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Intel PAT Compared On 865PE Boards
Xaley writes "There is roundup at VR-Zone on
several 865PE boards
which came equipped with Intel PAT feature and definitely consumers will be
happy to purchase these boards without paying a premium price that Intel has
charged for their 875P chipset. A typical 865PE board costs around $150 and a
875P board costs around $200-250 so it is a cost savings of $100. Of course,
Intel won't be too happy about it since sales of their 875P chipsets will be
affected but there is no stopping for motherboard manufacturers from adding in
the PAT feature into their 865PE boards now."
A lot of people say, "What's that?"
It's PAT.
Intel should stop reusing acronyms. PAT = Page Attribute Table, a feature in PIII+ processors that helps manage caching of memory ranges.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Funniest quote from the whole article:
There are so many good marketing specs thrown into 875P that make the hardware enthusiasts to go after it and even prepare to pay a premium for it.
I take back all those nasty comments about hole-in-the-wall-2-guys-in-a-dorm-room-'review' sites. Well, okay, not all of them- even this guy has some SERIOUS grammar problems :-)
Please help metamoderate.
since AMD doesn't harrass/sue third-party chipset suppliers (like VIA) so no one can get away with playing games like Intel is doing with PAT. I prefer nVidia nForce2 chipset boards these days. YMMV.
...what'll stop the overclockers/enthusiasts from turning on PAT? Won't that still eat into their sales of 875P based boards? Somehow, the fear of voiding our warranty never enters the equation...so what's the deterrent?
Q: "Why do sound techs say 'check 1, 2'?"
A: "Cause if they could count any higher they'd be lighting techs."
I read it as Port Address Translation. Expansion of acronyms would be helpful in the original post. -Chuck
But would anyone be interested in defining PAT so that the ignorant among us can decide if this story is interesting?
(Yeah yeah, rtfa. I will when I find out what PAT is, and then if I decide it's useful. ;-) )
The 875P Canterwood chipset with PAT supposedly provides a 5-7% performance improvement over 865 chipset.
WOO HOO!
TMFA's! When will we start patenting acronyms?
PAT=
Port Address Translation
Page Attribute Table
and now Performance Acceleration Technology
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
from what i've seen (tomshardware et al), 875's w/ PAT were only marginally out performing the 865's anyway.
has anyone seen where this stuff significantly inproves performance?
nonetheless, i'm waiting for the P5/Prescott before upgrading the ol' PC anyway...
Hell, everybody did that. My buddy's Gateway still lives as my LRP router. That massive 500mb hard drive just sits there, wasted.
200-250 is not correct in many cases for the P boards, I just got a MSI 875P Neo board for around 150 and it has all the goodies like SATA and got excellent test results.
What Intel should have done is to have "PAT" disabled through a physically inaccessable method, such as a different IC package, bondout (though this is probably flip-chip) or an on-chip fuse burnt at test.
"There is a constant pressure from Intel to advise motherboard manufacturers not to offer PAT into their 865PE boards but on the other hand, there is a considerable amount of pressure from consumers demanding PAT in their 865PE boards. There is a great dilemma faced by the motherboard manufacturers here whether to include the PAT feature or not. However to keep the sales going, it is advisable add in PAT into their 865PE boards to keep the consumers happy."
;-)
All of this worry over $100 bucks difference? That amounts to about 1 days work for most of us. We are more lazy than I ever suspected! Arguably, this is what leads to early psychosis.
+2 cents.
Word out of Intel is that there is a future revision of the 865 chipset will have PAT disabled in hardware before being shipped to motherboard manufacturers. The system will just lock up if they try to enable it.
So keep in mind this situation is temporary.
It may be less than a day's work difference in price, but that doesn't mean it's insignificant. Imagine if someone offered to sell you a candybar for $100. Which would you say: "Gee, that's less than a day's pay." or "You've got to be kidding."
If you're paying $150 for a motherboard without PAT and $250 for one with PAT, that's a 66% markup for 7% performance increase. Not all that impressive of a deal.
So Intel released hardware with features disabled...hmm sounds like their usual [i487] tactics...
Boo Intel...
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
This feature is useless for business applications where reliability is essential. While the PAT logic is in the 865 chipset, Intel does not guarantee that it has passed chip-level testing. It may work, it may not work, it may only work over a limited temperature range. It falls into the same category as overclocking the CPU. You don't know if the chip passed the test for a higher classification and was marked for a lower speed to satisfy market demand, or if it failed the test for reliable operation at the higher classification. If you want that guarantee, you pay the premium for the 875P.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Have them sign an NDA before you show it to them. But you will want a patent if it is a patentable invention.
Xeon? Bah. Get some Opteron 240s for $290 each.
From www.vr-zone.com
Intel 875P MCH is built on the FCBGA package that allows Dual Channel 4 layers PCB and is 37.5mm2 in size and has 932 pins count. Interestingly, 875P and 865P/PE/G share the same core and the only difference is that 875P falls on the right side of the manufacturing curve.
Intel has specially selected the top quality chips that falls on the right side and separate from the rest and ran through a series of comprehensive tests to ensure robust operation for the 875P chipsets. As for the rest, they would be branded as Springdale chipsets and sold off cheaper. The chipset timings of the 875P are improved to allow faster memory access and lower latency therefore we can expect 875P to be faster than 865PE/G.
From www.xbitlabs.com
This one gives more of a question-and-answer format to PAT.
A lot of posters have stated that users could add PAT technology on their own as simply as they would overclock a chip. Unfortunately, this isn't quite true. The hack that Asus originally developed, and which other MotherB manufacturers are starting to copy is rather complex. ASUS realized that when the MotherB was functioning at a reduced FSB speed (e.g. not 800MHz), the PAT technology was working, however due to the reduced bus speed, the performance was lacking. So, what they had to do was first to force the MotherB into a reduced bus speed, which then turned on PAT, and then to make the MotherB actually function at 800Mhz, while still thinking it was running at a reduced FSB bus speed. This involved a number of hacks to the BIOS.
The good news it that the motherboard manufacturers aren't forcing this change onto users. Rather, an option is in BIOS so the user can choose whether or not to take the risk of adding PAT to a system that may not be designed to handle it (depending on whether the PAT was originally just turned off or the motherb was speed-binned due to failing the PAT test for the 875).
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110169
Sucker. I upgraded to 486 after the pentiums came out. Paid probably $500 for mobo, proc, and other stuff. I'm just now considering upgrading from K6-2/400 to a 1.6ghZ chip...