Intel was originally going to launch its i845GE and i845PE chipsets in the first half of September, however, changed its plans, because if they rolled-out the newcomers now, mainboard manufacturers would have to slash down the prices on the current products. As a result, as we all know, the semiconductor giant will release the new core-logic products on October the 7th, but already now the leading mainboard manufacturers have their PCB designs finalised and products ready to go.

Although we told you the specifications of both mentioned core-logic sets a lot of times, I will remind them as some of our readers may be unfamiliar with them. The main benefit of the i845PE and i845GE is PC2700 DDR SDRAM support. The i845GE also clocks the integrated Intel’s Extreme Graphics core at 266MHz, 66MHz higher compared to the predecessor, while i845PE got an improved memory controller from i845G/GE. The rest technical features are the same as before: Intel Pentium 4 processors with 400/533MHz Quad Pumped Bus, AGP 4x, ICH4 I/O controller and so on. All new North Bridges (or GMCH /MCH) are now packaged in the same FCBGA760 chips, hence, will be pin-to-pin compatible.

As I said above, first-tier mainboard makers are ready with their new solutions, moreover, I can prove it by showing you the features and specifications of the P4PE and P4GE-V mainboards from ASUS. Both devices correspond to ASUS’ policy: the company continues to introduce the mainboards with impressive set of features.

Here are the specs of the P4PE:

• Supports Socket 478 Pentium 4 / Celeron processors with 400/533MHz FSB with 3.06GHz clock-speed and above;
• Can take advantage of the CPUs with the Hyper-Threading technology enabled;
• i845PE chipset, including i82845PE MCH and i82801DA ICH4;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 2GB of PC2100 or PC2700 (533MHz FSB) / PC1600 or PC2100 (400MHz FSB) DDR SDRAM memory.
• 6 PCI, including one ASUS BlueMagic slot and 1 AGP 4x slot;
• 2-channel ATA-100/66/33 integrated controller;
• Serial ATA-150/ATA-133 RAID controller from Promise, supporting two Serial ATA ports and one ATA-133 port;
• 4 USB 2.0 ports;
• IEEE1394 controller from Intel’s beloved VIA Technologies. Offers 2 FireWire ports;
• 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet adapter from Broadcom;
• ADI1980 6-channel audio solution with SPDIF support;
• Lots of additional functions, including technologies like Power Loss Restart, ASUS JumperFree, ASUS EZ Plug, ASUS POST Reporter, AGP Warning LED, ASUS Q-Fan, as well as brand new additions like CrashFree BIOS, My Logo2 and ASUS EZ Flash;
• Overclocking functions, including Vcore, Vmem and Vagp adjusting, C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall) technology, FSB settings from 100 to 200MHz with 1MHz step. Allows to set FSB:DDR dividers and independently clock PCI and AGP busses;
• ATX Form Factor.

CrashFree BIOS Technology will allow to restore BIOS in case the code was damaged. ASUS BlueMagic PCI slot is compatible with ordinary PCI, but supports some new and exclusive devices that the company is going to introduce in the near future.

Here is the list of specifications of the P4GE-V:

• Supports Socket 478 Pentium 4 / Celeron processors with 400/533MHz FSB with 3.06GHz clock-speed and above;
• Can take advantage of the CPUs with the Hyper-Threading technology enabled;
• i845PE chipset, including i82845PE MCH and i82801DA ICH4;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 2GB of PC2100 or PC2700 (533MHz FSB) / PC1600 or PC2100 (400MHz FSB) DDR SDRAM memory.
• 6 PCI, including one ASUS BlueMagic slot and 1 AGP 4x slot;
• Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics videoadapter with DVI add-on card support;
• 2-channel ATA-100/66/33 integrated controller;
• 4 USB 2.0 ports;
• 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet adapter from Broadcom;
• ADI1980 6-channel audio solution with SPDIF support;
• Lots of additional functions, including technologies like Power Loss Restart, ASUS JumperFree, ASUS EZ Plug, ASUS POST Reporter, AGP Warning LED, ASUS Q-Fan, as well as brand new additions like CrashFree BIOS, My Logo2 and ASUS EZ Flash;
• Overclocking functions, including Vcore, Vmem and Vagp adjusting, C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall) technology, FSB settings from 100 to 200MHz with 1MHz step. Allows to set FSB:DDR dividers and independently clock PCI and AGP busses;
• ATX Form Factor.

The i845PE based mainboard will be an expensive solution, while the i845GE one will be more cost-effective integrated product. Both novelties will be officially announced on the 7th of October and will make their appearance on the market a few days later. Prices are to be decided.