Intel 875P (Canterwood) Chipset - The New Flagship

We've been paitiently awaiting the arrival of Intel's dual-channel DDR chipsets ever since we first heard the names Springdale and Canterwood almost a year ago at Computex in Taipei. And although the launch of the mainstream Springdale chipset (865) is still a few weeks away, we're finally able to tell you all there is to know about the successor to the aging 850E chipset; what was once known as Canterwood, is now publicly available as the Intel 875P chipset.

The 875P chipset marks a few milestones for Intel; for starters, it depicts Intel as a company that does listen to the needs and requests of their customers - mainly in its support for DDR400 memory technology. Embracing DDR400 SDRAM is something we never thought we would see Intel do, especially considering their stance on the technology in the past, thus we were quite surprised when we heard of the possibility last year at Computex.

The Intel that is today releasing the 875P is very different from the Intel that we remembered forcing Rambus DRAM on the market in the days of the 820 chipset. The Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers couldn't be happier that they finally have chipsets from Intel that are high in demand; it was quite an ordeal for them when Intel was forcing chipsets down their throats that no customer wanted to touch with a ten foot pole.

The next milestone that's set with the 875P is that Intel has finally released a chipset to push RDRAM out of their product lineup; not that there's anything wrong with RDRAM these days, but the fact of the matter is that DDR is far more plentiful and thus much more attractive to end-users and resellers.

Then we actually get to the extensive feature list of the 875P; 800MHz FSB, dual channel DDR400, a new bus made specifically for Gigabit Ethernet, and native Serial ATA with RAID functionality top off what you can expect from the new chipset. With that said, there's quite a bit to mention so we'll spare you the small talk and get right down to it…