DailyTech - Whoops: Intel X38 Chipset Slips Again

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Blog: Hardware Whoops: Intel X38 Chipset Slips Again
Kristopher Kubicki (Blog) - September 24, 2007 3:38 PM

10 comment(s) - last by Captain Orgazm.. on Sep 26 at 9:27 PM

Intel's X38 chipset slips again, but with Intel's new front-side bus will anyone care?

Today was supposed to be the embargo lift for the Intel X38 chipset. Well, actually it was supposed to be almost three months ago, but an Intel spokesperson confirmed today that those waiting to read reviews will have to wait just a tad longer.

Reasons for the delay seem to focus around vendor microcode support. ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte all have working X38 boards today, yet all three vendors each produced no less than four BIOS updates for these boards within the last month.

Earlier this month, Intel held an emergency session with motherboard engineers in order to get this microcode up to snuff.

Intel circulated a memo over the weekend detailing the new embargo details with a "firm" release date of October 10, 2007. However, the company has a history of lifting embargos early. Furthermore, some X38 motherboards are, and have been, available in the retail channel for the better part of September. These motherboards certainly need BIOS updates, but do not physically differ from the boards expected to launch on October 10.

Of course, one has to question the wisdom of launching this chipset so close to the 45nm Penryn launch -- which conincidentally is the launch for Intel's 1600 MHz front-side bus. With the new 1600 MHz bus, Intel will launch a second revision on X38 with a new voltage regulation module.

Intel's Penryn and 1600 MHz front-side bus will officially launch on November 12, 2007; just a month after the new proposed X38 embargo lift.

Obsolescence be thy name.

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P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By Captain Orgazmo on 9/25/2007 1:09:50 AM , Rating: 2

I have Gigabyte's current high-end P35 solution "GA-P35-DQ6". I have it paired with an E6420 running overclocked to a 400 (1600) MHz bus (stock for that processor is the 266 MHz bus). I know the P35 officially supports the 333 MHz bus, and can easily handle 400 MHz, but does anyone know if it will officially support the 400 MHz Penryn chips? (I am really looking forward to SSE4... easy way to double video encoding performance.)

RE: P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By Griswold on 9/25/2007 4:05:55 AM , Rating: 2

Well, dont the big players advertise their P35 boards as penryn capable? I know MSI claims that for my P35 board and it does work with a 400MHz FSB and my Q6600. Otherwise I'd call it false advertising.

As far as SSE4 goes, considering how long it took for widespread SSE3 adoption, I'm willing to bet that there will have been at least one or two rounds of price drops before software I use supports it - and nehalem isnt too far away either. :p

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RE: P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By Captain Orgazmo on 9/25/2007 11:54:28 PM , Rating: 2

The DivX encoder already supports SSE4, and I'm sure it won't be long until x264 will. Also if it can be used by decoders (like CoreAVC) it would make it possible to playback H264/VC1 enocoded content smoothly on massively underclocked/undervoltaged processors without the need for a discreet hardware encoder, which could mean media centre PCs with all passive cooling :).

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RE: P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By Griswold on 9/26/2007 4:05:13 AM , Rating: 2

Divx does not yet officially support SSE4 - its only experimental support (probably done by Intel engineers for Divx so they can showcase how awesome SSE4 is :)).
They even pulled the old website showing some benchmarks.

And, for example, I havent even heard an announcement for Nero Recode to adopt SSE4 anytime soon - yet it would probably tremendously benefit from it because of H.264. Companies making bucks with their software are often a bit slower than those who code as a hobby.

I'm not going to hold my breath, thats why I decided against waiting for penryn and go for the awesome Q6600 deal.

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RE: P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By SunAngel on 9/26/2007 11:49:51 AM , Rating: 2

Nero 8 is going to be the divine moment for Nero. Apprently, Nero 7 and below users will find it necessary to upgrade to Nero 8 to experience the blu-ray goodness. HD-DVD is currently supported through a add-in for Nero 7.

I would expect Nero to support SSE4 fairly quickly. Two things the Nero guys do regularly is update Buring ROM and Recode. Hopefully they will add WMV9 support since, now, the new toy is H.264.

Both Nero Recode and Nero Vision are pretty quick, although faster than DivX but slower than ATI's Avivo converter. I am still baffled how ATI can transcode so fast and no one else is able to come close.

But, for less than a $100USD, there is not a software suite out that can compete with Nero, IMO.

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RE: P35: 1600 MHz FSB?

By Captain Orgazmo on 9/26/2007 9:27:00 PM , Rating: 2

Avivo converter transcodes quick because it uses the fastest settings for each codec. The quality is absolutely atrocious compared to a properly done encode using VirtualDub or MediaCoder or whatever. Also it is not, at this point, hardware accelerating the transcoding. (This isn't biased by the way, I've owned an X800 and have a 2900XT now, and prefer ati to nvidia).

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I'm confused

By jmn2519 on 9/24/2007 4:19:57 PM , Rating: 4

When Penryn launches in November it will be the Xeon class of processor. Desktop versions probably won't show up until December or January.

The x38 is just a enthusiast version of the p35 - design for desktop chips and overclocking. Why are you confusing the launch of a server chip with an enthusiast chipset? Is the next chipset version you are referring to the x48?

RE: I'm confused

By JumpingJack on 9/25/07, Rating: 0

Extreme Edition

By pauldovi on 9/24/2007 9:38:29 PM , Rating: 2

The Extreme Edition desktop based Penryn will launch along side the Xeon's.

People who pay $999 for a chip need a nice pretty $350 motherboard to go with their purchase. :)

Obsolescence be thy name

By crystal clear on 9/26/2007 4:09:46 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
one has to question the wisdom of launching this chipset so close to the 45nm

built-in/planned obsolescence
when a product is intentionally designed and made so that it will not last for a long time

Hi K.K.

Read this-

Silicon Valley Pioneer Don Lucas Named Spansion's Chairman of the Board; Semiconductor Veteran Gilles Delfassy Joins Board

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Sept. 24, 2007 – Spansion Inc. (NASDAQ:SPSN), the world’s largest pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions, today announced Donald L. Lucas and Gilles Delfassy were appointed to Spansion’s Board of Directors, effective September 20, 2007.

Lucas will serve as chairman of the board and will hold the Board seat vacated by Hector Ruiz, chairman of the board of AMD.
http://investor.spansion.com/releasedetail.cfm?Rel...

Hector Ruiz, chairman of the board of AMD - planned obsolescence or Obsolescence be thy name or .....???? ?