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Intel 430NX ("Neptune")

The 430NX was the original chipset used for Intel's second generation Pentium chips, covering Pentiums with speeds from 90 to 133 MHz (which, of course, also work in later Pentium chipsets). The biggest improvement with this generation of technology was the newer Pentium itself: it ran much faster, cooler and more reliably than the first generation Pentiums did. In addition, the chipset itself introduced the following improvements over the Mercury (430LX) chipset:

• Dual processor support.
• Support for 512 MB of system memory (up from 128 MB for the Mercury).
• Support for up to 512 KB of asynchronous secondary cache.

While this was a good chipset, it didn't really introduce any major, ground-breaking new technologies, and it wasn't really well-publicized. Like the Mercury before it, it faded before the introduction of the Triton line, and about the only place to find information about it today is checking the motherboard manufacturers for spec sheets on their older boards.

Next: Intel 430FX ("Triton")

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