Partners for Prescott: Part 2: Determining Which of Intel's New 9xx-Series Chipsets Is Right for You
Intel 915G Express Chipset
The 915G Express chipset is intended for use in low-end retail-store PCs with integrated graphics and in economical motherboard upgrades for systems with integrated graphics. It uses the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 for integrated graphics (see Part 1 for details). However, like other current 9xx-series chipsets, it also offers support for PCI-Express x16 graphics. Thus, a system with a 915G chipset can use integrated graphics to start with and be upgraded to PCI-Express graphics at a later date.
Other features of the 915G are similar to the 915P. Systems using the 915G chipset, when equipped with a PCI-Express x16 graphics card, should perform on a par with a similarly-equipped system using the 915P chipset.
Intel motherboards which use the 915G include:
Intel Desktop Board 915GAG (microATX, DDR memory, two PCI slots, one each PCI-Express x16 and x1 slots, 10/100 ethernet LAN) http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/ag/index.htm
Intel Desktop Board 915GAV (ATX, DDR memory, four PCI slots, one PCI-Express x16 slot, two PCI-Express x1 slots, 10/100 ethernet LAN) http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/av/index.htm
Intel Desktop Board 915GEV (ATX, DDR2 memory, four PCI slots, one PCI-Express x16 slot, two PCI-Express x1 slots, 10/100 or Gigabit ethernet LAN) http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/ev/index.htm
Intel Desktop Board 915GUX (microATX, DDR2 memory, two PCI slots, one each PCI-Express x16 and x1 slots, 10/100 or Gigabit ethernet LAN) http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/ux/index.htm
A few third-party motherboards which use the 915G chipset offer support for both DDR and DDR2 memory on the same motherboard. Some of these motherboards include:
ASUS P5GDC-V Deluxe (DDR and DDR2 memory) http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket775/p5gdc-v-d/overview.htm
MSI 915G Combo-FR (MS-7058G-020) (DDR2 and DDR memory) http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=915G_Combo-FR&class=mb