Good Morning All:

I am in the market for a new computer system and have been cautiously biding
my time waiting for the release of mainstream systems built around the Intel
i815e chipset.

Early reports of the new chipset's performance capabilties seemed to
conclude that systems utilizing motherboards based on this architecture
would likely offer high-performance at relatively reasonable prices.  In
other words, it looked as though this chipset was going to offer a lot of
bang-for-the-buck and be the worthy successsor to the venerable 440BX.

This was great news for the many of us enthusiasts who chose to avoid the
expensive under-performing, problem-plagued systems built around the i820
chipset with RDRAM.  But now after reading numerous post-release newsletter
articles and newsgroup postings, I beginning to believe that there are some
issues that compromise the chipset's performance and stability.

Some reviews even suggested that Intel engineers may have been instructed to
purposely cripple the potential of the chipset so as not to embarrass Intel
and threaten its bottom line by undermining the sales potential of their
more expensive RDRAM solutions.

In any case, since I've generally been well-satisfied in the past with
systems I've purchased from Dell, I thought I'd give their new Dimension
4100 (i815e) system serious consideration.


    Technical Specifications: Dell™ Dimension™ 4100 System Reference @
    http://support.dell.com/docs/systems/dzuul/specs.htm#general

    Memory
    ----------
    Architecture non-ECC PC133 SDRAM
    Memory sockets two; gold contacts
    Memory capacities 64, 128, and 256 MB (non-ECC)
    Minimum memory 64 MB (non-ECC)
    Maximum memory 512 MB (non-ECC)
    Frequency 133 MHz
    Clock cycle 7.5 ns (supports 4 clocks only)
    CAS latency 3
    SPD revision 1.2 A
    Buffering unbuffered
    Voltage 3.3 V
    Data bus width 64 bits


One thing that immediately raised red flags for me is the use of 4 clock,
CAS3 PC133 memory in two (not three) DIMM memory slots.

What gives here ???

I had expected support for high-performance 2 clock, CAS2 PC133 memory and
timing, such as is offered in any good 440BX-based mainboard system.

Is this a configuration that has been built by design to inhibit the
system's performance potential ???  Or is this a way of dealing with
unresolved (perhaps unresolvable) stabilty issues ???

Or is it a little bit of both ???

I would appreciate some sound advice and the inside skinny from this list's
more experienced hardware gurus before making a decison whether or not to
proceed with the purchase.

Thanks for your help.

Jeffrey Ottie
[log in to unmask]


Select Online References:

Intel i815 / i815E Motherboard Roundup (AnandTech) August 3rd, 2ooo @
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1291 .

Intel 815 Chipset Review (AnandTech) June 27th, 2ooo @
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1265 .

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