Home > Articles > Hardware > Upgrading & Repairing

Like this article? We recommend

Like this article? We recommend

Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 16th EditionUpgrading and Repairing PCs, 16th Edition

Learn More Buy

Like this article? We recommend

Like this article? We recommend

Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 16th EditionUpgrading and Repairing PCs, 16th Edition

Learn More Buy

New Chipsets, New Features

The 925 and 915 chipset families feature support for many new technologies, including:

  • PCI-Express

  • GMA 900 integrated graphics*

  • DDR2 memory

  • High-Definition Audio

  • Matrix Storage Technology*

  • Second-generation Serial ATA (AHCI) support*

  • Wireless Connect Technology*

*Support for this feature varies by chipset

These new features are designed to make systems based on these chipsets:

  • Perform faster

  • Provide a better mix of data safety and system performance

  • Enjoy easier integration into Wi-Fi wireless networks at home and work

Let's take a closer look at each of these new technologies.

PCI-Express

The most significant change in the new chipsets is the introduction of PCI-Express support. PCI-Express provides high-speed bi-directional connections between add-on cards and the chipset. Each connection is known as a lane: each lane runs at 100MBps in each direction, providing 200MBps overall throughput per lane. There are two different types of PCI-Express slots supported by the 915/925 chipsets:

  • PCI-Express x16 has 16 lanes, providing performance of 1,600MBps in each direction (3.2GBps overall throughput). This slot is used for high-speed video by all 915/925 chipsets except the forthcoming low-end 915GV. PCI-Express x16 connects to the Memory Controller Hub or Graphics Memory Controller Hub (North Bridge replacement) chip.

  • PCI-Express x1 has one lane, providing performance of 100MBps in each direction (200MBps overall throughput, compared to 133MBps for PCI). All 915 and 925 chipsets provide four PCI-Express x1 slots which connect to the ICH6-series I/O Controller Hub (South Bridge replacement) chip.

Eventually, PCI-Express x1 will replace PCI, but the 915 and 925 chipsets also support six PCI version 2.3 bus-master expansion slots. However, PCI-Express x16 is the only high-speed video slot supported by the 915 and 925 chipsets. These chipsets do not support AGP slots.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900

The 915G Express chipset offers two options for graphics: the PCI-Express x16 expansion slot or a new generation of Intel integrated graphics, the GMA 900. The GMA 900 provides support for DirectX 9 (pixel shaders in hardware, vertex shaders in software), and independent dual displays including TV-out and DVI-out when a low-cost ADD2 card is plugged into the PCI-Express x16 slot (see http://english.aopen.com.tw/products/mb/Padd.htm for an example).

The GMA 900 uses 32MB of system memory for video at all times, but uses additional amounts temporarily allocated to it, depending upon the requirements of the software in use. The maximum amount of RAM it can use is 224MB. GMA 900 supports high resolutions and refresh rates, and is optimized to support 16:9 ratio widescreen LCD displays and HDTV at 720p and 1080i resolutions, making it a good solution for watching widescreen DVDs on your PC or on a big-screen TV connected to your PC.

Although serious game players will continue to prefer a discrete PCI-Express x16 solution, the GMA 900 will provide casual gamers and home computer users with a much more satisfactory experience than with previous Intel integrated chipsets. The forthcoming 915GV chipset will also include GMA 900, but will not provide support for a PCI-Express x16 slot.

DDR2 Memory Support

DDR2 memory differs in several ways from mainstream DDR memory:

  • DDR2 runs at faster speeds (533MHz now, faster speeds coming later)

  • DDR2 uses a lower voltage (1.8v versus 2.5v for DDR)

  • DDR2's internal design improves reliability, power usage, and memory access performance

The current 915 and 925 chipsets support 400MHz and 533MHz DDR2 memory. 915 chipsets can also use existing DDR memory. DDR2 memory uses a two-part 240-pin socket, compared to the two-part 184-pin socket used by DDR memory.

The ICH6 Family

The innovations in the 915 and 925 chipset families aren't limited to the MCH or GMCH (North Bridge) chip. These chipsets are the first to use Intel's new ICH6 family of I/O Controller Hub (South Bridge replacement) chips. Although the ICH5 family of chips included two versions (ICH5 and ICH5R with Serial ATA RAID support), the ICH6 family includes four versions:

  • ICH6 (basic features)

  • ICH6R (includes second-generation SATA RAID)

  • ICH6W (includes wireless network support)

  • ICH6WR (includes second-generation SATA RAID and wireless network support)

The following sections discuss the major features of these chipsets in detail.

High-Definition Audio

The 915 and 925 chipset families are the first to support Intel's High-Definition Audio (HDA) technology. Code-named Azalia, HDA surpasses the previous AC '97 2.3 standard in several ways:

  • Number of Channels. HDA supports eight-channel (7.1) audio, compared to AC '97 2.3 six-channel (5.1) audio support

  • Sound quality. HDA supports 192 KHz/32-bit audio sampling, compared to AC '97 2.3's 48KHz/20-bit audio sampling.

