Introduction

Intel Canterwood or I875P chipset has been one of the biggest breakthroughs for Intel and the Pentium 4. Not only has it given the Pentium 4 the ability to show its full potential, but is has also given Intel a solid base from which to build the I9xx series of chipsets.

The I975P and I865 family of chipsets have given the desktop and performance users the ability to fully exploit the power of the Pentium 4, but what about the high end workstations and entry level servers? These are stuck on the aging E7205 or Granite Bay chipset. While providing Dual Channel Memory, it’s limited to 533FSB.

There has been no previous updates to the entry level server/high end workstation chipset market, that is until now, enter the E7210 or known as the Cantewood ES.
The E7210 is comprised of two major components, the E7210 MCH and the FWE600ESB ICH5-S. These two components are somewhat similar to the current desktop chipsets, with slight modifications in order to meet and exceed the entry level server and high end workstation requirements.

Today we have on the test bench the Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra 64, the first motherboard to market with the latest server/workstation chipset combination from Intel, while aimed at a server environment; can it handle what is needed for an ultra gaming rig? Let’s find out.







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