Intel P35: Closer Look

New discrete mainstream chipset, Intel P35, doesn’t differ too greatly from the predecessor, iP965, when it comes to features. The major innovations deal with support of faster processor bus and memory controller that can now work not only with DDR2 SDRAM, but also with DDR3 SDRAM. However, DDR3 SDRAM memory modules are not available in the market yet, so the first Intel P35 based mainboards will come equipped with memory DIMM slots for more common DDR2 SDRAM modules. As for the support of different interfaces, the new chipset didn’t undergo any major changes. Most users were quite satisfied with the features offered by iP965 solution, so Intel engineers didn’t invest a lot of time and effort into South Bridge modifications.

However, you shouldn’t think that P35 is very similar to iP965. You can see the differences on the chipsets scheme already:

The new chipset traditionally consists of two micro-chips: P35 GMCH North Bridge and ICH9 South Bridge connected with one another via the DMI bus with 2GB/s bandwidth. The North Bridge supports LGA775 processors working with 800, 1067 or 1333MHz bus; one PCI Express x16 bus for the graphics controller; dual-channel DDR2 or DDR3 SDRAM. Note that you cannot use both memory types on Intel P35 based mainboards at the same time and there can only be four DIMM slots onboard, not more. As for the memory frequencies, the chipset spec claims that P35 supports either DDR2-667/800 SDRAM or faster DDR3-800/1067 SDRAM. You determine the memory frequency by setting the appropriate dividers relative to FSB frequency that can be selected from Intel’s traditionally not very long list.

It is important that the future processors support Intel talks about implies not only the support of upcoming CPUs with 1333MHz bus. Besides that, they also claim that P35 based mainboards will be compatible with the promising Penryn processors that are scheduled to arrive in early 2008. So, they promise that Intel P35 will remain acute for quite some time, which makes this solution even more attractive.

ICH9 South Bridge also pleases us with a few nice improvements. The most essential one is the increased number of supported USB 2.0 ports that now equals 12, and the introduction of a built-in Gigabit network MAC-controller. The integrated Serial ATA controller has also been enhanced. Now you can connect several devices to the eSATA ports implemented through this controller. Moreover, it also supports Intel Rapid Recovery Technology that allows you to create reserve copies and restore the HDD contents very quickly and easily.

ICH9 also supports six additional PCI Express lines. By combining these lines accordingly, the manufacturers can provide Intel P35 based mainboards with PCI Express x1, x2 and x4 slots. By the way, Intel P35 based mainboards may also support ATI Crossfire technology as PCI Express x16 + PCI Express x4 if the board features appropriate slots.

To compare the features of the new Intel core logic set with the LGA775 solutions already available in the market, we put together a table featuring not only the newcomer, Intel P35, but also its predecessor – iP965, and Nvidia nForce 650i SLI chipset that can offer competitive pricing and features.

As you can see, Intel P35 can currently be called the most advanced chipset for LGA775 processors. Intel P965 yields to the newcomer in specifications, while Nvidia solution can only compete with it thanks to SLI support.

By the way, Intel P35 boasts a few other significant strengths that may not be seen in the table. In particular, it is cheaper than iP965 and nForce 650i SLI and at the same time much more economical from the power consumption standpoint.

However, despite the seeming superiority of Intel P35 over the alternative solutions, the last word will have to be said by the mainboard guys. Therefore, it is high time we moved on to our detailed discussion of the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R that we managed to get our hands on.