SUMMARY: While AMD and Intel have been fighting for years for dominance, most of us have already made the decision as to which line of processor to support. For those who have gone the Intel route but don't have the number of dollars necessary for top of the line performance, there is hope. Today we take a look at four budget chipsets that prove once and for all that you don't have to be made of money to enjoy high performance on your Intel rig!
Back in March, 2004, we decided to pit the elite of the Intel Pentium 4 chipsets against each other; this being chipsets supporting 800MHz FSB, Dual Channel DDR memory support, Serial ATA as well as Gigabit Ethernet to see who would be king. Without so much as a glance, the i875P won out, due in large part to Intels greater experience with DDR SDRAM for the Pentium 4 platform.
While everyone wants to get the ultra powerful processors, the most memory and greatest graphics cards, for some of us on the budget, it simply isnt feasible to have all this great technology. This doesnt mean, however, that we are without options for a great performing system.
While Dual Channel DDR does deliver the ultimate in Pentium 4 pleasure, single channel solutions have come a long way since its humble beginnings with the i845D chipset from Intel. Now we have Ali, SiS and VIA all producing single channel DDR chipsets for the Pentium 4 for the ultra budget market. Though lacking Dual Channel Memory, these chipsets are all 800MHz FSB ready, support DDR-400 and also come ready for the Prescott series processors.
Today we have the Intel, VIA, SiS and Ali chipsets on the test bed to determine, who is able to deliver the ultimate in single channel DDR, and where you should look if you are considering your purchase.
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