Intel Unleashes New Components

Yep, it has been tough. But for many in the industry, Intel's latest product onslaught is renewing some hope for spurring the upgrade cycle. In May, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant infused the market with a raft of new system components that sport advanced capabilities, from integrated graphics to Serial ATA support to DDR 400 memory, all at lower price points. Highlighting the releases are four new Pentium 4 processors, a new class of chipsets formerly known by the moniker Springdale, and five new desktop motherboards. All told, Intel officials believe the products contain compelling enough performance enhancements to spark the loosening of corporate IT purse strings and get systems builders cranking again.

"This is an entirely new desktop platform that is a big step forward in overall system-level performance, not just processor speed," says Gordon Dolfie, director of product marketing for the resellers product group at Intel. "We are optimistic that this is a catalyst to get businesses to upgrade those old PCs."

The 865G chipset also represents the christening of the Intel Stable Image Platform Program, which was unveiled in February at the company's annual Developer Forum. The program, once named Granite Peak, promises PC buyers 12 months of chipset hardware- and software-driver stability and is expected to provide yet another incentive for them to finally upgrade their desktops.

Stability comes as a welcome word to Steve Bohman, vice president of operations at Columbus Micro Systems, a systems builder and Intel Premier Partner in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Micro's bread-and-butter business hails from the education markets in and around Ohio. Bohman says that being able to tell IT buyers from local schools that their software image will remain consistent over the course of possibly two school years, even if they buy new systems, is a great selling point.

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"We have some schools that buy systems for half of their school population in the summer, then wait until the following spring to finish buying the other half," he says. "Now Intel is telling us that this platform will still be around [for the duration of that timespan], allowing us to use the same image and configurations created for the first half of computers. This is a very compelling case we can make to the schools."

In the past, typically frequent chipset changes on systems meant that new systems bought at the end of a school year would require a new, separate software image than their year-old counterparts. This also would entail installing new drivers, operating systems and applications. And those two images--for the PCs with different chipsets--would have to be maintained by the school's IT staff, driving up TCO and support costs, Bohman explains.

"This really hits into the software-management costs," he says.

Overall Boost
The newly released 2.80C-, 2.60C- and 2.40C-GHz Pentium 4 processors offer a number of enhancements, including an 800-MHz system bus to speed the flow of information to and from the processor. One of the most touted new features built onto the processors is Hyper-Threading (HT) technology, a capability that accelerates multithreaded applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, and also fuels faster multitasking when many applications are running at once. HT, for example, will help alleviate the all-too-familiar system bog-down that occurs when you do something like try to open a PowerPoint file while the virus checker is running in the background to scan for viruses and other malicious code.

"You can really feel the stress being taken off your system [with HT]," says Bohman, who adds that Columbus Micro leaves the benchmarking up to others, including Intel, but can attest anecdotally to significant performance gains via the new CPUs, chipsets and motherboards.

Until now, Intel only offered HT technology on 3-GHz processors that are typically used in higher-end desktops priced around $1,500, according to Dolfie. By including the functionality in this current crop of CPUs, Intel is enabling systems builders to offer HT-capable desktops at prices closer to $1,000, he says.

The new chipsets also include a number of features normally found in the higher-end subsystems from Intel. The 865G and 865PE versions include support for Serial ATA 1.5 Gbps, which is the hard-drive interface successor to Parallel ATA; integrated high-speed USB 2.0; and an AGP 8x graphics interface for advanced graphics. These two chipsets are also offered with optional built-in RAID capabilities, Intel says.

Additionally, the 865G supports dual-channel DDR400/333/266 memory, which Intel officials say adds more spark to applications. The 865PE boasts backing for DDR400 memory.

Finally, a third chipset, the 865P, supports Intel's 400- and 533-MHz system buses, as well as dual-channel DDR333/ 226 memory.

Intel is also attempting to elevate the networking capabilities of this new desktop platform and ready systems for the transition to Gigabit Ethernet. The chipsets, for example, let systems builders hook a LAN port directly into the system bus without having to go through the PCI bus, which results in a faster connection, according to Dolfie. For an additional cost, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN connection can also be added to the system. Such networking perks give communications makers something new to take to their customers, he says.

More Offerings
As part of the May rollout, Intel also introduced a plethora of motherboards for systems builders and integrators. The five offerings comprise three ATX form-factor desktop boards, D865PERC, D865PERL and D865GBF, and two micro-ATX form-factor boards, D865PESO and D865GLC.

Bohman says that the sum total of the processors, chipsets and motherboards presents a much more powerful inducement to cost-conscious customers than incremental CPU speed bumps. Even systems that Columbus Micro built just two months ago, which run on the same processor speeds found in today's new Pentium 4 CPUs, are noticeably more sluggish for their lack of an 800-MHz front-side bus, DDR memory and integrated graphics.

"Overall, I think the chipsets are an example of Intel's providing the channel a platform to build high-quality systems," Bohman says. "It's more than just providing a processor--it's a high-performance platform."

Contact info
Intel
Santa Clara, Calif.
(408) 765-8080; [email protected]

Pricing Info
New Pentium 4 processors (1,000-unit quantities)

865G chipset

865PE chipset

865P chipset