Intel P35: Intel's Mainstream Chipset Grows Up
by Gary Key & Wesley Fink on May 21, 2007 3:45 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
P35 Express - June 4th
For today, the chipset that will most interest our readers is the P35 Express, which replaces the P965.
P35 will launch in both DDR3 and DDR2 versions, as you have already seen in DDR3 vs. DDR2 and Intel P35 Memory Performance: A Closer Look. No matter which memory version you chose the performance will be faster on P35 than on P965 or 975X. You will get the best memory performance from the new P35 chipset by running the processor bus at 1333 FSB. Intel has also improved their support for AMD/ATI CrossFire Graphics with the P35 chipset. Where the existing P965 struggled with a second x4 PCIe slot in CrossFire , P35 has official support for a pair of x8 PCI Express slots for the video cards and CrossFire if the manufacturer supports this setup. However, current P35 boards still utilize the x16/x4 design. With the new CrossFire internal connectors, running CrossFire on P35 is much simpler than CrossFire on P965.
| Intel P35/ICH9 Specifications | |||
| Chip | Mfg Process | Transistor Count | TDP |
| P35 | 90 nm | 45 Million | 16W |
| ICH9 | 130 nm | 4.6 Million | 4W |
The P35 chipset also features the new ICH9 series MCH, most likely the ICH9R on top P35 boards. Compared to P965 the ICH9 extends SATA to a total of six native SATA ports, expands USB 2.0 to twelve ports, and adds an eSATA port with port multiplier and port disable. Chipset power consumption for both the P35 and ICH9 are also very reasonable, with TDP for both chipsets rated at a total of 20 watts. Those who have complained about the hot-running NVIDIA chipsets will appreciate the lower power specification.
Intel also adds the Turbo Memory option, which can be a PCIe x1 card or NAND memory soldered on the motherboard. Desktop Turbo Memory is fully supported by Windows Vista but can only be activated in the P35 chipset by selecting AHCI support for the disk controllers. We will provide performance results of this feature in an upcoming storage article.
The Intel Matrix Storage is another area that has been improved on the ICH9 family. Intel claims that the new Matrix Storage Technology combined with optional Turbo Memory can enhance application loading, startup and speed up general usage by up to 34%. However, in preliminary testing we have only seen improvements of up 7% in certain scenarios.
You have already seen DDR3 and DDR2 memory test results with the ASUS P5K Deluxe (DDR2) and the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe (DDR3). We will take a closer look at the performance of these two P35 boards in this review. Performance results are also presented for the MSI P35 Platinum and Gigabyte P35-DQ6. With this broad cross-section of four P35 boards from Tier 1 manufacturers you should have the information you need to decide if P35 is your next motherboard.
P35 motherboard features and photos begin on p.6. P35 test results begin on p.10.
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Gary Key - Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - link
X38 is basically ready, going through some fine tuning now... I understand it will be held until after the 1333CPUs are launched and DDR3 availability is a little more widespread/cost effective. I expect late August right now, but you never know with Intel. ;-)JarredWalton - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Technically Q3 is any time between July 1 and September 30, but if they're saying Q3 right now it probably means some time in August at best.gigahertz20 - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
I applaud ASUS for only including 1 legacy connection on their P5K series, and not 4 like Gigabyte has chosen to do for their P35 board. Death to legacy connections!I mean really, why even include those damn legacy ports. The enthusiast that buys one of these boards will not be using them, they are a waste of space. Instead of having them, they should replace them with more USB ports or something useful.
JarredWalton - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
I still have a parallel based laser printer that works fine for what I need, and I'm quite happy using it until it dies. There are also people that use serial devices that cost a lot of money. I don't think every board needs legacy support, but it's good that there are still options for people that *need* certain legacy devices. I've got several KVM switches that won't be useful if PS/2 ports disappear. :(yacoub - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Don't they offer USB or eSATA to serial/parallel convertors for those sort of situations? :)JarredWalton - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Sure, but I haven't had the need to try one yet. :)Truth be told, my printer has a USB port, but it behaves very poorly using a USB connection. It's a Brother HL-1240, and if the printer isn't powered on when you boot, Windows won't see it unless you unplug it and plug it back into a different USB port. It just works better with LPT, and as I said for my needs it's sufficient. The way I figure it, having the ports there isn't hurting most people. I've never seen anything to indicate they hamper performance, and how many extra transistors are "wasted" on these ports? Maybe a few thousand? Heheh. 45M transistors on the P35 is a bit crazy....
For what it's worth, between mouse, keyboard, and my LCD (which actually has four USB ports and flash memory readers), I haven't had any need for more than four USB ports on a motherboard. But then, I've got too many PCs around anyway.
TA152H - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
I agree with you, but for another reason.I don't like USB at all, because a few years ago I ran some tests, on motherboards ranging from MVP3 based to a KT880, and USB seems to have a negative impact on performance, particularly on memory, in many cases.
It doesn't make my keyboard work any better, or my mouse, and I'm not sure why I need it for those functions at all. PS/2 ports don't do it well enough? I'm not crazy about this one size fits all approach, especially when it comes with overhead. The current ports work fine.
USB is a crappy, bloated technology. I'm not sure the "S" should stand for "serial" at all, I think there is a better word that begins with S for it.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - link
Wake me up when Bluetooth works over PS/2.Though one reason to still include PS/2 keyboard/mouse is that it is hard to screw up support for those in Linux kernels. Same can't be said about USB.
TA152H - Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - link
Wake me up when I need Bluetooth.You could implement Bluetooth easily if USB didn't exist, but you're missing the point anyway. When you have to use USB for stuff that is handled more efficiently by PS/2 ports, it's a bad thing. Or other ports. It adds no function for these devices, and comes with overhead. It's a bad idea, but of course Intel was in the mode of making as many things as possible use CPU power so they could keep selling their latest and greatest.
It's just a rehash of some dorky Apple stuff that most people here don't remember. The original MacIntoy didn't have any slots, and you'd attach stuff to some serial bus for expansion. Naturally, it didn't work out, and they had to add slots. At least they didn't get rid of slots for USB, they just made it bloated.
DigitalFreak - Monday, May 21, 2007 - link
Man, if the P35 boards are going to be around the $250 mark, I'm not looking forward to see the price on the X38 boards.... :-(