i850E supports PC800 RDRAM only?

[Tates]

Snatched this from Aceshardware.com



<< i850E supports PC800 RDRAM only? (INTEL)
By Johan
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 7:54 AM EST

Intel spokesmen have confirmed to us that the new 850-E chipset will feature a 533 MHz FSB but will support only PC800 RDRAM.According to Intel, PC1066 is too expensive right now, but Intel will keep evaluating the price/performance ratio of PC1066. Intel indicated that it is still possible that the i850E features PC1066 support when it will be launched (around June 2002).

A few thoughts: it is rather obvious that Intel has been slightly "traumatized" by the huge price premiums that Rambus Rimms carried at the Launch of the Intel Pentium 4, back in November 2000. Back then, RDRAM costed up to 4 times more than PC133 SDRAM and it was one of the reasons why the Pentium 4 conquered much less marketshare than Intel would have hoped. It seems that They are determined not to make the same mistake again. Nowadays, PC800 Rambus costs about the same as good quality brand PC2100...

We have no accurate pricing right now, but it is weird that PC1066 carries a high pricetag. At the end of last year, some of our industry sources told us that Samsung was getting 35% and better yields at 1066MHz. Yields should have improved now and Rambus has been showing PC1200 rimms lately. We hope to get back with more information, stay tuned. >>





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[Athlon4all]

Ace's Hardware is one of the best sites on the web for PC hardware (same league as AT), but I frankely find this very unlikely. In order for this to be accomplished, boards would have to be stripped of the 4X RDRAM-fsb multiplier, which would make PC800 operation impossible at 400MHz front side bus which would be damaging for compatibility. We'll see I suppose. Any move like this would be to make RDRAM look bad.

 

[AndyHui]

You simply have a 3x multiplier instead of a 4x RDRAM multiplier. I don't see that this is a problem, since boards like the P4T-E already have this.

It will be a blow that you pair a 533MHz bus processor with 400MHz RDRAM. We've all seen how the P4 can fly.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Anyone want to do a bench on the Asus i850 board at 533/400 so we will know what we'll be setting?

 

[Athlon4all]

<< You simply have a 3x multiplier instead of a 4x RDRAM multiplier. I don't see that this is a problem, since boards like the P4T-E already have this. >>

Sorry. I get confused sometimes here's what I meant. The only way intel can force 850e not to support PC1066 on 850e is by forcing mobo makers to remove the 3x Multiplier and as a result, if you are running a 400fsb CPU, you then have to use the 3X multipler which means the lowly PC600 speeds. I agree though that this won't be a problem. As long as boards are equiped with proper Rambus Clock Generators, current generation 850 boards can easily hit 533fsb+PC1066 with good RDRAM.

<< Anyone want to do a bench on the Asus i850 board at 533/400 so we will know what we'll be setting? >>

This is on older P4T (Socket 423) using a Williamette, but take a look here. Not all benchmarks include ones at 533fsb+PC800, but some do and it'll give u a decent picture on how limited 850e will totally crippled by a lack of PC1066 support.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Those benchies would suggest that an i850 would be a far better choice dollar for dollar than going with an i845 and DDR solution.

 

[AndyHui]

You could do some chipset limitations like what happened on the i815E. 1:1 for 400MHz FSB processors, 4:3 for 533MHz FSB processors.

 

[Athlon4all]

True. We'll see what happens.