Intel has recently released a new chipset designed to support the current Pentium 4 Prescott and Extreme Edition processors, along with the dual-core Smithfield processors. This chipset is now known as the 955X Express and is the new Intel flagship product. This chipset supports key performance-optimized capabilities such as Intel Memory Pipeline Technology (Intel MPT), up to 8GB memory addressability to help enable 64-bit computing, and ECC memory support. In short, the i955X chipset is designed to support all current and future LGA775 processors.
The chipset boasts all the features found in its predecessors with a few new additions. The Intel High Definition (HD) Audio still remains along with the Intel Matrix Storage Technology. Other features include Intel's Memory Pipeline Technology and Flex Memory Technology. The chipset also supports SATAII allowing for 3GB/s throughput. While the chipset does officially support DDR2-677, ASUS have gone and officially added DDR2-800 support to their motherboard. Although this is not an official ?DDR2?specification, ASUS is claiming that their board can operate at DDR2-800 with the correct hardware.
The recently reviewed Gigabyte 8I955X Royal was an incredibly impressive Intel 955X motherboard offering a huge range of features along with unbelievable overclocking performance. This review left me wondering if there would be another 955X that could rival such an impressive motherboard. The chances are if such a motherboard were to exist, ASUS would be the creators. The ASUS P5WD2 Premium (WiFi-TV Edition) looks to be another very impressive motherboard built around Intel's 955X chipset.
Easily the most impressive aspect of the ASUS P5WD2 Premium is the vast amount of high-end features. The boards embedded Realtek High Definition ALC882D audio codec is by far one of the best solutions you will find featured on a motherboard. The board's Dual-Gigabit Ethernet controller support is also impressive. The optional WiFi-TV function is quite unique as this is the first motherboard I have seen shipping with a TV-Tuner card. The list of features just goes on and I will look into them all in more detail shortly.
Before we move on let's just have a look at what processors are currently available to suit this motherboard. Currently Intel's flagship processor is the Pentium Extreme Edition 840, rated at 3.2GHz. There are also a range of processors featured in the Pentium 4 6xx and 5xx series, all of which are based on the Prescott's 90-nm technology utilizing an 800MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading and SSE3. Of course the Celeron has also become available on this platform, running on a 533MHz FSB at a range of clock speeds.
In total there are eight 9xx series chipsets on offer, with the 955X being the current Intel flagship chipset. However, the 955X is realistically going to phase out the 925XE and 925X chipsets. The same can be said for the upcoming 945P chipset, which will replace the entire 915 lineup. ASUS has already released their 945P motherboard, known as the P5LD2 Deluxe. There will also be a review completed on this motherboard shortly. For now let's take a more in-depth look at the flagship model.
Asus A8N-SLI Review (2005-06-17)