Grantsdale chipset to be implemented starting second quarter next year

Starting the second quarter of 2004, Intel will introduce new Socket T (775 pin) motherboards based on the Grantsdale chipsets that support the Prescott CPU, due by the end of this year. To be available in three versions, the Grantsdale chipset features support for both DDR 333/400 and DDR-2 400/533 memory (unless the motherboard limits such support otherwise, as we will see), support for the "NewCard" expansion card format for wireless communications, and finally support for the PCI Express serial I/O interconnect standard and Serial ATA. The "G" version of the Grantsdale features a redesigned graphics core for integrated graphics.

The first of such Socket T boards will be the "Battle Lake" and the "Powers Lake". Both will support the Grantsdale-P chipset, PCI Express, DDR-2 533 memory, the ICH 6 south bridge (4 SATA and 8 USB 2.0 ports), FireWire, and RAID. The difference between the two is that the Battle Lake is an ATX board while the Powers Lake is micro ATX.

Socket T motherboards supporting the Grantsdale-G chipset are also due around the second quarter next year. One example is the "Marblehead". This Socket T board features the ICH 6 south bridge, and PCI Express. The "Avalon" is similiar, but it only supports dual channel DDR400 memory. The "Augsburg" meanwhile is a micro ATX version of the Avalon. The ATX form factor "Eatonville" and micro ATX "Luxemburg" on the other hand will retain support for 533MHz DDR-2 memory.