Introduction

Intel and the I9xx chipset series has been one of great controversy. Intel’s known loathing of the whole overclocking scene is well documented. First removing the tried and true overclocking method of changing multipliers by locking its sixth generation CPU Pentium II and Celeron line, the only way was to increase the FSB. For nearly two years this has been the method for increasing system performance, with memory modules gaining in speed, PCI and AGP divider locks to keep the most sensitive buses in check really left only the CPU and the memory as the overclocking bottlenecks. DDR-550 memory from OCZ, Mushkin and various other manufacturers out there eliminated the memory as the problem, now in order to remove overclocking once again, Intel has thrown a spanner in the works, as we say Down Under.

The Intel I9xx chipsets lack the basic clock locks to keep the PCI, PCI Express, Hub link and the SATA clocks within their respective clock and this results in one or more of the devices on your system to become unstable and remove any chance of overclocking you may have.

This may have been the case with I925X and I915 series, but the I925XE certainly has something different to offer. The I925XE is basically the I925X but with FSB support up to 1066MHz. In order to reach this speed, Intel had to implement a divider option to reduce PCI Express and PCI bus speeds at the 1066MHz FSB level, resulting in the manufacturers being able to get a better manipulation affect on their retail boards for enthusiasts.

Today we have the first retail I925XE motherboard since the Intel Desktop board in our labs, this one is from ASUS. Based on the P5AD2 specifications, ASUS plans to move the bar up on Intel Socket T motherboards. Let’s see how they go about it.







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