Intel 815 and 815E Chipset
Intel 815 and 815E Chipset
Introduced in June of 2000, the 815 and 815E chipsets are a mainstream PC chipset with integral video that is also upgradeable via an AGP 4x slot. The 815 chipsets are designed for Slot-1 or Socket-370 processors such as the Celeron or Pentium III. These are the first chipsets from Intel designed to directly support PC133 SDRAM memory, allowing for a more affordable solution than other chipsets using RDRAM memory. Like the other 8xx series chipsets from Intel, the 815 uses hub architecture which provides a 266MB/sec connection between the main chipset components, that does not share the PCI bus like the prior north/south bridge designs.
Although there are two 815 chipsets including the regular 815 and the 815E, the only difference between them is in which I/O Controller Hub is used. When the 82815 Graphic/Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) is combined with the 82801AA I/O Controller Hub (ICH), the result is called the 815 chipset. When the same GMCH is combined with the 82801BA I/O Controller Hub (ICH2), then the result is called the 815E. The ICH2 provides an additional Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller, dual Ultra ATA/100 controllers and support for a LAN/Modem/Sound card via the integrated CNR (Communications and Networking Riser) interface.
Along with the 820E, the ICH2 is most notable for providing ATA/100 support, allowing 100MB/sec drive performance. Of course there are few drives that can really take advantage of this much throughput, but in any case, the chipset won't have a bottleneck here. The other notable feature is having two USB controllers and 4 ports on board. This allows double the USB performance by splitting devices up over the two ports, and can allow up to 4 connections before a hub is required.
Another important feature of the 815 is the integration of a fast Ethernet controller directly into the chipset. The integrated LAN controller works with one of three new physical layer components from Intel and enables three distinct solutions for computer manufacturers. These include:
- Enhanced 10/100Mbps Ethernet with Alert on LAN technology
- Basic 10/100Mbps Ethernet
- 1 Mbps home networking
These physical layer components can be placed directly on the PC motherboard (additional chips) or installed via an adapter that plugs into the Communications and Networking Riser (CNR) slot. The CNR slot and cards allow PC assemblers to build network-ready systems for several different markets.
Although the 815 features essentially the same built-in AGP 2x 3D video that comes with the 810 chipset, the difference is upgradeability. With the 815, the video can be easily upgraded by adding a Graphics Performance Accelerator (GPA) card, or an AGP4X card for maximum 3D graphics and video performance. The GPA card is essentially a high performance video memory card that works in the AGP 4x slot, and which improves the performance of the integrated video by up to 30%. For even more performance, one can install a full 4x AGP card in the AGP 4x slot, which will disable the integrated video. By having the video integrated, very low cost systems with reasonable video performance can be assembled. By later installing either the GPA or a full 4x AGP card, one can improve video performance up to 100% or more.
Another important feature of the 815 chipset is the support of PC133 memory. The 815 will also use PC100 memory if the higher performance type is not available. With the PC133 support, Intel has also officially set a standard for PC133 memory that is higher than most other PC133 memory currently on the market. This will no doubt create some confusion. To meet the Intel PC133 specification, the memory must support what is called 2-2-2 timing. These numbers refer to the number of clock cycles for the following functions to complete:
- Precharge command to Active command
- Read command to Data Out
- Active command to Read Command
Most PC133 memory on the market takes 3 cycles for each of these functions, and would therefore be termed PC133 3-3-3 memory. Note that the faster PC133 2-2-2 can be used in place of the slower 3-3-3 variety, but not the other way around.
As a result of the tighter cycling timing, PC133 2-2-2 offers a lead-off latency of only 30ns (nanoseconds), instead of the 45ns required by PC133 3-3-3. This results in a 34% improvement in initial access.
With the improvements in the 815 chipset, it will likely be a popular chipset for the mainstream PC market that doesn't wish to pay the higher prices for RDRAM memory. The 815 is designed to essentially replace the venerable 440BX chipset.
Tables 1 and 2 provide specific details on each of Intel's chipsets, including the 815 chipset.
Note - Most Intel chipsets are designed as a two-part system, using a North Bridge and a South Bridge component. Often the same South Bridge component can be used with several different North Bridge chipsets.
Table 1.1 Celeron and Pentium II/III Motherboard Chipsets (North/South Bridge architecture)
Chipset |
440FX |
440LX |
440EX |
Codename |
Natoma |
none |
none |
Date Introduced |
May 1996 |
Aug. 1997 |
April 1998 |
Part Numbers |
82441FX 82442FX |
82443LX |
82443EX |
Bus Speed |
66 MHz |
66 MHz |
66 MHz |
Supported Processors |
Pentium II |
Pentium II |
Celeron |
SMP (dual CPUs) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Memory Types |
FPM/EDO/BEDO |
FPM/EDO/SDRAM |
EDO/SDRAM |
Parity |
Both |
Both |
Neither |
Maximum Memory |
1 GB |
1 GB EDO/512 MB SDRAM |
256 MB |
Memory Banks |
4 |
4 |
2 |
PCI Support |
2.1 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
AGP Support |
No |
AGP-2x |
AGP-2x |
South Bridge |
82371SB (PIIX3) |
82371AB (PIIX4) |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
Table 1.2 Celeron and Pentium II/III Motherboard Chipsets (North/South Bridge architecture) continued...
