Xpress 3200
Encyclopedia
The Xpress 3200 is a new revision of the Xpress 200
computer chipset
released by ATI
. The chipset supports AMD64 processors of the Socket 939
and also of the Socket AM2
.
was launched with the Crossfire edition of the chipset considered as the high end of the chipset. However, rolling delays with the Crossfire Master Cards forced ATI to launch the Socket 939 platform whilst the Intel platform was scrapped due to time constraints. Reviews painted the Xpress 200 Crossfire as a board that could match nVidia's nForce 4 SLI
. With the release of the nForce 4 16x SLI, ATI changed strategy and announced the RD580 chipset.
The RD580 was no different with the Xpress 200 chipset with the exception of the 40 PCI Express lanes within the Northbridge. It was claimed by ATI that having 2 chipsets with 20 PCI Express lanes would slow down data transfers when the chipset is working with multi-GPU configurations. Having just all the PCI Express lanes within the Northbridge claimed to be more efficient and less bottlenecking as compared to the nForce 4 16x SLI. The RD580 was called the Radeon Xpress 3200 and was released on March 1, 2006. Supposedly, the chipset is also configured for the new Socket AM2
and of such, many motherboard manufacturers have decided to skip the Socket 939 RD580 and began R&D on the Socket AM2 RD580. [ASUS M2R32-MVP]
With the launch of the Socket AM2, ATI also announced the release of their SB600 southbridge
which was to be compatible with the RD580 northbridge. Originally, the SB450/SB460 was highly flawed in the USB design and lacking in cutting edge features as compared to nVidia's counterpart which resulted in low sales. The ULi
1575 Southbridge was the other preferred Southbridge until nVidia took over ULI. As a result, high expectations was placed on ATI to design a Southbridge that was on-par or greater than the ULI 1575. As reference boards for Socket AM2 trickled out, many sites commented that ATI now had an even footing against nVidia with great improvement in the SB600.
Currently, it is rumoured that the final Intel based chipset (the "RD600") is a variant of the RD580 but contains the memory controller in the Northbridge and support for 3 PCI Express x16 slots.
As of the final acquisition of ATI, AMD has current moved to rename all ATI chipsets for the AMD platform. The Xpress 3200 Crossfire chipsets for AMD platform (Socket AM2) have been renamed as the AMD 580X Crossfire chipset.
configuration, as CrossFire
, to run two or more PCI-E graphics cards in 2 physical PCI-E x16 slots.
manufacturer have dropped plans to produce motherboards using RD600 chipset. However, the first motherboard using the chipset will be produced by DFI
and the first retail product was scheduled for release December 2006, named as "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G". As of January, there are now actual products of "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G" on sale in some places such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
As the NDA rapidly approached, some popular overclocking sites such as XtremeSystems and VR-Zone started posting teasers for the soon to be released "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G". However, a big surprise was the revelation that the RD600 was based on a version of the RD480 or the Xpress 1600 chipset. One popular reason for this was that the RD480 was also designed for an Intel platform but constant delays and revision issues caused the Intel RD480 to become the RD600.
Recent report says ASUS
has finished a chipset design for RD600.
Xpress 200
The Radeon Xpress 200 is a computer chipset released by ATI. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors as well as supporting Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron processors...
computer chipset
Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
released by ATI
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
. The chipset supports AMD64 processors of the Socket 939
Socket 939
Socket 939 is a CPU socket released by AMD in June 2004 to supersede the previous Socket 754 for Athlon 64 processors. Socket 939 was succeeded by Socket AM2 in May 2006. It is the second socket designed for AMD's AMD64 range of processors.-Availability:...
and also of the Socket AM2
Socket AM2
The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments...
.
History of the Xpress 3200 chipset
The Radeon Xpress chipset was designed by ATI to enter the realm of the desktop arena, especially the AMD Socket 939 platform where ATI's rival, nVidia, had a clear market advantage. The Xpress 200Xpress 200
The Radeon Xpress 200 is a computer chipset released by ATI. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors as well as supporting Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron processors...
was launched with the Crossfire edition of the chipset considered as the high end of the chipset. However, rolling delays with the Crossfire Master Cards forced ATI to launch the Socket 939 platform whilst the Intel platform was scrapped due to time constraints. Reviews painted the Xpress 200 Crossfire as a board that could match nVidia's nForce 4 SLI
NForce4
The nForce4 is a motherboard chipset released by Nvidia in October, 2004. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors and Intel Pentium 4 LGA 775 processors.-nForce4/nForce4-4x:...
