Why the 848 intel chipset?

[fritzfield]

With the 845 at the low end, the 865 in the middle and the 875 at the top, I don't understand why intel would bother coming out with the 848 chipset. Any rationale or market for this new chipset? This must drive the mobo manufacturers, not to say the retailers who have an inventory, bonkers.

 

[Odeen]

It's a crippled i865PE (one memory channel disabled) with official Prescott support.

Basically, it seems like a replacement for the i845PE, with the addition of serial ata, Gbit ethernet over CSA (doubtful, but possible), 800mhz FSB, and, again, guaranteed Prescott compatibility.

 

[fritzfield]

Do you infer from this that the 865/875 chipset, which I was looking at as an upgrade path from my coppermine celeron, won't support Prescott? That really sucks! I'll have to wait to see what they come out with next, an 885/895 replacement for the canterwood/springdale?

 

[Alkaline5]

Originally posted by: fritzfield
Do you infer from this that the 865/875 chipset, which I was looking at as an upgrade path from my coppermine celeron, won't support Prescott?

Supposedly it is all dependent on which voltage standards the manufacturer has chosen to implement. ABIT and Asus, for example, both claim that their 865/875 boards will support Prescott.