For those with these high end systems, or those planning on buying one, here is a brief explanation of the chipsets. These chipsets are all Intel since Intel dominates the Pentium Pro and Pentium II market.

450GX/KX “Orion”

This is Intel’s first Pentium Pro chipset. They are high-priced chipsets. It comes in two versions: the GX and KX. The GX is the server version of the chipset, with support of 4GB of 4-way interleaved memory and up to 4 processors. It also supports 2 separate PCI buses. The KX is meant for workstations, although it is powerful enough for a server as well. It supports 1GB of 2-way interleaved memory and 2 processors. Both chipsets operate on the 66 MHz bus and support FPM and EDO memory modules. Due to the high price, these chipsets aren’t much used in PC’s. Also, pay attention to the revision number. The early versions had some bugs that reduced performance.

440FX “Natoma”

This is the mainstream chipset for the Pentium Pro motherboard. You can use it with the Pentium II, but most P2 users prefer the LX or BX chipsets. The cost of this chipset is reduced significantly. It lacks some of the features of the GX/KX chipset, but boasts better performance. It does not have the limited cacheable memory as to most Socket 7 chipsets, simply because the RAM timings are handled through the on-board controller in the P2 cartridge itself. It is similar to the HX chipset in features. The 440FX is an old chipset and lacks some modern features such as Ultra-DMA support, SDRAM support, and power management. It does, however, support 2 processors with SMP, BEDO RAM, and lower CPU-utilization.

440LX

The next, and most popular, chipset by Intel designed specifically with the Pentium II in mind, although it supports the Pentium Pro as well. It makes up for the FX’s shortcomings by supporting Ultra-DMA and SDRAM, and also supports USB and AGP. It is the best features of the 430TX and 440FX chipsets combined. The chipset offers support for up to 512MB of SRRAM and 1 GB of EDO RAM. The LX chipset is able to improve performance when SDRAM is used with it by requiring special modules with onboard EEPROM to be used in order to enable communications between the chipset and the RAM. This chipset also offers improved performance over the FX, especially when running the Pentium II.

This chipset started the official move away from Socket 7 with Intel. Supporting mainly the Pentium II, along with AGP and full PC97 compliance, this chipset was Intel’s powerhouse chipset.

440BX

This chipset is much like the 440LX. Its biggest advantage, though, is the official support for the 100MHz bus speed. Previously, Intel had never officially supported anything greater than 66MHz. This new official setting shows us that the chipset is designed to be set at 100MHz, instead of having to be overclocked. While this will help us use better memory timings for improved performance, the L2 cache speed won’t really change since this is on a separate bus.

440GX

Intel’s newest lineup for the Pentium II chipset market. The main difference here between this and the BX chipset is in processor support. While the GX chipset offers full support for the regular old Pentium II, it also fully supports the Xeon processor, which uses the Slot 2 interface. The Xeon is, of course, geared mainly toward the high-end workstation and server, so the GX chipset will be found, at least for a while, in these types of machines. Other than this, and the ability to handle up to 2GB of SDRAM, this chipset is not much different than the BX chipset.

Via Apollo Pro

While Intel was long the only maker of Pentium II chipsets, it was only about time before someone else got into it. Of course, the delay was expected, with Intel patenting Slot 1 to itself. Nonetheless, Via has come out with it’s own P2 chipset. Much like the BX chipset in basic features, Apollo Pro throws some new fuel on the fire. First, the chipset supports 5 PCI master devices as opposed to 3 by its Intel counterpart. This is ideal for the ISA-less motherboard. Also, like the MVP3, you can use a different memory clock speed than the main system bus speed, thus re-using some of that old PC66 memory you have lying around.

SiS 620

SiS got into the Pentium II game as well. The SiS 600 preceded the 620. It is mainly a budget chipset, supporting many notable features while aimed at the sub-$1000 PC market. The 620 is bascially the same chipset with some more integration. It supports up to 1.5GB SDRAM, 100MHz bus speed (with dual bus speeds like the MVP3), UltraATA-33/66, and UMA. But, the big news here is that the chipset integrates a 2D/3D accelerator into it. This makes it more adequate for budget PC’s.

ALi Alladin Pro II

Yep, ALi has one too. This chipset has the standard features for a P2 chipset. It supports all Pentium II’s and Celeron, 100MHZ FSB, AGP 2X, 1GB of SDRAM (or 2GB of EDO), among the other standard features.