In his opening keynote at the Computex computer trade show, Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney unveiled the new Intel 3 Series Chipset family.

The products promise greater PC performance, clearer definition video and storage technologies that help better protect valuable data. Maloney said the chipsets are also designed to be used with the company's upcoming Intel 45 nanometer (nm) "Penryn family" processors expected later this year. More than 100 motherboard designs are underway, and he expects the new chipset family to be the fastest growing in Intel's history.

Maloney also said that Intel and Asustek are working together to offer a family of education focused, low-cost mobile PCs, with one model below $200.

Maloney also disclosed plans for an Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor product to be released by Intel in the third quarter of this year. The plan follows the company's Extreme Edition brand introduced for desktop PCs in 2003 and extends it to laptops, which continues to be the fastest-growing computing market segment. The upcoming chip is targeted to be the company's highest-performing mobile dual-core processor that still includes energy-saving power features for notebook-friendly designs.

The Intel 3 Series Chipsets, formerly codenamed "Bearlake" promise to offer high PC performance while helping to enable improved energy efficiency, system design and quietness. Computers with these chipsets can deliver CE-like video and sound quality and new data security and manageability features for business users and will be the foundation for Intel's next-generation Intel Viiv processor technology and Intel vPro processor technology, codenamed Salt Creek and Weybridge, respectively.

The Intel 3 Series Chipsets support DDR2 up to 800MHz, or DDR3 memory with data transfer speeds up to 1333 MHz. The chipsets also support PCI Express 2.0, which doubles the available bandwidth for graphics cards and are engineered to support Intel Turbo Memory which enables faster application loading and boot times.

The Intel 3 Series Chipsets also includes versions with integrated graphics called the Intel G33 and G35 Express Chipsets. These products will include Intel Clear Video Technology which can enhance video playback and supports the High Definition Media Interface (HDMI). System manufacturers can also support HD DVD and Blu-ray disc playback with these chipsets at a lower system cost than most discrete graphics cards. Additionally, the G35 integrates hardware support for MS DX10.

All of the Intel 3 Series Chipsets enable users to add up to six external drives to a PC for extra data protection and performance, Intel High Definition Audio for up to 7.1 surround sound quality and Intel Quiet System Technology to help enable reduced system noise and heat.

The Intel G33 and P35 Express Chipsets have been shipping since April, while the Intel Q33 and Q35 Express Chipsets are shipping now ahead of their Q3'07 introduction. The Intel G35 Express Chipset and the advanced Intel X38 enthusiast chipset with dual graphics support will ship within 90 days.