Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
Motherboards that use Intel Corp.'s 3-series chipsets, codenamed
Bearlake, seem to be everywhere at the Computex exhibition --
signalling they will soon find their way to store shelves and hardware
makers around the world.
Intel took advantage of the Taiwanese
hardware show, which started Tuesday, to announce that the first
chipsets from the series -- the P35 and G33 -- are now available. And
more will come later this year, including the G35 and X38, which Intel
plans to start shipping within 90 days.
Based on the large number
of 3-series motherboard designs developed, Intel expects the new
chipsets to catch on quickly and lay the foundation for future
processor advances. "They're all going to be able to support quad core
from entry-level motherboards on up," said Sean Maloney, executive vice
president and general manager of Intel's sales and marketing group.
Intel
is billing the 3 series as the prelude to its planned launch of the
Penryn family of 45-nanometer processors later this year. The new
chipsets, which also support the company's existing chips, are needed
because Intel has changed the voltage used with Penryn's front-side
bus, which connects the chipset to main memory, said Steve Peterson,
director of chipset and graphics marketing at Intel.
The 3-series
chipsets, which all support quad-core processors, are labelled to
reflect their respective capabilities. The models labeled with the
prefix G include an integrated graphics core, while the P models do
not. The X model is the top-of-the-line model and includes the ability
to decode Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies.
At the low end of the
lineup, the G31 is designed specifically for emerging markets. This
chipset is basically the same as the G33, but Intel has removed the
ability to play high-definition movies, allowing it to reduce the
chipset's price.
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