB support but also brought to market integrated Serial ATA (with optional RAID support), a dual-channel DDR400 memory controller, and a new bus for high-speed gigabit Ethernet.
Unfortunately, all of these features come at a hefty price. The 875P chipset with the ICH5-R (Serial ATA RAID support) is priced at $53 in 1,000 unit quantities, that's $13 more per chipset than the old 850E and $25 more than the 845PE. Getting rid of the ICH5-R and replacing it with the standard ICH5 (without SATA RAID) only shaves $3 off the cost of the chipset; all in all, the 875P ends up being a very pricey solution for desktop users.
If you look at the prices of motherboards based on the 875P chipset using our own RealTime Pricing Engine, you'll see that the majority of 875P boards fall in the $180 - $207 range, with ABIT's boards coming in considerably cheaper and Gigabyte's boards selling for noticeably more. Regardless, with an average price of $198 based on our RealTime Pricing Engine we're talking about some very expensive motherboards.
Given the target market for the 875P, mainly as a replacement to the 850E, this sort of a price-premium should be expected, which is why we didn't chastise Intel at the chipset's release. What we were waiting for was the mainstream version of the 875P, codenamed Springdale, to hit the streets before passing judgment - and that's what we're here to talk about today.
Consider Springdale, now known as the Intel 865 Chipset, to be the logical successor to the 845 series of chipsets. The difference between the 875/865 relationship and what we saw with the 850E/845 however is that the 865, in theory, should offer much closer performance than the 845 did to Intel's flagship chipset. Why? Let's find out…
Springdale to the Rescue
Unlike the 875P, there are multiple versions of the Springdale MCH (Memory Controller Hub) in order to tailor to the needs (and price points) of multiple targets in the mainstream market segment.
The features common to all three 865 (Springdale) chipsets are as follows:
- Hyper Threading support
- Dual 64-bit DDR memory channels
- Communication Streaming Architecture bus for gigabit Ethernet
All 865 chipsets can be paired with either the ICH5 or ICH5-R chip, which handles things like the 10/100 Ethernet interface, AC'97 audio interface, USB 2.0, the PCI bus, etc… and thus enables the following features:
- 8 USB 2.0 ports
- Dual independent Serial ATA ports
- Optional Serial ATA RAID support with the ICH5-R
Now that we've gotten all of the commonalities out of the way, let's differentiate between the three members of the 865 family: the 865P, 865PE and 865G.
The cheapest member of the 865 family is the 865P, selling for $33 (the ICH5-R adds another $3 to all chipset costs) in 1K quantities. The 865P only supports DDR266 and 333, thus is best suited for 400/533MHz FSB CPUs; a lack of DDR400 memory support ends up working out just fine since the chipset doesn't support the 800MHz FSB.
Intel's 865P
You can consider the 865P to be all of the 865 chipsets that wouldn't pass Intel's validation at 800MHz FSB and/or 400MHz memory clock. Users that won't be using an 800MHz FSB CPU and don't plan on upgrading to one anytime soon will find the 865P the best offering. You may be able to find 865P motherboards that overclock to support the 800MHz FSB with Dual DDR400 memory, however there are no guarantees.
Next we have the 865PE, which is basically the 865P plus 800MHz FSB/400MHz memory support - priced at $36.
Intel's 865PE
Finally, we have the 865G, which is the 865PE but with Intel's integrated graphics core - selling for $41. Disappointingly enough the 865G uses the same graphics core as the 845G, which as we've seen in the past can hardly be considered to be a 3D accelerator. For basic 2D application support, Intel's integrated graphics works fine (although there is a noticeable performance hit with integrated graphics enabled); if Intel wants their graphics to be taken seriously when Microsoft's 3D UI debuts in 2005 with Longhorn then we'll have to see a dramatic change in how seriously they take integrated graphics.
Intel's 865G
Intel will be updating their integrated graphics core in Q2 2004 with their Grantsdale-G chipset, which we'll talk about later.
As you can see, the only thing the 865 family is lacking is Intel's Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) that is supposed to allow the 875P to offer higher performance. The fact that all 865 chipsets have support for CSA and that they are all dual channel DDR solutions means that they will all be much more competitive with the high-end than the 845 series was. Intel did also strip the 865 family of ECC memory support in an effort to make the 875P more of a target for entry-level workstations, but for most users this won't matter.
We have already shown the performance advantages you can expect to see from the 800MHz FSB, Dual DDR400 as well as CSA so be sure to read our 875P review in order to see the performance results as well as understand how each one of those technologies works.
