9-way Intel P35 motherboard round-up

Anyone looking at building a new desktop system should not look any further than Intel Core 2 processors, and when time comes to pick a platform you should have Intel’s own P35 chipset in mind as it officially offers 1333MHz FSB support and will be compatible with upcoming 45nm processors. This translates in a fairly ‘future-proof’ platform, with some models currently available supporting DDR3 memory already. But as new as this chipset is, deciding that you want a P35-based motherboard is not enough. Most major manufacturers have already launched several different models powered by the chipset, to give an example, ASUS currently offers a dozen motherboards models all based on the Intel P35.

We have rounded up some of the better examples available for one big article where we shall compare them side by side. Although we have nine motherboards to compare, they come from just four different manufacturers: Abit, ASUS, ECS and Gigabyte. These boards range from $90, all the way up to $230.

Intel lines up nine 45nm CPUs for the desktop

Intel recently increased the number of 45nm-based CPUs it plans to launch for desktop PCs to nine, according to sources at motherboard makers.

Within the nine CPUs, five will be dual-core processors (Wolfdale) and the remaining four will be quad-core (Yorkfield). All will adopt a 1333MHz FSB. Model numbers for the upcoming products are still undecided, noted the sources.

Four of the five Wolfdale processors will have core frequencies of 3.16GHz, 3.0GHz, 2.83GHz and 2.66GHz, while the frequency of the remaining one is unknown. All five Wolfdale processors will feature 6MB L2 cache, detailed the sources.

Three of the four Yorkfield processors will have core frequencies of 2.83GHz, 2.66GHz and 2.5GHz with the remainder as yet unknown. Three will include 12MB L2 cache while the 2.5GHz version will have 6MB.

Intel will introduce the ability to increase the clock multiplier in steps of 0.5 in the upcoming 45nm range to increase its model choices, pointed out the sources.

With Intel aiming to eventually scale the 45nm range up to a maximum core frequency of 4.0GHz, the sources estimate that at least four more CPUs will appear at a later time with frequencies higher than the initial 3.16GHz.

Intel declined the opportunity to respond to this report, saying it cannot comment on unannounced products.