<Yes, their offical position is still to cram it down everyone's throat. But if Starkey is getting any info from Intel rather than just making it up if sounds like they are acknowledging in a low key way that 440 BX and i810e will work with Coppermine and Box makers will likely be giving Intel feedback that they want them. The completion of this process will become evident when Intel acknowledges that they have started wafers for either 440 BX or i810e or both to match up with Coppermine in Sept. Be on the lookout for this announcement any day now.>
Big deal. Box makers were pretty resistant to the transition between 440LX and 440BX, and that was a mild transition compared to the one between 440BX and Camino. There are a lot of players in the game, each one at various stages of development. Handling all their expectations at the same time is pretty complicated. No, Intel never had an "official" policy to cram a technology down anyone's throats. That kind of stuff only gives fodder to people who love spreading anti-Intel FUD.
As for DRDRAM, like I said, there are many players in the game at various stages of development. Some, like Samsung, are all ready to go with DRDRAM production. Some others will be pushing PC133 and/or DDR SDRAM technology, perhaps to hide the fact that they are behind on DRDRAM support. The rest will be hedging their bets.
<Correct me if I'm wrong but Intel's position is that all Coppermine users must use either drdram or the DIMMwitt Riser.>
I don't know if the riser card is still supported. My guess is that the MTH (Memory Translator Hub) will be placed on the motherboard itself, allowing some Camino motherboards to put a combination of SDRAM and DRDRAM slots. I don't think there'll be any performance penalty with DRDRAM, even if an MTH is present. I don't know about SDRAM's performance through the MTH. There may be some added latency, but the performance penalty will probably be miniscule.
Tenchusatsu |
