HardOCP, HotHardware, Neoseeker, TechReport and TweakTown have published an articles for the official Intel 'Bearlake' P35 chipset launch. Does Intel's new P35 Express meet the lofty standards set by the legendary 440BX and the possible legend-in-the-making P965 Express? Is the transition to DDR3 one you'll want to make?

- In the mainstream, Intel's new "965" equivalent is the P35. As you can see, support for DDR3-1066MHz is in there, as well as support for up to a 1333MHz system bus. You can be sure motherboard manufacturers, like Asus, will offer BIOS options for DDR3-1333 memory speeds as well, though technically the chipset doesn't officially support it. The chipset does also offer legacy DDR2 memory support, though that will depend on the DIMM sockets that are populated on the board.

- Over the course of our testing, we saw the new Intel P35 chipset and DDR3 memory combination offer up gains in the 2 - 5% range in various applications. This was largely attributed to the new Intel MCH and its improved access latency characteristics. There were several occasions where the P35 chipset driven Asus P5K3 Deluxe out-paced its 965 counterpart with the same DDR2 memory running in its DIMM slots. In terms of DDR3 memory, it's obvious the technology is still maturing somewhat but at its higher clock speeds, especially with a correspondingly higher FSB, there are significant gains to be had.

- That said, initial DDR3 modules won't be cheap-expect to see the Corsair DDR3-1066 sticks we tested today running at least $400 for a 2GB kit, with the DDR3-1333 carrying an even heftier price premium. The rare and minimal performance gains aren't worth the extra scratch, so you're better off sticking with more affordable DDR2 unless you're looking to enhance your street cred or set records with extreme memory overclocking.

- Overall, the P35 looks like a solid successor to the P965. Only time will tell if this is another BX in the making, but with a solid array of integrated peripherals, apparently ample overclocking potential, and flexibility on the memory front, it has more than a fighting chance. In fact, if I were building a Core 2-based system for myself today, it would have a P35 Express under the hood-albeit with DDR2 memory.