One word of warning about 865 (and 875P) motherboards and CSA support; just because a motherboard features gigabit Ethernet doesn't mean that it's connected over the CSA bus. Some motherboard manufacturers are shipping boards with gigabit Ethernet over PCI instead of over CSA, which severely limits the performance potential of gigabit Ethernet. Remember that with CSA, all transfers over a gigabit Ethernet network essentially occur at hard drive speed (unless you've got an array that can transfer at over ~100MB/s) whereas with 100Mbit Ethernet you're limited to a realistic transfer rate of around 10MB/s. Having just upgraded the main AnandTech Lab to gigabit Ethernet, we can attest to the performance improvement courtesy of the CSA bus.
Finicky at DDR400
The one thing that we have noticed during our testing of both the 875P and the 865 chipsets is that these solutions are extremely picky about DDR400 and the memory timings you run at.
We're still getting a grasp on the different brands of memory and their interactions with these motherboards, but one thing is for sure, the level of compatibility is definitely far from what we've seen on other DDR400 boards (e.g. nForce2). The 865 chipset seems to be far more choosey than the 875P about what timings we're able to run DDR400 at, especially in dual-channel mode.
To give you an idea, both Intel's 865PE and ABIT's 865PE motherboards would not reliably install Windows with Corsair's XMS3200 DDR installed and the timings set to automatically configure via SPD in the BIOS. Instead we had to increase the CAS latency to 2.5 and tinker with the Precharge to Active, Active to Precharge, and Active to CMD settings in order to setup a stable system. On the other hand, we're able to run the memory using its SPD to automatically configure the settings just fine on ABIT's 875P motherboard and ASUS' nForce2 motherboard.
The problem may be limited to Corsair DIMMs, which is also unacceptable considering the popularity of Corsair's memory within the community. We'll continue to focus on these issues and examine them further in our individual 865 motherboard reviews. Until then, if you do purchase an 865 motherboard and are having difficulties maintaining a stable system then you'll want to back off some of the memory timings, even if you know your memory can work fine at them.
Looking Ahead - Intel's Grantsdale Chipsets
We mentioned earlier that Intel wouldn't introduce a new integrated graphics core until Q2 2004 with their Grantsdale family of chipsets, but what exactly is Grantsdale?
The successor to Canterwood/Springdale is a family of chipsets known as Grantsdale, due out in about a year, to be launched alongside the first 775-pin Prescott CPUs. As you are well aware, current Northwood based Pentium 4 processors feature a 478-pin micro-PGA package. The second-generation of Prescott CPUs (and eventually CPUs based on the Intel Tejas core), will feature a 775-pin LGA (Land Grid Array) package. The benefits of the LGA packaging include better power delivery to the CPU, lower manufacturing costs and the ability to more densely pack contacts into a small CPU. With a new pin-out, these CPUs will obviously require a new motherboard, and thus what better time to introduce a new family of chipsets?
The Grantsdale family will have multiple members, but their basic features are:
- 800MHz FSB support (initially, moving up to 1.06/1.2GHz eventually)
- Dual DDR400/333 SDRAM
- Dual DDR2-400/533 SDRAM (probably reserved for the higher end Grantsdale chipsets, and obviously depending on market availability of DDR2 SDRAM)
- Optional integrated graphics (Grantsdale-G) using a brand new integrated graphics core
- One PCI Express x16 slot for graphics
- ICH6 with support for 4 independent Serial ATA channels and PCI Express x1 slots
And as we just mentioned, these chipsets will have support for all LGA775 CPUs. We know it's a bit early, but we thought it would be helpful to provide you with a bit of insight into what's coming down the pipe.
Our pals at The Inquirer were the first to widely report information about Grantsdale and the LGA775 CPUs, so head on over there for pictures of LGA775 CPUs as well as some more information on the interface.
The Test
For this review we used ABIT's IC7-G (875P) and IS7-G (865PE) motherboards; over the coming weeks you will see reviews of more 875P and 865PE based motherboards, including Intel's own.
We did have Intel's 865PE board in-house for comparison testing, the performance ended up being quite similar to ABIT's. Unfortunately, Intel's board was just as finicky with DDR400 modules as ABIT's; our West Coast motherboard lab is currently working on an 875P roundup including memory compatibility testing that will hopefully shed some light on these issues we encountered.
In order to make this review easier to understand, we split the benchmarks up into two sections - one set comparing the 875 and 865 at a 533MHz FSB with DDR333 SDRAM (Dual Channel), and another set comparing the two at an 800MHz FSB with Dual Channel DDR400 SDRAM. Be sure to read both sections before arriving at any conclusions.
For comparisons to the 850E and SiS 655 chipsets, be sure to read our original 875P review.