  • Dolby Digital audio support. HDA supports Dolby Digital audio standards through the latest Dolby Pro Logic IIx, which remixes stereo audio to support 7.1 surround sound speaker setups. AC '97-based Dolby Digital audio support is limited to 5.1 (six-channel) solutions at best.

Other advanced features of HDA include:

  • Dedicated system bandwidth to help eliminate glitches or pops common with older integrated audio standards.

  • Automatic speaker/microphone jack device detection and remapping. If you plug a microphone into a speaker jack, the system remaps the audio jacks rather than causing the audio subsystem to fail.

  • A unified driver and codec model known as Unified Audio Architecture.

  • Support for multiple audio streams to different playback locations (such as voice chatting while playing a 5.1-surround sound game)

Second-Generation Serial ATA Support

Although the ICH5 series of I/O controller hub chips used by the 845, 848, 865 and 875 chipsets were the first Intel chipsets to support Serial ATA, Serial ATA support was not the primary storage subsystem on the ICH5 series. With the ICH6 series, parallel ATA takes a distinctly secondary role to Serial ATA.

All four versions of the ICH6 I/O controller hub provide four Serial ATA ports (one drive per port), but only one ATA-100 port (two drives per port). However, the most significant improvement in Serial ATA support is included in the RAID versions of the ICH6 (ICH6R and ICH6WR):

  • Intel Matrix Storage Technology provides RAID 0 and RAID 1 support with only two drives

  • Advanced Host Controller interface supports Native Command Queuing and hot-swapping of Serial ATA drives

Intel Matrix Storage Technology

Ever since the first add-on cards and motherboards featuring ATA (and later Serial ATA) RAID were introduced, users of two-drive systems had to decide whether to opt for the increased performance of RAID 0 (striping) or the increased reliability of RAID 1 (mirroring) when configuring their drives. RAID 0+1 (speed plus reliability) support required four drives.

Intel Matrix Storage Technology (IMST) treats a two-drive SATA RAID array system as a combination of RAID 0 plus RAID 1, utilizing the speed advantages of RAID 0 for games and temporary file storage while providing the reliability of RAID 1 for business applications, data, and media files. IMST creates a striped array within the first half of the drives' disk space, and a mirrored array from the second half of the drives' disk space.

IMST also makes migrating from a single drive RAID-ready system to a two-drive RAID array simple: its configuration utility runs in the background, enabling you to work during the configuration process. A RAID-ready system uses ICH6R or ICH6RW, has the Intel Application Accelerator RAID option ROM on the motherboard, the Intel Application Accelerator driver, and the SATA RAID controller enabled in the BIOS.

As with the previous ICH5R chipsets, the RAID features in ICH6R and ICH6RW depend upon the use of the Intel Application Accelerator driver. Use version 4.0 or greater with the ICH6R or ICH6RW I/O controller hubs.

SATA II with Advanced Host Controller Interface

As I discuss in Chapter 7 of Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Fifteenth Anniversary Edition, it's no secret that the real-world performance of the first generation of SATA drives has been less than world-shaking. Although the SATA interface runs at 150MHz, making it faster than the 133MHz or 100MHz interfaces used by parallel ATA, the drive mechanisms and command sequences used by SATA and parallel ATA are comparable, leading to comparable real-world performance.

In addition to enabling IMST with the ICH6R and ICH6RW, the Intel Application Accelerator version 4.x also provides support for the Advanced Host Configuration Interface (AHCI). AHCI adds a number of features to the standard SATA interface, including:

  • native command queueing (NCQ)

  • hot-plugging of SATA drives (removal and insertion of drives while the power is on)

NCQ enables SATA drives to receive up to 32 commands in a single sequence and allows the drive to reorder the commands for best performance. Although most first-generation SATA drives do not support NCQ, some high-performance drives, such as the Maxtor MaxLine III and Seagate Barracuda 7200.7, include NCQ support. NCQ support enables 7,200 RPM NCQ-enabled SATA drives to outperform 10,000 RPM SATA drives without NCQ, according to Seagate tests. The combination of NCQ and IMST also boots performance, according to Intel tests.

Intel Wireless Connect Technology

The last major new feature in the ICH6 series is the wireless network support included in the ICH6W and ICH6RW versions. Intel Wireless Connect Technology (IWCT) goes far beyond a normal wireless network adapter. Its major features include:

  • Wi-Fi Certified 802.11b (11Mbps) and 802.11g (54Mbps) wireless network adapter

  • Setup wizard enables system to function as a network node on an existing wireless network or as a wireless access point for a new network

  • Supports bridging, routing, MAC address filtering, and network firewall for security and flexibility

  • Supports easy configuration of Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing

To enable IWCT, you must add a half-height PCI wireless network adapter known as the Intel PRO/Wireless 2225BG Network Connection. These cards will not be widely available until late in 2004.

DMI Hub Interface

With the new technologies included in both Memory Control Hub/Graphics Memory Control Hub and I/O Controller Hub components of the 915 and 925 chipsets, it's not surprising that a new hub interface was developed for these chipsets. The Direct Media Interface (DMI) hub architecture provides bandwidth of up to 2GBps concurrent data transfer between the chipset's components, compared to 266MBps with the earlier Intel Hub Architecture used by the 875 and 865 chipsets.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020