. With the release of the nForce 4 16x SLI, ATI changed strategy and announced the RD580 chipset.
The RD580 was no different with the Xpress 200 chipset with the exception of the 40 PCI Express lanes within the Northbridge. It was claimed by ATI that having 2 chipsets with 20 PCI Express lanes would slow down data transfers when the chipset is working with multi-GPU configurations. Having just all the PCI Express lanes within the Northbridge claimed to be more efficient and less bottlenecking as compared to the nForce 4 16x SLI. The RD580 was called the Radeon Xpress 3200 and was released on March 1, 2006. Supposedly, the chipset is also configured for the new Socket AM2
Socket AM2
The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments...
and of such, many motherboard manufacturers have decided to skip the Socket 939 RD580 and began R&D on the Socket AM2 RD580. [ASUS M2R32-MVP]
With the launch of the Socket AM2, ATI also announced the release of their SB600 southbridge
Southbridge (computing)
The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...
which was to be compatible with the RD580 northbridge. Originally, the SB450/SB460 was highly flawed in the USB design and lacking in cutting edge features as compared to nVidia's counterpart which resulted in low sales. The ULi
Acer Laboratories Incorporated
Acer Laboratories Incorporated is a major designer and manufacturer of integrated circuits for the personal computer and embedded systems markets. It is a subsidiary of the Acer group....
1575 Southbridge was the other preferred Southbridge until nVidia took over ULI. As a result, high expectations was placed on ATI to design a Southbridge that was on-par or greater than the ULI 1575. As reference boards for Socket AM2 trickled out, many sites commented that ATI now had an even footing against nVidia with great improvement in the SB600.
Currently, it is rumoured that the final Intel based chipset (the "RD600") is a variant of the RD580 but contains the memory controller in the Northbridge and support for 3 PCI Express x16 slots.
As of the final acquisition of ATI, AMD has current moved to rename all ATI chipsets for the AMD platform. The Xpress 3200 Crossfire chipsets for AMD platform (Socket AM2) have been renamed as the AMD 580X Crossfire chipset.
Common Features
- Support for up to 40 PCI ExpressPCI ExpressPCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
lanes within Northbridge. 32 PCI Express lanes dedicated for two 16x PCI Express slots. 4 PCI Express lanes for interconnection with Northbridge and Southbridge (A-Link II). Other PCI Express lanes configured to manufacturer. - Compatible with either ATI's SB450/SB460/SB600 or ULI's M1573/M1575 Southbridge.
- Support for up to 8 USBUniversal Serial BusUSB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
2.0 ports. - Support for 4 SATASerial ATASerial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
and 4 PATA drives. The SATA can be formed a RAID 0, 1 or 0+1 if used with the SB450/SB460 Southbridge. Support for 4 SATA and 4 PATA drives and the SATA can be formed into a RAID of 0, 1, 1+0, 5 or JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) if used with the ULI M1575 Southbridge. Support for 4 SATA and 2 PATA drives if used with the SB600. RAID support in the SB600 is still a standard 0, 1 or 1+0. - AC97 High DefinitionIntel High Definition AudioIntel High Definition Audio refers to the specification released by Intel in 2004 for delivering high-definition audio that is capable of playing back more channels at higher quality than previous integrated audio codecs like AC'97...
audio with either Realtek ALC882/ALC882D/ALC888/ALC883, SoundBlaster Live! 24bit or Analog Devices AD1986A. - Support for up to 7 PCIPeripheral Component InterconnectConventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
slots. - Support for multi-GPU configuration known as CrossFireATI CrossFireAMD CrossFireX is a brand name for the multi-GPU solution by Advanced Micro Devices, originally developed by ATI Technologies. The technology allows up to four GPUs to be used in a single computer to improve graphics performance.-First-generation:CrossFire was first made available to the public...
.