Windows
XP Professional Test Bed
|
|
Hardware
Configuration
|
|
CPU |
Intel Pentium 4 3.0CGHz
|
Motherboard |
ASUS
P4PE - Intel 845PE/E Chipset
ABIT IS7-G - Intel 865PE Chipset ABIT IC7-G - Intel 875P Chipset |
RAM |
2
x 256MB DDR400 CAS2 Corsair XMS3200 DIMM
|
Sound |
None
|
Hard Drive |
80GB
Western Digital Special Edition 8MB Cache ATA/100 HDD
|
Video Cards |
ATI
Radeon 9700 Pro - Catalyst 3.4
|
Memory Performance @ 533MHz/DDR333
Here we get a sneak peek at what lies ahead - the 875P offers no more memory bandwidth than the 865PE in Dual DDR333 mode. Note that Intel's Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) is only functional in DDR400 mode, thus this isn't too surprising.
The 865PE even offers slightly lower latency than the 875P when running in DDR333 mode.
Content Creation & Office Performance @ 533MHz/DDR333
Identical performance from the 865PE and 875P in all business, office and content creation applications.
Unreal Tournament 2003 @ 533MHz/DDR333
Even in games, the 875P is not faster than the 865PE.
Splinter Cell @ 533MHz/DDR333
Q3A, JK2, SS2 @ 533MHz/DDR333
Media Encoding & 3D Rendering @ 533MHz/DDR333
Memory Performance @ 800MHz/DDR400
Switching to the 800MHz FSB and DDR400 changes things considerably, now the 875P finally holds an advantage over the 865PE thanks to PAT.
The 875P's main performance benefit at DDR400 comes from the PAT's reduction in memory latency, a 29% reduction in this case. Part of this massive reduction is due to the fact that the 865PE had to run at slightly less aggressive memory timings due to the memory issues mentioned at the start of this article.
Content Creation & Office Performance @ 800MHz/DDR400
Any sort of massive performance advantage is erased once we look at real-world tests, the 865 and 875 are virtually identical in performance.
Unreal Tournament 2003/Splinter Cell @ 800MHz/DDR400
In UT2003, the 875P begins to assert a bit of a performance advantage - 3.9% in the flyby test and 7.7% in the botmatch results.
Thanks to Splinter Cell's heavy GPU dependency, the impact of a platform change isn't too great.
Q3A, JK2, SS, Comanche 4 @ 800MHz/DDR400
Video Encoding & 3D Rendering @ 800MHz/DDR400
Professional 3D Performance @ 800MHz/DDR400
Final Words
From our 875P Review you should already understand the majority of the technical benefits of the 865 line of chipsets, and as our 533MHz/DDR333 benchmarks have shown, the performance of the 865PE chipset is strong enough that pursuing the 875P platform for anything but a 800MHz FSB CPU is unnecessary.
But what about if you plan on upgrading to a 800MHz FSB CPU or will be using one from the start? and the following chart should summarize the performance improvements we've seen:
875P
vs 865PE @ 800MHz/DDR400
|
|
Performance
Comparison
|
|
Content Creation Winstone 2003 |
2.44% |
Business Winstone 2002 |
1.82% |
UT2003 (Flyby) |
3.9% |
UT2003 (Botmatch) |
7.66% |
Splintercell 6x4 |
3.56% |
SplinterCell 10x7 |
1.07% |
Q3A |
9.41% |
JK2 |
10.65% |
Serious Sam 2 |
5.17% |
Comanche4 |
5.44% |
DivX |
5.97% |
3dsmax R5 |
0.6% |
Lightwave 7.5 |
2.1% |
SPECviewperf - 3DSMax |
2.06% |
SPECviewperf - DRV |
8.28% |
SPECviewperf - DX |
2.54% |
SPECviewperf - Light |
3.5% |
SPECviewperf - PROE |
8.78% |
SPECviewperf - UGS |
0% |
For the most part the 865PE comes within 2 - 5% of the performance of the 875P, which makes the 875P a tough sell. For the majority of users, we would strongly recommend the 865PE because of the significant cost savings. If you're the type of user that must have the fastest thing on the block and will not rest without the knowledge that you do in fact have the fastest thing on the block, then the 875P is for you, but for everyone else, the 865PE is more than sufficient.
The 865PE's competitiveness at 800MHz/DDR400 with Intel's flagship makes it more than just a desireable chipset, but arguably the best mainstream chipset ever to come out of Intel's labs.
The biggest drawback at this point are the memory incompatibility issues at DDR400 speeds, something which we honestly expected much better out of Intel - especially considering that we haven't encountered any of these problems with other DDR400 chipsets (e.g. nForce2). We are hard at work figuring out the memory incompatibility issues right now, until those are resolved your best bet is to check with the Forums and keep visiting to see what memory you should be using with 875/865 motherboards and at what timings.