Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of August 15, 1999

Older News

Intel quits discrete graphics-IC market for integrated approach

By Mark Hachman 

August 19, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

While Intel is the highest-profile company to date to make this decision, it may not be alone. Another low-end player, Trident Microsystems Inc., is leaning in this direction. And with Nvidia Corp.'s decision to partner with Acer Laboratories Inc., virtually every graphics chip company is now looking to direct some portion of new product development to integrating graphics and core logic (see next story, below). 

Nvidia, Acer to integrate 3-D graphics with core logic for low-cost PCs

August 19, 1999
Semiconductor Business News

The combination of Nvidia's 3-D graphics technology with Acer's core logic "will provide end users with the best possible graphics at the lowest possible cost," declared Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia. Taipei-based Acer Laboratories has been focused on serving low-cost PCs, and Nvidia hopes those connections will help move more of its 3-D graphics processors cores into the high-volume computing markets. 

Update: Benchmarking firm claims AMD manipulated Athlon test results

By Mark Hachman

August 19, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

FutureMark Software Corp. Ltd. said AMD is violating the trademark of the Toronto company's 3DMark 99 MAX test suite and terms of a related licensing agreement. While FutureMark has not taken any legal action against AMD, the company said AMD's actions were "inappropriate." 

According to FutureMark, AMD modified the 3D Mark 99 MAX test by optimizing the DLL test code for its recently released Athlon. AMD's own test results demonstrated that, in one of the two 3Dmark tests, the 600-MHz Athlon outperformed the 600-MHz Pentium III by more than 30%. Of the 13 test results accompanying AMD's Athlon performance assertions, the 3DMark figures were among the highest in favor of the chip. 

HP upgrade path bypasses Merced chip 

By Stephen Shankland

August 19, 1999
C/Net

The release date and performance of Merced has prompted many observers to say that the chip, the first "IA-64" processor, would be merely a test drive for the advanced architecture. HP's point of view, decribed at a conference here, is the first time that an insider and main proponent of the chip has recommending skipping it. 

Intel to boost Celeron in Y2K

By John G. Spooner

August 19, 1999
 ZDNet News

The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker will move Celeron from the Pentium II processor core to the Pentium III core based on its Coppermine technology, sources said. Coppermine is the code-name for Pentium III chips manufactured using Intel's 0.18 micron manufacturing process. The first chips to use
Coppermine, Pentium IIIs of 600MHz and greater, due in late October, sources said. 

Intel has software to overclock chips

By Mike Magee

August 19, 1999
The Register

The software, called NEWSPEED.EXE will push processors up to the limit.

The software is designed for OEMs and Intel staff themselves, one of whom said he had used it on a 450MHz processor, overclocking it to 550MHz for a year, without anything falling over. 

Intel abandons chip - $½ billion lost at sea

By Mike Magee

August 19, 1999
The Register

An Intel representative said today: "As far as I am aware, we are still in this business, producing the i752 chip." 

A month ago, it slit the throat of its i754 project, as reported here. 

Taiwan mobo makers put on severe BX/ZX allocations

By Mike Magee

August 19, 1999
The Register

But, says the wire, local manufacturers are already switching to chipsets from Via and SiS instead, causing a shortage of those parts and price increases. 

All the major mobo makers have received notice of shortages, including FIC, Asustek and MicroStar. 

HP's Merced strategy descends into farce

By Mike Magee

August 19, 1999
The Register

Earlier this year, we reported that the company was advising customers to go direct to McKinley IA-64 architecture, jumping over Merced. (Story: HP confirms Merced retreat) 

Not long after that, HP said Merced was a clear part of its strategy (Story: Intel will do Merced) 

Intel retreats from graphics chips

By Michael Kanellos

August 19, 1999
C/Net

Intel is getting out of the business of making discrete graphics chips for personal computers, according to a company spokesman, a market it entered less than 18 months ago to fanfare and dismal sales. The company will continue to produce "integrated" chipsets, which combine a standard PC chipset with a graphics processor, but these products will likely remain targeted at computers selling for $1,000 and less. 

The retreat is the result of poor sales and mediocre products, critics say, and is merely the latest in a series of missteps by Intel in this market. 

