Motherboards sales in June has been sluggish partly due to the high price of the 865 Intel chipset, according to Taiwanese motherboard makers.

Motherboard makers believe that sales will rise in July soon after Intel lowers Pentium 4 CPU prices at the end of June and introduces its value line 865PL chipset in July and VIA Technologies releases its competing PT800 chipset demand for DDR400-based motherboards.

The mainstream Intel 845 chipset line currently costs at least US$10 less than the 865. Intel plans to make the 865 its mainstream P4 chipset, projecting it will account for 30-40% of the company’s chipset sales by the third quarter and 50% by year-end.

In the meantime, motherboard makers are upgrading the functionality of 845-based motherboards to almost compete with the 865. For instance, motherboards based on the 845D chipset can now support a 533MHz FSB, up from 400MHz earlier. Boards based on the 845PE chipset can now support a 800MHz FSB, up from 533MHz.

By: DocMemory
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