Thursday, July 27, 2000

Introduction

A new motherboard recently arrived on our doorstep, hailing from a manufacturer that is generally unknown to the public. The board, known as the PT-815TX, and is made by Azza, a manufacturer essentially making its first appearance in our lab. Based upon the recently unveiled Intel 815 chipset (which itself has many characteristics in common with the i810 chipset), the Azza PT-815TX seems to be a well-designed product. In fact, we were agreeably surprised by its many original features, which we will be describing in detail during the run of this review. For the start, the PT-815TX seems to be positioned as an all-in-one solution, by including both an AC"97 sound-card, and an integrated 3D AGP card. Before passing the board itself under the microscope though, let's take a brief detour, and properly present the Intel 815 chipset.

A brief history of the Intel 815 chipset

First off, its of more than a bit of importance to shed some light on the chipset that is implemented on the board we're reviewing - the Intel 815 - which itself features - among other features - an integrated 3D AGP video-card.

While many hardware sites on the web today have been trumpeting the i815 chipset as being the successor of the Intel's earlier 440BX chipset, it's important to point out that the i815 shares little in common with this chipset. On the other hand, the i815 chipset does use the same graphic controller as the i810E set, as well as a modified version of the later memory controller which allows it to work with PC133 memory. Also in common with the i810, the i815 uses the same i82801AA "ICH", and the same i82802 "FWH". In short, the i815 is much more closely related to the i810 chipset, than it is to Intel's famous 440BX set.

The integrated AGP video-card

The i815 differs from the i810 in that it uses a different GMCH controller for the graphics and memory. On the other hand, it uses the same I/O controller hub (ICH), and the same Firmware Hub (FWB) that is used by the i810E, and i820E, with only a few minor modifications.

What's more, the i815 has an AGP bus with an internal ratio 1/2 the speed of the FSB, and permits AGP modes of 1X/2X/4X - much like the i820, and i820E chipsets. As for the video, it's handled by the i752 that is commonly associated with the i810, with the difference that it now operates at 133MHzm whereas the i810 topped out at 100MHz.

The i815 does not, however, access an integrated video cache installed on the motherboard - unlike the i810-DC100, and i810E chipsets - but does allows for the use of a memory expansion card, which, once connected to the AGP connector, serves much the same purpose.

All that said, we have to say that the AGP performance offered by the integrated i752 has never been particularly stellar. That pretty much gives all one more reason to opt for a conventional AGP graphics card, rather than relying on the integrated video hardware.

Next: The i815 (continued).