Xpress 3200 for socket 939
- Supports all socket 939 CPUs including the Opteron series for socket 939
- DDR support up to DDR400 and in 4GB capacity.
- Dongleless CrossfireCrossfireA crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
for the X1300 series, X1600 series, the X1800GTO and as well as the unofficial support for X1900GT.
Motherboards
- AbitAbitAbit may refer to:*Universal abit, a Defunct Taiwanese computer firm*Abit, Burma, a village in Burma*Abit , an asphalt production company in Surenavan, Armenia...
- AT8-32x - AsusASUSASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
- A8R32-MVP - DFIDFIDFI, or Diamond Flower Inc., is a major motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan.-History:DFI was first established in 1981 by Y.C Lu. At that time, DFI began as a graphics card maker with a turnover of 100 cards...
- UT Lanparty CFX3200 - SapphireSapphire TechnologySapphire Technology is a Hong Kong-based technology company, which produces graphics cards for personal computers and workstations, motherboards, TV tuner cards, digital audio players and LCDTVs...
- PURE Crossfire A9RD580
Xpress 3200 for Socket AM2
- Supports all Socket AM2Socket AM2The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments...
CPUs. - DDR2DDR2DDR2 may refer to:* DDR2 SDRAM, the computer memory technology* Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix, the video game* DDR2 , a human gene...
support up to DDR2 800 and in 8GB capacity. - Dongleless CrossfireCrossfireA crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
for the X1300 series, X1600 series, the X1800GTO and as well as the unofficial support for X1900GT. - Renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset.
Motherboards
- AbitAbitAbit may refer to:*Universal abit, a Defunct Taiwanese computer firm*Abit, Burma, a village in Burma*Abit , an asphalt production company in Surenavan, Armenia...
- AT9-32X - AsusASUSASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
- M2R32-MVP - DFIDFIDFI, or Diamond Flower Inc., is a major motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan.-History:DFI was first established in 1981 by Y.C Lu. At that time, DFI began as a graphics card maker with a turnover of 100 cards...
- Infinity CFX3200-M2R/G - DFIDFIDFI, or Diamond Flower Inc., is a major motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan.-History:DFI was first established in 1981 by Y.C Lu. At that time, DFI began as a graphics card maker with a turnover of 100 cards...
- LanParty UT CFX3200-M2R/G - ECSECS-In technology:*Amazon E-Commerce Service, former name of the Amazon Associates Web Service, now known as Amazon Product Advertising API*eComStation, a computer operating system...
- KA3 MVP v1.0A - EPoXEPoXEPoX was a manufacturer of motherboards, video cards and communication products. They manufactured mainboards for AMD and Intel processors, which are renowned for being overclocker-friendly yet affordable. Many of their products used the same StudlyCaps naming convention as the company...
- Optimus EP-AD580 XR - MSIMicro-Star InternationalMicro-Star International Co., Ltd is a Taiwan-based electronics company and one of the world's largest motherboard and video card manufacturers.-Overview:MSI is one of the top three motherboard and video card manufacturers worldwide...
- K9A Platinum - PC Partner - RD580AKM-AA1D
- SapphireSapphire TechnologySapphire Technology is a Hong Kong-based technology company, which produces graphics cards for personal computers and workstations, motherboards, TV tuner cards, digital audio players and LCDTVs...
- PC-AM2RD580 - SapphireSapphire TechnologySapphire Technology is a Hong Kong-based technology company, which produces graphics cards for personal computers and workstations, motherboards, TV tuner cards, digital audio players and LCDTVs...
- PC-AM2RD580Adv
Intel platform
The Xpress 3200 chipset for Intel platform is under the "RD600" codename, supporting Intel LGA 775 CPUs, such as Core 2 Duo, and the support for multi-GPUGraphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
configuration, as CrossFire
Crossfire
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
, to run two or more PCI-E graphics cards in 2 physical PCI-E x16 slots.