Chipset |
440BX |
440GX |
450NX |
440ZX |
Codename |
none |
none |
none |
none |
Date Introduced |
April 1998 |
June 1998 |
June '98 |
November '98 |
Part Numbers |
82443BX |
82443GX |
82451NX 82452NX 82453NX 82454NX |
82443ZX |
Bus Speed |
66/100 MHz |
100 MHz |
100 MHz |
66/100 MHz1 |
Supported Processors |
Pentium II/III, Celeron |
Pentium II/III Xeon |
Pentium II/III Xeon |
Celeron, Pentium II/III |
SMP (dual CPUs) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes, up to 4 |
No |
Memory Types |
SDRAM |
SDRAM |
FPM/EDO |
SDRAM |
Parity |
Both |
Both |
Both |
Neither |
Maximum Memory |
1 GB |
2 GB |
8 GB |
256 MB |
Memory Banks |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
PCI Support |
2.1 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
AGP Support |
AGP-2x |
AGP-2x |
No |
AGP-2x |
South Bridge |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
Table 2.1 Celeron and Pentium II/III Motherboard Chipsets (Hub architecture)
Chipset |
810 |
810E |
8154 |
815E4 |
Codename |
Whitney |
Whitney |
Solano |
Solano |
Date Introduced |
April '99 |
Sept. '99 |
June '00 |
June '00 |
Part Number |
82810 |
82810E |
82815 |
82815 |
Bus Speed |
66/100 MHz |
66/100/133 MHz |
66/100/133 MHz |
66/100/133 MHz |
Supported Processors |
Celeron, Pentium II/III |
Celeron, Pentium II/III |
Celeron, Pentium II/III |
Celeron, Pentium II/III |
SMP (dual CPUs) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Memory Types |
SDRAM (PC100) |
SDRAM (PC100) |
SDRAM (PC133) |
SDRAM (PC133) |
Parity |
Neither |
Neither |
Neither |
Neither |
Maximum Memory |
512 MB |
512 MB |
512 MB |
512 MB |
Memory Banks |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
PCI Support |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
PCI Speed/Width |
33MHz/32-bit |
33MHz/32-bit |
33MHz/32-bit |
33MHz/32-bit |
AGP Support |
Direct AGP |
Direct AGP |
AGP 4x |
AGP 4x |
Integrated Video |
AGP 2x2 |
AGP 2x2 |
AGP 2x3 |
AGP 2x3 |
South Bridge |
82801AA/AB (ICH/ICH0) |
82801AA(ICH) |
82801AA(ICH) |
82801BA(ICH2) |
Table 2.2 Celeron and Pentium II/III Motherboard Chipsets (Hub architecture) continued...
Chipset |
820 |
820E |
840 |
Codename |
Camino |
Camino |
Carmel |
Date Introduced |
Nov. '99 |
June '00 |
Oct. '99 |
Part Number |
82820 |
82820 |
82840 |
Bus Speed |
66/100/133 MHz |
66/100/133 MHz |
66/100/133 MHz |
Supported Processors |
Pentium II/III, Celeron |
Pentium II/III, Celeron |
Pentium II/III Xeon |
SMP (dual CPUs) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Memory Types |
RDRAM (PC800) |
RDRAM (PC800) |
RDRAM (PC800) |
Parity |
Both |
Both |
Both |
Maximum Memory |
1 GB |
1 GB |
4 GB |
Memory Banks |
2 |
2 |
3x2 |
PCI Support |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
PCI Speed/Width |
33MHz/32-bit |
33MHz/32-bit |
66MHz/64-bit |
AGP Support |
AGP 4x |
AGP 4x |
AGP 4x |
Integrated Video |
No |
No |
No |
South Bridge |
82801AA (ICH) |
82801BA(ICH2) |
82801AA(ICH) |
- Note the 440ZX is available in a cheaper 440ZX-66 version, which will only run 66MHz
- Note the 810 chipsets have integral AGP 2x 3D video which is NOT upgradeable via an external AGP adapter
- Note the 815 chipsets have integral AGP 2x 3D video which IS upgradeable via an APG 4x slot
- Note the only difference between the 815 and 815E are in which I/O controller hub (south bridge) is used
SMP = Symmetric Multiprocessing (Dual Processors)
FPM = Fast Page Mode
EDO = Extended Data Out
BEDO = Burst EDO
SDRAM = Synchronous Dynamic RAM
Pburst = Pipeline Burst (Synchronous)
PCI = Peripheral Component Interconnect
AGP = Accelerated Graphics Port
SIO = System I/O
PIIX = PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator
ICH = I/ ICH = I/O Controller Hub
Note - Pentium Pro, Celeron, and Pentium II/III CPUs have their secondary cache integrated into the CPU package. Therefore, cache characteristics for these machines are not dependent on the chipset but are quite dependent on the processor instead.
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