Intel's Pentium 4-compatible 850 chipset is an entirely new design compared to their existing Pentium III and Celeron products. The i850 consists of the 82850 North Bridge controller and the 82801BA South Bridge controller. The North Bridge are where the main changes are, including support for a 400 MHz Pentium 4 system bus and dual memory channels to RDRAM (with up to 3.2 GB/s data bandwidth). The i850 also supports standard technology such as AGP 4X, dual ATA-100 IDE controllers and two USB controllers. There are also other options such as AC '97 sound, LAN Connect Interface and support for CNR slots. Overall, the i850 provides exceptional memory and system bus performance, as well as keeping up with their competitors in terms of a feature set.

The layout of the Intel D850GB motherboard is pretty standard fare, which is hardly surprising given previous Intel motherboards and the company's natural familiarity with the Pentium 4. This is far from a negative, as having no real surprises lurking under the surface can be a real blessing and alleviate many potential installation headaches.

The board's design offers a selection of 1 AGP/5 PCI/1 CNR slots, which, with the exception of the CNR slot, is pretty basic for an i850 motherboard. As with other similar boards, the ISA slot has been left behind in legacy land. The board includes the standard 4 RIMM sockets, which supports memory configurations from 128 MB up to 2.0 GB. There are also the basic floppy and dual-IDE connectors and Intel has not tried to reinvent the wheel, and has left them situated nicely behind the IDE connectors. And in a welcome move, the D850GB also includes four fan headers, one for the CPU, two more for chassis cooling fans and one situated next to the RIMM sockets in you need additional memory cooling.

One area of interest with Pentium 4 motherboards is the arrangement of power connectors and how they fit with other system components. With the new Pentium 4 requiring a new ATX12V power supply, there are now three distinct power connectors compared to the usual single one found with previous ATX standards. Some motherboards have placed one or more of these new connectors in strange positions, resulting in innovative methods of snaking them around components while ensuring that system cooling is not affected. Thankfully Intel stuck with a pretty standard design, with the two primary power cord right beside the IDE connectors and the 12V line for processor voltage situated below the CPU, out of the way.

The D850GB also includes only the most rudimentary of ATX backplate options, such as two USB, two PS/2, one serial and one LPT ports... that's it. There is an on-board header for the second USB controller, but the second serial port is not supported. If you require on-board sound or LAN capabilities, then Intel does offer a more fully-featured product, the D850GBAL.