Motherboard makers said that it would not be difficult for Intel to roll out a single-channel product. The would-be chipset not only would press on prices, it would also likely to affect sales of Intel’s 845PE chipsets, of which Intel still holds quite a bit of inventory, the sources said.

Some motherboard makers have been offering an overclocking function on their 845PE boards, allowing the products to support the 800MHz front-side bus standard of the new Pentium 4 processors. The rumored single-channel 865 chipset would support similar specifications.