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Intel s Early 386486 Chipsets

Intel's Early 386/486 Chipsets

Intel's first real PC motherboard chipset was the 82350 chipset for the 386DX and 486 processors. This chipset was not very successful, mainly because the EISA bus was not very popular and many other manufacturers were making standard 386 and 486 motherboard chipsets at the time. The market changed very quickly, and Intel dropped the EISA bus support and introduced follow-up 486 chipsets that were much more successful.

Table 4.13 shows the Intel 486 chipsets.

Table 4.13. Intel 486 Motherboard Chipsets

Chipset	420TX	420EX	420ZX
Code name	Saturn	Aries	Saturn II
Date introduced	Nov. 1992	March 1994	March 1994
Processor	5V 486	5V/3.3V 486	5V/3.3V 486
Bus speed	Up to 33MHz	Up to 50MHz	Up to 33MHz
SMP (dual CPUs)	No	No	No
Memory types	FPM	FPM	FPM
Parity/ECC	Parity	Parity	Parity
Max. memory	128MB	128MB	160MB
L2 cache type	Async	Async	Async
PCI support	2.0	2.0	2.1
AGP support	No	No	No
AGP = Accelerated graphics port
FPM = Fast page mode
PCI = Peripheral component interconnect
SMP = Symmetric multiprocessing (dual processors)
Note: PCI 2.1 supports concurrent PCI operations.

The 420 series chipsets were the first to introduce the North/South Bridge design that is still used in many chipsets today.

Fifth-Generation (P5 Pentium Class) Chipsets

With the advent of the Pentium processor in March 1993, Intel also introduced its first Pentium chipset: the 430LX chipset (code named Mercury). This was the first Pentium chipset on the market and set the stage as Intel took this lead and ran with it. Other manufacturers took months to a year or more to get their Pentium chipsets out the door. Since the debut of its Pentium chipsets, Intel has dominated the chipset market. Table 4.14 shows the Intel Pentium motherboard chipsets. Note that none of these chipsets support AGP; Intel first added support for AGP in its chipsets for the Pentium II/Celeron processors.

Table 4.14. Intel Pentium Motherboard Chipsets (North Bridge)

Chipset	430LX	430NX	430FX	430MX	430HX	430VX	430TX
Code name	Mercury	Neptune	Triton	Mobile Triton	Triton II	Triton III	n/a
Date introduced	March 1993	March 1994	Jan. 1995	Oct. 1995	Feb. 1996	Feb. 1996	Feb. 1997
CPU bus speed	66MHz	66MHz	66MHz	66MHz	66MHz	66MHz	66MHz
CPUs supported	P60/66	P75+	P75+	P75+	P75+	P75+	P75+
SMP (dual CPUs)	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Memory types	FPM	FPM	FPM/EDO	FPM/EDO	FPM/EDO	FPM/EDO/SDRAM	FPM/EDO/SDRAM
Parity/ECC	Parity	Parity	Neither	Neither	Both	Neither	Neither
Max. memory	192MB	512MB	128MB	128MB	512MB	128MB	256MB
Max. cacheable	192MB	512MB	64MB	64MB	512MB	64MB	64MB
L2 cache type	Async	Async	Async/Pburst	Async/Pburst	Async/Pburst	Async/Pburst	Async/Pburst
PCI support	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.1
AGP support	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
South Bridge	SIO	SIO	PIIX	MPIIX	PIIX3	PIIX3	PIIX4
EDO = Extended data out
FPM = Fast page mode
PIIX = PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator
SDRAM = Synchronous dynamic RAM
SIO = System I/O
SMP = Symmetric multiprocessing (dual processors)

Note

PCI 2.1 supports concurrent PCI operations, enabling multiple PCI cards to perform transactions at the same time for greater speed.

Table 4.15 shows the Intel South Bridge chips used with Intel chipsets for Pentium processors. South Bridge chips are the second part of the modern Intel motherboard chipsets.

Table 4.15. Intel South Bridge Chips

Chip Name	SIO	PIIX	PIIX3	PIIX4	PIIX4E	ICH0	ICH
Part number	82378IB/ZB	82371FB	82371SB	82371AB	82371EB	82801AB	82801AA
IDE support	None	BMIDE	BMIDE	UDMA-33	UDMA-33	UDMA-33	UDMA-66
USB support	None	None	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CMOS/clock	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Power management	SMM	SMM	SMM	SMM	SMM/ACPI	SMM/ACPI	SMM/ACPI
ACPI = Advanced configuration and power interface
BMIDE = Bus master IDE (ATA)
ICH = I/O Controller Hub
IDE = Integrated Drive Electronics (AT attachment)
PIIX = PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator
SIO = System I/O
SMM = System management mode
UDMA = Ultra-DMA IDE (ATA)
USB = Universal serial bus (version 1.1)

The Pentium chipsets listed in Tables 4.14 and 4.15 have been out of production for several years , and most computers that use these chipsets have been retired . For more information about these chipsets, see the PDF version of Chapter 4 in Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 16th Edition , included on this book's DVD.

The development of non-Intel Pentium-class chipsets was spurred by AMD's development of its own equivalents to the Pentium processorthe K5 and K6 processor families. Although the K5 was not a successful processor, the K6 family was very successful in the low-cost (under $1,000) market and as an upgrade for Pentium systems. AMD's own chipsets aren't used as often as other third-party chipsets, but AMD's capability to support its own processors with timely chipset deliveries has helped make the K6 and its successors into credible rivals for Intel's processor families and has spurred other vendors , such as VIA, Acer Laboratories, and SiS, to support AMD's processors. Major third-party chipsets for Pentium-class processors include

AMD 640
VIA Apollo VP1, VP2, VPX, VP3, MVP3, and MVP4
ALi Aladdin 4, Aladdin 5, and Aladdin 7
SiS SiS540, SiS530/5595, SiS5598, SiS5581, SiS5582, SiS5571, SiS5591, and SiS5592

Most computers that use these chipsets have been retired. For more detailed information about these chipsets, see Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 14th Edition , which is included on the disc packaged with this book.