Don't believe this was ever posted:
baznet.freeserve.co.uk
9th July 1999
Sorry about the absence of an editorial for a couple of weeks. Well, we think that as
the launch of AMD's Athlon is looming large on the horizon that it is time to have a
look at what Intel are planning as a response. This of course will be the much talked
about Coppermine Pentium III processor coupled to the i820 chipset. Both of these
are delayed & we speculate as to the reasons why this may be happening.
Just to state that any opinion displayed here is what we believe at the Processor
Emporium (at the time of writing) and do not reflect the views of any manufacturer
(hardware or software), as we maintain to keep our intellectual independence over
such issues.
Intel: The Future
According to Intel's desktop processor roadmap of only a few months ago, early
July was meant to see the launch of the Coppermine Pentium III processor with its
accompanying i820 (nee Camino) chipset. This as we can see now, is not the
case, the Coppermine Pentium III is delayed until late September at the very
earliest (many are saying November) and it seems that the current Katmai Pentium
III and i440 BX chipset will hold the high ground for just a little bit longer.
To understand why we see such an uncharachteristic delay from Intel, we must
examine the technologies of the new processor and the i820 chipset to see what
may be wrong. There are, we believe a couple of very significant areas that Intel
needs to sort out before the Coppermine is ready to ship.
Coppermine Pentium III
The Coppermine Pentium III (will be marketed as Pentium III, Coppermine being its
code name), is the latest in a long line of derivations of the highly sucessful P6
processor family which started life with the Pentium Pro back in 1995. The most
significant feature of the Coppermine will be the inclusion of 256 Kb of level 2
cache on the chip's die enabling it to run at full clock speed. This marks a departure
from the current Pentium III processor which has 512 Kb located off chip (on the
processor module) running at 1/2 clock speed. The inclusion of 256 Kb level 2
cache running at full clock speed should give the Coppermine a significant speed
boost over current Pentium III designs.
The Coppermine will also feature an expanded level 1 cache. This will be 64 Kb
compared to the 32 Kb currently used by P6 processors. The Coppermine will also
use a 133 MHz Front Side Bus and will be manufactured using the 0.18 micron
process as compared to current P6 chips which are made using the 0.25 micron
process. The reduced die size will allow Intel to push speeds of the P6 design
above 600 MHz and we could well see 1 GHz achieved in the next year. The
processor will be mounted in a Socket 370 style adaptor and the chip itself will use
Intel's new patented "Flip chip" technology.
This chip though was meant to debut at 533 MHz around now, but as this is delayed
it is doubtful that any will run at speeds below 600 MHz. In the meantime we will see
the release of a 600 MHz Katmai Pentium III which will be a stopgap processor until
the Coppermine arrives. At the Processor Emporium, we don't feel that it is the
Coppermine which is holding back the release of this new chip, but rather its
chipset the i820 which we now turn our attention towards.
i820 chipset
Most of the delays surrounding the Coppermine stem in our opinion from the i820
chipset which will support it. The main reason for the hold up is Intel's decision to
build this core logic set around the new Direct Rambus (RDRAM) memory
technology. Unfortunatly this new memory standard is at present no faster than
current SDRAM, but cost significantly more to produce. Intel has said that it hopes
that the price of RDRAM will drop in time for its launch, but we doubt this will
happen. What we feel may the main reason for the delay is that Intel may be in the
process of re-engineering the i820 so that it will run with PC-133 SDRAM. Although
Intel ruled out this option until very recently, there have been some imndications (not
least from Craig Barrett of Intel himself) that PC-133 has been a contingency option
for Intel.
If PC-133 is used with the i820, this will be a very big climdown for Intel and a major
victory for their chipset rival, VIA. This is presumably the main reason why Intel is so
determined to stop production of VIA's Apollo Pro 133 chipset as it has beaten the
i820 to market as being the first 133 MHz Front Side Bus chipset, even though it
does not feature some of the features of the i820. These features will be included in
revision A of the Apollo Pro 133.
What we can look forward to with the i820 though, is a very advanced chipset
indeed. The i820 will feature a 133 MHz front Side Bus, AGP 4X & UDMA 66
support. It will be a chipset similar to the i810 in that it use the single Accelerated
Hub Architechture in place of separate North & South Bridge chipset controllers.
This will help the removal of legacy ISA slotsw from PC design as most i820
motherboards will use PCI & AGP expansion slots.
Delays aside, the i820 should be a very good chipset indeed following on from the
i440 BX. It will defitely be a worthy sucessor to the BX in for power users on
account of its feature set, but, the question must be asked, how will Coppermine
and the i820 stand up against the AMD Athlon & Irongate chipet? This will be hard
to tell, but with Coppermine & i820, it is clear that Intel are determined to make life
as hard as possible for the AMD Athlon.
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