Nvidia reports big Q2 gains; signs graphics-chipset deal with Acer

By Mark Hachman

August 19, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

Nvidia, Santa Clara, Calif., recorded revenue of $78 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 ended Aug. 1, 1999, matched by a similarly robust profit of $6.7 million, or 19 cents per share. Revenue climbed 543% from $12.1 million in the same period a year ago, during which Nvidia reported a net loss of $9.7 million. 

Test firm claims AMD manipulated Athlon chip results

By Mark Hachman

August 18, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

FutureMark Software Corp. Ltd. alleges that AMD is now in violation of the trademark surrounding its 3DMark 99 MAX test suite and related licensing agreement. While FutureMark has not taken legal action against AMD, the company said AMD's actions were "inappropriate." 

According to FutureMark, AMD modified FutureMark's 3DMark 99 MAX test by optimizing the DLL test code for its recently released Athlon chip. AMD's own test results demonstrated that the 600-MHz Athlon outperformed the 600-MHz Pentium III by over 30% in one of the two 3DMark tests. Of the 13 test results accompanying the Athlon press release, the 3DMark figures were among the highest in favor of the Athlon chip. 

HP says skip the Merced chip, wait for new version 

By Stephen Shankland

August 18, 1999
C/Net

The release date and performance of Merced has prompted many observers to say that the chip, the first "IA-64" processor, would be merely a test drive for the advanced architecture. HP's decision, announced at a conference here, is the first time that an insider and main proponent of the chip has recommending skipping it.

About a year ago, HP was showing a road map that had its server computers adopting Merced in 2000. 

Will anyone want Sun's multimedia chip? 

By Michael Kanellos

August 18, 1999
C/Net

The MAJC chip architecture, outlined by Sun Microsystems at the Hot Chips conference, will be the cornerstone of the company's ambition to build a "media" processor--an embedded chip fine-tuned for video, audio, computer graphics, and other multimedia. Media processors will be used in television set-top boxes, digital TVs, and game consoles. 

Intel to cancel ads on Web sites without privacy warnings

Associated Press

August 18, 1999
SiliconValley.com

The decision by the world's largest maker of computer processors is the latest move to convince the federal government that the high-tech industry can regulate itself and that new privacy laws are not needed to protect consumers on the Internet.

Intel, which spent $1.3 billion on all advertising last year, is among the largest buyers of ads on the Internet, especially with its prominent campaign featuring the familiar ``Intel Inside'' swirl logo.

Eight-Way Intel Servers Get Stress Test

By Mitch Wagner

August 18, 1999
InformationWeek 

The first eight-way server based on Intel's Profusion chip set is due out next week from Compaq Computer, and several others are expected from Dell, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, among others. 

Intel next week will announce immediate availability of the Profusion chip set, which offers a standardized means of connecting up to eight processors in a single system. The previous limit from Intel was four processors, although individual vendors have implemented proprietary architectures that scale up to 64 processors. IT managers have not bought into those systems in a big way mainly because they were proprietary. 

Four letters added to Pentium III make for 10 times price hike

By Mike Magee

August 18, 1999
The Register

If you buy a stack of Pentium III/Xeons, for example, they'll typically cost you 10 times the price of a stack of bog standard Pentium IIIs. 

The answer, it appears, is validation. Intel representatives are at pain to assure us that these particular members of the PIII family, because they are designed for servers, are well worth the price. 

Coppermine Celeron waiting in wings

By Mike Magee

August 18, 1999
The Register

That would make it equivalent to current Pentium III technology, in the same way that the Celeron is really a cut Pentium II. 

No release date was given for the product but Intel is now claiming no 100MHz FSB Celeron will arrive until the crack of dawn of the year 2000, Ma Shipton willing. 

Happy Cat doc reveals Intel chipset futures

By Mike Magee

August 18, 1999
The Register

Two days back, we reported the existence of the roadmap, with dates for up-and-coming Intel technology including Coppermine, Willamette, Timna and Foster.  

According to the translated document, Intel will use a chipset called Tehama for the Willamette, which will inherit some of the characteristics of a chipset codenamed Camino II. 

