14 DAY TRIAL // Intel and its manufacturing partners are currently showcasing the new motherboard products powered by the upcoming series-4 chipsets at the CeBIT show in Germany. The upcoming chipsets, the P45, G45, G43, and X48, are slated for public release in the second quarter of the year.
Built on the 65-nanometer manufacturing process, the new offerings from Intel will be more energy-efficient and are touted to be more powerful than the previous, 90-nanometer chipsets. According to sources with the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers, it seems that Intel will add yet another chipset product to the lineup, namely the P43.
The G45 chipset includes the Intel GMA X4500 HD graphics core, that comes with hardware support for H.264 decode acceleration, which will result in improved rendering for high-definition content, such as HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. More than that, rumors spread by Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers claim that the Intel GMA X4500 HD graphics core can score around 1,100 points in 3DMark06. The chipset comes with HDMI/DVI/Display Port connectivity, a 1333MHz FSB and DDR3 up to 1333MHz.
The P43 chipset will be a stripped-down version of the P45 chipset, and, unlike the latter, it will come without support for dual x8 PCI Express slot. The DDR3 memory will also be supported, but up to speeds of 1066MHz, as compared to DDR3 1333 MHz the P45 chipset can reach.
The G43 chipset will also use the X4500 GPU core, and will come with dual channel memory controllers (1 DIMM /Channel) and supports up to 1066MHz DDR3.
Currently, you can admire at this year;'s CeBIT show some of the implementations of Intel's upcoming chipsets such as Abit's IP45 (based on the P45 chipset), Abit's IX48-MAX (based on the X48 chipset), Albatron's PX48 (based on the X48 chipset), ASRock's X48, Biostar's T-Power I45 (based on the P45 chipset) Foxconn's G43, Gigabyte's G45, as well as MSI's P45 Diamond.
Intel has recently set the prices for its upcoming offerings. The company announced that the P43 will be available for $34 in 1,000-unit tray quantities, while the P45 will be a little more expensive - $40. The X48 chipset will be the most expensive in the series and will sell for $70 in 1,000-unit trays. The Q45 will sell for $44, the Q43 will go a little lower - $40. The G45 will come with a $40 price tag for 1,000-units, while the G43 and the P43 will sell for $34 each.
Softpedia is already at this year's CeBIT and we will come with additional information about Intel's upcoming product as they get published.