Microprocessor
Headline News

Top Stories for September 18, 2000 (details below)
Electronic Buyers' News	Nvidia planning to stage integrated PC chipset market entrance
Electronic Buyers' News	Rambus defends patent position; calls Micron, Hyundai suits 'weak'
Electronic Buyers' News	Rambus license to have little impact on new NEC DRAM joint venture
C/Net	National Semi ships Geode for Net devices, set-top boxes
eWEEK	National Semi touts new 'PC-on-a-chip' Geodes
The Register Files
The Register	Crazed Kiwis run Celeron at 1057MHz

Microprocessor Headline News

Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of September 17, 2000

Older News

September 19, 2000
Nvidia planning to stage integrated PC chipset market entrance By Jack Robertson September 18, 2000 Electronic Buyers' News	Nvidia Corp. is preparing to enter the market for integrated PC-graphics chipsets within the next six months, taking on a select list of competitors that includes Intel Corp. and Taiwan's Big Three core-logic controller suppliers. According to industry sources, the Santa Clara, Calif., company is planning to offer a scaled-down version of its popular GE Force graphics card, using an internally developed south-bridge I/O controller and a north-bridge controller with integrated graphics functions to connect to PC133 SDRAM. Support for double-data-rate SDRAM will follow.
Rambus defends patent position; calls Micron, Hyundai suits 'weak' By Jack Robertson September 18, 2000 Electronic Buyers' News	Rambus Inc. last week denied charges leveled by Micron Technology Inc. that the design company has violated antitrust laws and should have patents related to key memory technology overturned by a U.S. court. Two weeks ago, Micron filed suit in Delaware federal court alleging that Rambus' synchronous-interface patents are “unenforceable” because the design firm failed to follow the rules of participation when it engaged in an open forum hosted by the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC).
Rambus license to have little impact on new NEC DRAM joint venture By Jack Robertson September 18, 2000 Electronic Buyers' News	OEMs contracting with NEC Corp. shouldn't expect last week's patent licensing deal between NEC and Rambus Inc. to affect their DRAM prices, given that the Japanese chip maker will cease paying royalties on these devices as of Jan 1. That's the date that NEC opens the doors on a joint-venture DRAM company with Hitachi Ltd., creating a development and marketing concern that so far has brokered no known agreement to license Rambus' synchronous-interface patents.
National Semi ships Geode for Net devices, set-top boxes By Ian Fried September 18, 2000 C/Net	Although the market for so-called information appliances is still in its infancy, National Semiconductor is already an old hat. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker today released its second generation of Geode chips that integrate a processor, graphics, audio and other capabilities on a single piece of silicon. Compaq Computer, America Online and 3Com are among the companies with product designs that already incorporate Geode chips.
National Semi touts new 'PC-on-a-chip' Geodes By Ken Popovich September 18, 2000 eWEEK	In touting three new embedded microprocessors utilizing its "PC-on-a-chip" technology introduced today, National Semiconductor Corp. appeared to have something of a chip on its shoulder about Transmeta Corp., a key rival and relative newcomer. But while National touts the price-performance advantages of its products, at least one analyst said the chips' core, based on Cyrix's old Media GX processor, is outdated and can't keep pace with the increasing performance demands of future Internet-based applications.
The Register Files
Crazed Kiwis run Celeron at 1057MHz By Andrew Thomas September 18, 2000 The Register	Wacko New Zealand site OCTools has succeeded in running (briefly) a hapless 566MHz Celeron at almost 1.1Ghz. All that was needed was 2 Gallons of Flourinert (cost: $1,000), copious quantities of dry ice and 30 litres of liquid nitrogen, large blocks of aluminium, tubing, clamps, thermometers and neoprene sheets, a couple of day's preparation and storing the mobo in the freezer overnight.
September 18, 2000
S3, Via offer chip set for low-cost PCs based on AMD processors September 15, 2000 Semiconductor Business News	S3 Inc. and Via Technologies Inc. today announced a fully integrated core logic chip set supporting the Athlon and Duron microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The ProSavage KM133 chip set, aimed at the "value PC" market segment, is coming from a joint venture being set up by S3 and Via in Taiwan. The two partners said the new offering combines Via's Apollo KT133 chip set functions and S3's Savage4 3-D and Savage2000 2-D graphics engines.
S3,VIA Launch Graphics Chipset With Full AMD Support September 15, 2000 Electronic News Online	Second fruits of the S3-VIA Technologies Inc. tie-up emerged today with the companies launching their ProSavage KM133 integrated graphics core logic chipset, which they claim, is the first integrated graphics core logic chipset with full support for Advanced Micro Devices’ Socket A Duron and Athlon. Aimed at the cheaper cost, higher volume PC market, ProSavage is a hybrid, that combines VIA's Apollo KT133 chipset with the S3 Savage4 3D and Savage2000 2D graphics engines.
Rambus Says It Has 'Three Ways To Win' By Mark Hachman September 15, 2000 TechWeb News	Rambus Inc. has unveiled its "three ways to win" strategy as part of its first analyst meeting. The IP manufacturer designed and licenses its Direct Rambus technology to DRAM manufacturers, which is considered to be both more expensive than conventional SDRAM, but also to offer higher bandwidth. Rambus has also begun to convince memory designers that it owns fundamental rights to that SDRAM, and to enforce royalty-bearing license agreements as a result.
The Register Files
AMD hits out at remarks, overclocking By Mike Magee September 18, 2000 The Register	Resellers of AMD's brand of microprocessors have been told by the firm of the three classifications it has for people who remark and/or overclock their chips, according to documents shown to Australian resellers. The first, overclocking by individuals, are by people who want to push the envelope. These people want to demonstrate the power of the technology, and AMD neither recommends nor encourages this activity. Overclocking, the firm says, can drastically shorten processor life and such parts are not under guarantee from the firm.
AMD spells out architecture plans By Mike Magee September 17, 2000 The Register	As accurately reported in both AMD Zone and JC's Pages, the Athlon 200MHz front side bus (FSB) will shortly increase to 266MHz, giving 2.128Gbps, while the EV6 bus it uses will scale successfully to 400MHz. An AMD presentation says that while Willamette (the Intel Pentium 4) will use the 400MHz data rate at 64 bits, this may be scaled back to match prices of mainstream PCs. Foster, AMD thinks, will have a 128-bit 400MHz FSB too.
AMD aims at the Enterprise By Mike Magee September 17, 2000 The Register	Australian resellers close to AMD's plans have showed The Register details of an extensive presentation the firm is touting to its customers. This part deals with its marchitecture, but we have also seen details of its future architecture plans, as already partly leaked at AMD Zone and at JC's Pages.
Foster is Pentium 4 Doppelganger By Mike Magee September 17, 2000 The Register	Sources close to Intel in Japan have told The Register that Foster, the server version of the Pentium 4, and which is expected sometime in the first half of next year, will now support double data rate (DDR) memory, although Rambus memory still remains something of an option for high end workstation platforms. Foster has essentially the same core as the Pentium 4 but utilises some features to enable four way symmetric multiprocessing, our source added.
Register becomes AMD approved By Mike Magee September 18, 2000 The Register	Confidential Slides seen by The Register over the weekend show that AMD is telling its resellers to visit our site, in order to see that double data rate (DDR) memory is better than Rambus. That, by the way, is not a conclusion we've ever come to. And this is a seal of approval that doesn't necessarily do us a great deal of good, we have to say.

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