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Intel P965 Express Chipset Overview
 The Intel P965 Express
chipset is Intel's mainstream-performance core logic, it supports all Socket 775
processors running on a 533/800/1066MHz Front Side Bus. The P965 Express is married to
the ICH8-series Southbridge which replaces the ICH7. The southbridge used with the MSI
P965 Platinum is the ICH8R model in particular.
Intel has increased its DDR2 memory support to 800 MHz with the P965
Express chipset, putting Intel's latest and greatest at par with AMD's Socket
AM2 Athlon64's. Intel calls the new memory controller FMA or 'Fast Memory
Access' and gives the system a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 12.8GB/s. Below
is breakdown on the full feature set of the Intel 975 / 965 Express series
chipsets, including the P965 Express which is used on the MSI P965 Platinum
motherboard.
| Intel 975 / 965 / 955 Series Chipset Feature
Breakdown |
|
Intel
975X Express |
Intel P965 Express |
Intel Q965 Express |
Intel G965 Express |
Intel Q963 Express |
Intel 955X Express |
| CPU |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Core 2 Duo |
LGA775 Pentium D |
| Front Side Bus
(FSB) |
1066/800 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz
2 threads |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800/533 MHz |
1066/800MHz |
| Intel Flex Memory
Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Dual Channel Memory
Support |
DDR2 800/667/533 |
DDR2 800/667/533 |
DDR2 667/533 |
DDR2 667 |
DDR2 667 |
DDR2 667/533 |
| Maximum Memory
Capacity |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB |
| Integrated
Graphics |
- |
- |
GMA 3000 |
GMA 3000 |
GMA 3000 |
- |
|
PCI Express x16 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
PCI Express x1 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
| Intel Matrix Storage
Technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SATA/IDE HDD |
4/1 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
6/0 |
4/1 |
|
SATA Speed |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
3Gb/s |
|
RAID |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH8R) |
0, 1, 5, 10 (with ICH7R) |
|
Hard Drive NCQ |
- |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- |
| USB 2.0 Ports |
8 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
| PCI Masters |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
| Audio |
High Definition Audio
(Azalia) |
High Definition Audio
(Azalia) |
High Definition Audio (Azalia)
|
High Definition Audio (Azalia)
|
High Definition Audio (Azalia)
|
High Definition Audio (Azalia)
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
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Initially
Intel's P965 Express chipset only supported a single PCI Express x16 videocard,
however most current motherboards feature two physical PCI Express x16 slots.
Given that the ICH8R southbridge has six PCI Express lanes, these have been
utilized to support the second PCI Express x16 slot with 4 PCI Express lanes.
It's not as ideal as both videocards received the full 16 PCI Express lanes
each, but it works well enough with conventional videocards.
A
dedicated 2GB/s I/O bus connects the Intel P965 Express Northbridge and ICH8R
Southbridge together, which might be a little tight if you have many high
bandwidth devices installed but should be just fine for the average user.
The MSI
P965 Platinum motherboard comes installed with the ICH8R Southbridge which
includes a ton of goodies. There are six 3GB/s Serial ATA II channels (which
support RAID modes 0, 1, 5 and 10) as well a 7.1 channel Intel Azalia high
definition audio, 10 USB 2.0 ports in total (split between headers and the I/O
slot), six PCI Express x1 lanes, and an integrated Intel Gigabit MAC that runs
through the PCI Express bus.
Noticeably lacking from the chipset itself is parallel IDE
support. This is forcing many motherboard manufacturers to integrate a
standalone IDE controller onto their motherboards (as has been done here) so
consumers have something to plug their optical drives into... A block chart of
the Intel P965 Express chipset's major features is illustrated below.
Luckily
parallel IDE technology isn't overly expensive to add to a motherboard. While I
admit that Intel is the leader in computer technology, the notion that it has
ceremoniously done away with IDE in one fell swoop seems a bit premature.
Next up,
we take a tour of the MSI P965 Platinum motherboard highlights.
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