Intel GMA 4500 Performance

According to Intel, the GMA X4500 (G43/G41) will run at 667 MHz and deliver about 3X better performance than the G33's GMA 3100.

The GMA X4500HD used in the initial production A-2 silicon of the G45 will run at the same clock speed of 667 MHz with the same performance. Intel will only ramp up the clock speed to 800 MHz with the A-3 silicon, which is scheduled to go into production in early July, 2008.

The GMA X4500 in the G43/G41 will remain at 667 MHz even with the A-3 silicon.

CrossFire X Support

The Intel P45 chipset will support ATI's CrossFire X multi-GPU technology, allowing up to four graphics cards to be linked on a single motherboard. This is definitely a snub at NVIDIA whose CEO, Huang Jen-Hsun, had a public fall-out with Intel recently. Of course, Intel's decision to go with CrossFire X was made long before the public tiff, and is a long-term strategic move.

It is interesting to note that the the CPU giant obviously felt that it would be better for them to license CrossFire X from AMD-ATI, an age-old rival; than it was to license an alternative multi-GPU technology from NVIDIA, who has so far been more of a partner than a rival.

This could be one of the reasons for Jen-Hsun's recent displeasure with Intel. After all, the Intel Skulltrail motherboard released in February supported NVIDIA's competing SLI technology. With the switch to CrossFire X, Intel is virtually giving ATI the upper hand in the massive Intel platform market. This will cut into NVIDIA's core GPU business because the only motherboards that will support NVIDIA's SLI technology are those based on NVIDIA's own chipsets.

Related Articles

Here are our other Intel-related articles and reviews :

• Counterfeit Intel Boxed Processors
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Quad-Core Processor Review
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad-Core Processor Review

Here are our Intel-related editorials :

• ED#80 : Intel 1600 MHz Platform Update
• ED#79 : Intel G45 & G43 Chipset Details
• ED#74 : Intel Skulltrail Out In Feb '08!
• ED#67 : Intel X48 Express & BoneTrail 2 Motherboard Details
• ED#65 : Intel Penryn Will Not Run On The Santa Rosa Platform
• ED#64 : Intel Skulltrail Details
• ED#63 : Intel X48 Chipset & BoneTrail 2 Motherboard ETA
• ED#62 : New Intel 65nm Processors & Price Cuts

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