Prescott, Intel's successor to today's Pentium 4 family, will not be compatible with current motherboards, an unnamed mobo maker has claimed.
The manufacturer told Anandtech that the first Prescotts - due in Q4 at around 3.4GHz, we'd add - will not be compatible with mobos based on Intel's 865 and 875 chipset families.
Those chipsets were designed with Prescott compatibility in mind. However, changes to the I/O voltage specifications mean that existing boards will not be able to support Prescott.
At this stage, it's not clear whether Intel has changed the game late in the day, or mobo makers have elected not to meet the full specification laid down by the chip giant. Intel has changed processor socket specs. before, so many users will no doubts assume it's to blame.
It also remains unknown whether the problem affects mobos based on third-party Pentium 4 chipsets.
Intel is expected to revamp Prescott's socket support in Q2 2004 in any case, but many mobo buyers have upgraded to 865 and 875-based boards now in order to ensure early compatibility with Prescott.
Confirmation of the problem comes from a leaked mobo maker roadmaps seen by Xbit Labs. The site claims the roadmap points to Prescott-compatible mobos in the second half of August - ie. not today, with current 865 and 875-based mobos. ®
