Intel 440Bx Chipset - Compaq Deskpro AP400 Supplementary Manual

W P
HITE APER
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MMX
Similar to the previous Pentium II processors, the new Pentium II 350-MHz, 400-MHz
and 450-MHz processors have MMX technology. MMX (MultiMedia Extensions) is the
name for the 57 multimedia instructions Intel has added to its processors. These
multimedia extension instructions significantly improve performance on CPU-intensive
multimedia applications.
For additional information on MMX, please access the Intel web site at
http://developer.intel.com/drg/mmx/Support/faq.htm.
I 440BX C
N T E L
The AP400 uses the Intel 440BX chipset. The Intel BX chipset was designed as a
follow on to the 440LX, which had replaced the previous generation of 440FX chipsets
used with Pentium Pro and early Pentium II processors. Chipsets include technologies
that allow processors, memory, I/O, graphics and other devices to communicate and
work together in a computer.
The 440LX was Intel's first chipset designed specifically for more advanced Pentium II
systems, providing built-in support for SDRAM, Ultra ATA hard drives, and
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) technology. (More information on AGP later in this
paper). The Intel 440BX chipset also supports these features as well as a 100-MHz
FSB. As mentioned earlier, the benefits of the 100-MHz FSB are greater processor-to-
memory bandwidth and faster performance.
The 440BX supports the 100-MHz FSB, an upgraded infrastructure designed to support
clock speeds of 350 MHz and above in the more advanced Pentium II processors. This
additional 100-MHz FSB support is the key difference between the BX and the LX
chipsets.
The following table shows how the BX chipsets compare to the LX technology.
Key Features Supported by Intel Pentium II Chipsets
Feature
Processor FSB
Memory – Max/type
IDE
AGP
USB
ACPI
H I P S E T
440LX Chipset
(440LX/PIIX-4)
66 MHz
512-MB SDRAM
ECC supported
UltraDMA/33
Yes
2 ports
Yes
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Compaq Workstations - Key Technologies
440BX Chipset
(443BX/PIIX-4)
66 MHz or 100 MHz
1-GB SDRAM
ECC supported
UltraDMA/33
Yes
2 ports
Yes