Tom's Hardware speaks out over alleged Intel mobo muscle

By Mike Magee

August 18, 1999
The Register

Pabst, who has just posted a first look at AMD Athlon motherboards, said there was a "very strong rumour" that Intel is throwing its whole weight behind the threats. 

That, he says, goes some way towards explaining that only a handful of companies supported the Athlon at its launch in Taipei last week. 

Compaq beats Intel to the punch with eight-way servers 

By Dan Briody 

August 17, 1999
InfoWorld Electric

At a press conference held here Tuesday morning, the senior vice president of Compaq's Enterprise Solutions and Services Group, Enrico Pesatori, spoke of Compaq's intent to attack the emerging Internet service provider and application service provider market. 

"The growth of e-business is at the beginning, and it is being driven by the ISP and ASP market," Pesatori said. "Compaq intends to take a leadership stance, and these [eight-way] servers are at the center of our e-business strategy." 

Unix and Intel: A marriage made in Santa Cruz 

By Michael Lattig 

August 17, 1999
InfoWorld Electric 

Among the predictions offered by "Artsmen" were the inability of Windows NT to destroy Unix, Intel's upcoming Merced chip as the greatest volume opportunity Unix has ever seen, and the erosion of proprietary Unix strongholds due to the emergence of ever-more powerful Intel servers. 

"I see a renewed sense of purpose in the Unix community," Baines said. 

RegMark™ Lite® shows Celeron trashing AMD Athlon

August 17, 1999
The Register

According to Sherriff, he is unable to find a multimedia mark for the Athlon K7, so he has invented a way to use the Lite figure to compare all four processors on just two benchmarks. 

Said Sherriff: "This way the PIII/500 scores higher than the Athlon/600 which beats the PIII/600, but the Celeron still walks away with it." 

HP says it's on target for Merced next year

By Mike Magee

August 17, 1999
The Register

It also said that it will support MPE/iX on future IA-64 systems and confirmed it would incorporate Merced into its top end server lines by the middle of next year. 

Hugh Jenkins, product marketing manager for HP's enterprise division, said: "Due to collaboration with Intel on the 64-bit instruction set architecture, we understand...how to harness IA-64's power and smoothly transition our customers to this new platform." 

Look Out, It's Me!
Athlon, AMDs new super chip, enters the limelight

By Andreas Stiller

Volume 16, 1999
c't Magazine

AMD is fighting for survival. For quite some time now the only Intel competitor in the x86 camp worth mentioning has been writing red numbers, finally even a loss of 162 million Dollars. There were a few quarters with even and slightly positive balances but these could not compensate for the large accumulated losses of the past years. To stay afloat AMD had to sell the silverware in form of subsidiary Vantis. Now Athlon is send to the field to fight the 'last battle'. 

Server to open doors for Intel
First 8-way Xeon system from Unisys packs Profusion punch, room to grow

By Henry Baltazar

August 16, 1999
PC Week Labs

But this top performance comes at a significant price because an eight-way server such as the Aquanta ES5085 will cost almost as much as two four-way servers while delivering lower overall performance. Considering that the price of the processors makes up most of the total server price, IT managers who want to have room for growth should buy an eight-way-capable server now and add processors a generation later- after prices drop. 

All-new RegMark99™ shows Celeron outperforms Pentium III by 2.3 times

By Peter Sherriff

August 16, 1999
The Register

The flagship Pentium III does indeed offer superior performance over Celeron, especially in the MultimediaMark 99 and CPUMark99 benchmarks, but PIII floating point performance is way down on the cheapo chip due to Celeron's on-die L2 cache running at full core speed. 

Intel attempts to grab PC-133 spex

By Mike Magee

August 16, 1999
The Register

Earlier this week, we reported that Intel will introduce a so-called "Vancouver" motherboard next month that will allow system builders to switch between Direct Rambus and PC-133 modules. 

According to EBN, Intel wants to get control over the qualification stage of PC-133 parts, which will start to appear in volume from memory manufacturers in Q4. It will announce its plans at the Intel Developer Forum at the end of this month, the magazine says. The Register will, once again, be attending the IDF. 

