oldsarge
Indeed it seems it's just a processor list update, that was my first thought with the 8600 coming out and all. However, if you think about it, 2 1/2 months to just update processor support? And if you read the updates listings in previous BIOSes the versions remain within the 15xx range with a lot of fixed issues and new stuff. Now, they go all the way to 1782 and just processor update? Not convinced here. I think (and hope) they didn't finish the list of all the available updates with this new version, only the first line was included. The rest of it they forgot to write down.
Well, I believe Tony is on vacation, maybe he can shed some light on the new improvements as far as memory support they were working on, if that was included or not.

mpeg3s
Yes, I had the same problem, they said Intel would give the support, guess Intel will do nothing though, still waiting for their reply. However, I believe they don't do any development of the drivers themselves, they only wrap the IDT drivers I guess.