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| Intel i865 - Springdale Whatever Happened to Intel's Balls? | ||
| (Review by MS, May 21, 2003) |
Summary
After launching the i875P (codename Caterwood) chipset about one month ago, Intel pushes out the budget version of the same silicon wrapped in more humble clothes. Featuring a reduced package size with lower pin count and stripped of some features relating either to performance (PAT) or else to data integrity (ECC), the new 865 chipset family comes at approximately 30% savings over the more expensive Canterwood chipset. This is on the chipset alone, further savings will be on the mainboard level because of easier tooling and lower manufacturing costs for the PCB.
Many tales are spun around ECC but suffice it to say that the average user will not see any benefit of its presence. Performance acceleration technology on the other hand targets the initial access latency, which is, after all the main culprit holding back system performance, regardless of bandwidth. Keep in mind that this is the exact issue that finally caused Rambus to falter but how bad is it with Springdale?
No less than three different versions of the new chipset are brought out, for the budget oriented, Intel releases the 865P, limited to 533 MHz FSB. Aficionados of integrated graphics will find their new toy in form of the 865G and finally, for the high-end user, there is the 865PE version. All three versions feature native support for Serial ATA integrated into the ICH5 but there are still differences. Read on to find out.
One of the many facets of Intel is that many names can mean the same hardware, yet at the same time, behind the same name can lurk entirely different hardware options as well. A few tweaks here and there to make the product different enough for a different product designation are often enough based on marketing decisions, however, silicon yields are just as well factored into the equation.
A case in point is the new breed of dual channel memory chipsets christened as either Canterwood (i875P) or else Springdale (i865x) with the latter encompassing no less than three different versions. The top version, that is the i865PE, is at least on paper, very similar to the i875 Canterwood except for trading in Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) for the additional "legacy" 400MHz FSB. Second in line is the 865G chipset featuring the integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2 while maintaining external AGP8X support and last not least, there are chips at the lower end of the yields that may not work at 800 MHz FSB; those are then marketed as i865P with support for 400 and 533 MHz FSB only.
Intel's latest roadmap "Uncensored" positions the Springdale chipsets in the sub $1500 system price range including processor speeds of up to 2.8 GHz
Whoever thought that the main differences between the Canterwood and the Springdale chipset are confined to yield issues or else just another marketing plot by Intel will be disappointed to learn that the two chipsets are somewhat different. On the grounds of the silicon itself, there are very little differences between the two chipsets, the most prominent being the already mentioned omission of PAT and the lack of ECC support in the case of Springdale.
If we look at the packaging, the picture changes ever so slightly. The Canterwood features the same 1005 balls as the Granite Bay chipset on the same footprint of 42.5 x 42.5 mm square. The i865G features a total of 932 pins within a 37.5mm x 37.5 mm footprint. Keep in mind that this is the VGA version, featuring the additional ball count for the internal Intel Extreme Graphics2. Still, as far as we know, the ballout is the same for all three versions of the i865 with the restriction that the "P" versions have a higher number of dummy balls a.k.a. no connects than the 865G. A part of the lower ball count can be attributed to the omission of ECC, which, just for the management of the checksum already saves a minimum of 8 pins / channel.
The majority of contacts on both Canterwood and Springdale are Vcc and Vss (power and ground) and that is where additional pin savings can be achieved. Hence, one might also argue that it is mostly better shielding and power distribution that sets the two chipsets apart, not only with respect to signal quality but also in terms of manufacturing cost for the chipset itself, which at $34 constitutes a substantial saving over the $50 Canterwood. More importantly, there will be differences for the mainboard manufacturers regarding board layout and trace routing in a 4 layer PCB design which further drives down cost. The result is that we will see Springdale boards in the $130-150 range as opposed to the $200 plus change for the Canterwood.
ECC is of no use for any household / gaming rig anyway and most of us can live without PAT as well which makes the i865 family an attractive solution for the end-user, particularly since the Intel presentation does not list any other fundamental differences; we have the same bullets for the i875P and the i865 series.
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