Tench
Re: RAMBUST - bad news for Intel I'm afraid:
They are resorting to 600Mhz RDRAM as yields and prices of 800Mhz RDRAM are too high!!!
They keep shooting themselves in the foot and their heads simultaneously with this rambust fiasco:
Rambus Or Rambust? KH Yeap Wednesday, June 9, 1999 (5:49 PM EST)
Increasing pressure from the PC133 camp spearheaded by VIA is making Intel growingly uncomfortable, especially with Rambus facing yield problems and other technical glitches. As reported here earlier, motherboard makers have announced plans that can spoil Intel's Rambus/i820 party, i.e. adding PC133 support on their i820 (Camino) motherboards via memory transfter hub (MTH). Intel certainly has to react before Rambus becomes Rambust. First as a transitional solution, they are adding PC100 support to their upcoming i820. Then, according to this Digitimes Taiwan report, Intel plans to cut cost in Q4 99 by introducing 600 Mhz Rambus, which is estimated to be about 10 dollars cheaper than the 800 Mhz part. Interestingly the cheaper 600 Mhz Rambus also conveniently does not support MTH, making it impossible for a motherboard to support both 600 Mhz Rambus and PC133 at the same time.
Also, Intel will revive and improve the i815 under the codename Solano. Slated to come out Q1 2000, the integrated Solano will support AGP4X and 133 Mhz FSB. Now as opposed to i810, Solano will have an AGP slot on the motherboard in case the users choose not to use the integrated graphics adapter. Despite supporting 133 Mhz FSB, Solano will stick to 100 Mhz memory bus, thus will not support PC133. Man... talking about bitterness and ego! ;) |