Availability
The RD600 has undergone delays over the months, it was originally expected to be released in Q2'06. As ATI was officially merged with AMD on the October 25, 2006, it is being more unclear that ATI will offer more chipsets supporting Intel CPUs. Since RD600 was delayed, it was reported that some of the motherboardMotherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
manufacturer have dropped plans to produce motherboards using RD600 chipset. However, the first motherboard using the chipset will be produced by DFI
DFI
DFI, or Diamond Flower Inc., is a major motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan.-History:DFI was first established in 1981 by Y.C Lu. At that time, DFI began as a graphics card maker with a turnover of 100 cards...
and the first retail product was scheduled for release December 2006, named as "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G". As of January, there are now actual products of "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G" on sale in some places such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
As the NDA rapidly approached, some popular overclocking sites such as XtremeSystems and VR-Zone started posting teasers for the soon to be released "DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200 - TR2/G". However, a big surprise was the revelation that the RD600 was based on a version of the RD480 or the Xpress 1600 chipset. One popular reason for this was that the RD480 was also designed for an Intel platform but constant delays and revision issues caused the Intel RD480 to become the RD600.
Recent report says ASUS
ASUS
ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
has finished a chipset design for RD600.
Official Features
- 2 or 3 physical PCI-E slots
- 20 PCI-Express lanes configured with 2 PCI-E lanes dedicated for Northbridge and Southbridge connection, 16x PCI-E lane for dedicated graphics (2 8x PCI-E lanes when in Crossfire mode) and a 2x lane for Crossfire physics. The revised Northbridge - Southbridge link from the RD580 is used and a revised PCI-E controller built into the Northbridge.
- Support for up to 6 SATASerial ATASerial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
harddisks
Rumours
- RD600 is of better performance in overclocking capabilities than the main competitors, "nForce 680iNForce 600The nForce 600 chipset was released in the first half of November 2006, coinciding with the GeForce 8 series launch on November 8, 2006. The nForce 600 supports Intel's LGA 775 socket and AMD's Quad FX platform and replaces the nForce 500 series....
", Intel 975X and P965 chipsets. - One of the Hong Kong DIY magazines, e-zoneE-zonee-zone is a Hong Kong Computer Magazine. It publishes weekly with three different sections: PC, Digital & DIY Zone. The price of the magazine is HKD$15. e-zone claims that it is the #1 Computer Digital Magazine in Hong Kong....
, have teamed up with Team Anti-X to perform an overclocking test to the RD600 chipset, and the highest bus speed obtained was 524 MHz using liquid Nitrogen on the Northbridge.
Trivia
- The RD580 was codenamed "Manta". The reason was because of the use of aquarium fishes for codenames within ATI.
- Engineering samples were completed just after the launch of nVidia's nForce 4 16x SLI.
- The RD580 was supposedly launched on the same day the Radeon X1900Radeon R520ATI's "R520" core is the foundation for a line of DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.0 3D accelerator X1000 video cards. It is ATI's first major architectural overhaul since the "R300" core and is highly optimized for Shader Model 3.0. The Radeon X1000 series using the core was introduced on October 5,...
but it was delayed to coincide with the launch of the socket AM2. However, with the slippage in the Socket AM2 to June 6, 2006, ATI decided to launch on March 1, 2006. - The package of the RD580 is no bigger than a US 50 cents and has a thermal dissipation rating of 7 watts.
- The world record for highest 3DMark20053DMark3DMark is a computer benchmarking tool created and developed by Futuremark Corporation to determine the performance of a computer's 3D graphic rendering and CPU workload processing capabilities. Running 3DMark produces a 3DMark score with higher numbers indicating better performance...
score using Crossfire was achieved on this chipset during the launch. - Asus was rumoured selling the chipset before the launch of the Xpress 3200 in Seville. It was confirmed by various overclocking websites all round the world.
- The Xpress 3200 is pin compatible with the Xpress 200Xpress 200The Radeon Xpress 200 is a computer chipset released by ATI. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors as well as supporting Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron processors...
boards, making R&D much more cost effective. - ATI released the Xpress 3200 for AM2 after nVidia's launch of the nForce 500NForce 500The nForce 500 is a motherboard chipset series and the successor to the nForce4 series. It was revealed by NVIDIA on 2006-03-07 and released on 2006-05-23...
series. - AMD has renamed the chipsets for AMD platform as the AMD 580X Crossfire after the takeover of ATI.