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Intel 430FX ("Triton")

Intel's first Triton chipset, the 430FX, "put Intel on the map" in the world of chipsets, so to speak. Although it is now dated, and feature-wise does not compare well to its newer siblings the 430HX, 430VX and 430TX, the FX was at the time a real advance in the chipset world.

The FX's primary contribution technology-wise was support for EDO RAM. The FX chipset started the ball rolling toward the eventual shift in dominance from FPM to EDO memory. It improved upon the 430NX, but also in some ways was a step down from it. (Given this, it is surprising that so many people were surprised when Intel did something similar with the 430TX, but then not many people know much about the 430NX or 430FX).

The advantages of the 430FX over the 430NX are:

• Support for EDO memory.
• Supported for pipelined burst cache and synchronous cache technologies.
• PCI level 2.0 compliance.
• Improved performance, in general.

The disadvantages of the 430FX compared to the 430NX are:

• Less memory support (only 128 MB total).
• No support for dual processing.

The 430FX chipset is still occasionally seen in older motherboards for sale at computer shows or by surplus stores, but it is definitely obsolete. It was replaced by the Triton II twins: the 430HX and the 430VX.

Next: Intel 430HX ("Triton II")

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