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AskAboutComputers.comKeeping up with Technology,
so you do not have to
AskAboutComputers.com
Keeping up with Technology,
so you do not have to
Tid-bits
6/28 - Intel motherboards based on the 965 series of chipsets are on tap for July, August, and September. The DG965SS will be "the first Intel branded motherboard released".
Viiv 1.5 makes its debut with some of the new boards and chipsets. So does vPro. Viiv and vPro are two of Intel's product platforms. Like Centrino is to notebooks, so Viiv is for entertainment PCs, and vPro for business computers.
Viiv 1.5 should arrive with the first wave of new chipsets: "Also launching the last week of July is Intel’s Digital Home Bridge Creek platform which will also be named Viiv 1.5".
Some of the motherboards have 4 SATA ports and six-channel audio, others 6 SATA and eight-channel audio. Big difference.
You have a Classic Series, a Media Series, an Executive Series, an Extreme Series, and an Essential Series. Don't ask me what they all mean, except that the Media Series is for entertainment PCs, the Executive for business PCs, and the Extreme Series for high-end gamers and the like.
Some of the chipsets on the boards only support up to DDR2 667MHz. The 975X Express Chipset is this way, which is an anomaly. This is Intel's performance chipset, and yet it does not support the faster DDR2-800 that the 965 mainstream chipsets support. Intel appears to be abdicating the high-end chipset market to NVIDIA and ATI for the time being, possibly in a move to grab market-share among high-end gamers.
There also appears to be a 963 chipset part that only supports DDR2 running at 667MHz.
BTX boards already exists, but they're not common or popular. Some of the new crop of motherboards shall be BTX, too--either micro BTX or pico BTX. Hopefully the new form factor will catch on sooner or later.
DVI graphics should make its appearance on some these boards, though it seems that the boards shall have a VGA connector as well. Oh well, the industry is evolutionary, not revolutionary.
The Executive Series shall incorporate a new version of AMT or Active Management Technology.
Back when Intel was having problems meeting demand with its chipsets, back in 2005, it started using chipsets from ATI and other chipset manufacturers. One of the results appears to be Intel manufactured motherboards that do not use an Intel chipset! These boards comprise parts of the Essential and Classic Series.
There appears to be a 946 chipset on tap, a derivative of the 945 chipset that supports Core 2 Duo, but also only an 800MHz FSB (frontside bus).
The Q965 chipset is specifically slated to support business PCs and Intel's vPro initiative. "The first week of September introduces Intel’s vPro technology platform and the Q965 Express chipset".