PIII/600 with 133MHz FSB outed!!!

By Mike Magee

August 16, 1999
The Register

Kyle at HardOCP is pointing to Dabs Direct, which says the part will ship on the 26th of September next. 

An Intel representative said: "This is probably a typo." He said that all Intel had committed to was to produce the part in the second half of this year -- and the company is on schedule so to do. 

Happy Cat leaks stash of Intel futures

By Mike Magee

August 16, 1999
The Register

The document, which you can view here, also outlines the future sockets Intel will adopt over the next two years. 

According to the document, Willamette will use a 423 socket design. 

Five more Intel parts to join PIII/450 in chip gulag

By Mike Magee

August 14, 1999
The Register

But the Pentium III/450 will not feel lonely when it reaches the wastes of the virtual Intel Siberia. Cold, perhaps, but not lonely. 

Five other parts will join it in the lonely trek across the steppes, although the Intel document sent to its channel says that the parts have "limited availability". 

Pentium II family reaches end of the road

By Mike Magee

August 16, 1999
The Register

The chip giant has relentlessly pushed the Pentium III family into its place during the course of this year, and that process will be complete within the next few weeks, according to reliable sources. 

Over the weekend, we reported that the Pentium III/450 will have five chip companions when it enters DodoLand shortly. 

AMD favors PC133, DDR SDRAM over Rambus for Athlon 

By Anthony Cataldo

August 12, 1999
EE Times

"We've been talking about Rambus a long time, and it was looking like it would be the foremost architecture," said Samuel Rogan, AMD's marketing manager for Japan and Korea. "There will be a time when that will happen, but probably not until the end of 2000 or 2001." 

Intel may push separate 133-MHz SDRAM spec

By Jack Robertson

August 12, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

The new specifications, which Intel would not confirm, could include tighter timing parameters similar to the extensive engineering effort the company spearheaded prior to the introduction of PC100 SDRAM. 

DRAM makers, PC OEMs, and analysts believe Intel will tweak the 133-MHz specs to gain control of the new memory chips' qualification process. A revised set of specifications could also give Intel chipsets supporting 133-MHz memory a competitive edge over chipsets from Via Technologies Inc. and other rivals using current PC133 designs, sources said. 

Via's Cyrix acquisition may delay some microprocessor lines

By Mark Hachman

August 12, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News

The affected designs include Cyrix's M-III processor, code named Mojave, and a 6x86 derivative known internally as Gobi. 

Originally scheduled to ship in the first half of 2000, the Mojave core could be delayed until next fall, according to Ajay Misra, senior marketing manager for standalone processors at Cyrix's Richardson, Texas, facility. "It's hard to say," he said. 

Intel On Its Way to 64-Bit Technology

By Andreas Stiller

Volume 12, 1999
c't Magazine

What you find in about 800 pages of documentation (IA64 Application Instruction Set Architecture Guide und Developer's Architecture Guide [1]) does sound quite impressive. And it's no surprise, the architecture being all new and offering colossal things: 128 'general purpose' 64-bit and floating point registers each are waiting to be programmed, plus various application specific registers as well as so-called predication and branch registers. 

With declining chip prices, Intel emphasizes diversity 

By Michael Kanellos

August 13, 1999
C/Net

Intel, the No. 1 chipmaker, is facing dwindling profits in microprocessors. So the Silicon Valley stalwart has latched onto a grand plan to diversify from a tightly knit family of products to delivering a much broader array of hardware and services.  

It's a common theme in high technology today. The Internet economy and uprisings like the recent trend toward free PCs have forced many firms to reinvent themselves seemingly overnight.

Intel's new divisions cut wide swath 

By Michael Kanellos

August 13, 1999
C/Net

Nonetheless, No. 1 chipmaker has partially lowered the veil to better outline its four-pronged business structure, hatched earlier this year.

Under the new plan, the company is organized into four business units: the Intel Architecture Business Group (IAGB), which controls PC processors; the Network Communications Group (NCG), which makes chips for switches, modems, and other telecommunications products; the Communications Products Group (CPG), which makes communications products that can incorporate NCG chips, and the data services group known as the New Business Group (NBG).