Introduction
SHUTTLE AP48N i845PE 800FSB
The 800FSB P4s had a little hiccup earlier this month as Intel recalled review samples after discovering certain undefined anomalies. We're confident that these will be ironed out quickly, though. The launching of 800FSB P4s curiously coincided with the release of the dual-channel Canterwood DDR chipset. Raising Intel's performance another notch from the 3.06GHz (133FSB) / Granite Bay combination, it, together with a 3GHz CPU, won most of our benchmarks with a little to spare; and that's with a CPU clock deficit of 60MHz.
The Canterwood chipset is aimed at the high-end enthusiast, entry-level workstation market, where cost isn't necessarily the primary concern. However, Intel would be foolish if only a premium chipset served as the base for a number of 200FSB CPUs, ranging from 2.4GHz to 3.2GHz respectively. A cheaper derivative of the Canterwood, code-named Springdale, is expected to be released within a month. Featuring the same dual-channel memory interface, it negates some of the more esoteric i875P features at the altar of cost. Still, we expect retail boards to be priced on the wrong side of £100.
The i845 range of chipsets, though, have served Intel well. From the initial, performance-hampered i845 SDR design, through to the present i845PE DDR chipset, the i845 has been a solid, relatively cheap, and now mature chipset. It seems as if all motherboard manufacturers know how to make a decent i845xx-based motherboard, so why let this wealth of maturity and experience go to waste ?. That seems to be Intel's thinking, too. The present i845PE runs from a 133FSB (533 QDR), but as enthusiasts have shown, a decent i845PE far surpasses this specified speed.
With initial i845Es, manufactured over a year ago and running at 180FSB+, the ability to run at 200FSB and thereby be compliant with these newer, faster Pentium 4 Cs, the i845xx seemed like the perfect low-cost, relatively high-performance solution. Our first "upgraded" i845PE arrived courtesy of ABIT. The BH7, a i845PE chipset at heart, ran solidly at 200FSB. It seems as if other manufacturers have decided that single-channel DDR still has a place in the 200FSB CPU world. Our benchmarks indicated that a well-tuned i845PE, run at 200FSB, was no more than 5% off the benchmark trail blazed by the Canterwood.
