Intel 850

The Intel 850 chipset was an early chipset designed by Intel to support the Pentium 4 processor. Released in late 2000, it was notable for its use of Rambus RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory) as the system memory. Unlike contemporary chipsets which utilized SDRAM or DDR SDRAM, the 850 was specifically engineered to leverage the high bandwidth capabilities that Rambus technology promised.

Key features of the Intel 850 included a dual-channel RDRAM memory interface, offering a theoretical peak bandwidth of 3.2 GB/s. This was significantly higher than the bandwidth available on competing chipsets using SDRAM at the time. The chipset also supported the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) for connecting graphics cards.

The 850's primary components were the Memory Controller Hub (MCH), responsible for managing the CPU, RDRAM, and AGP interface, and the I/O Controller Hub (ICH), which handled peripheral devices and storage. The ICH typically provided support for IDE drives, USB ports, and other standard I/O connections.

Despite its high bandwidth potential, the Intel 850 faced challenges. RDRAM was significantly more expensive than SDRAM and even early DDR SDRAM, which limited its adoption. Furthermore, the performance benefits of RDRAM in real-world applications were not always commensurate with the increased cost. The subsequent Intel 850E chipset offered improvements, including a faster front-side bus, but the high cost of RDRAM continued to be a barrier. Eventually, Intel transitioned to chipsets supporting DDR SDRAM, effectively ending the use of RDRAM in mainstream desktop computing.