Jim and Thread - This is interesting: Future Power to offer overclockable dual Celeron system.
zdnet.com
Future Power's new PC: Dual Celerons, overclocking optional
By John G. Spooner, ZDNet News
August 24, 1999 3:40 PM ET
"Multiprocessing" and "Celeron" are not meant to be synonymous, especially according to Intel Corp., but a newcomer in the PC arena is putting the two together.
Future Power Inc., best known for its ePower iMac look-alike, is preparing to announce Dual Millennium -- a new line of dual Celeron processor computers that it says support multitasking and multithreaded applications. Not only that, Future Power says the Dual Millenium will match similar single-Pentium III machines in performance.
However, the Dual Millennium could attract more attention -- and controversy -- as a result of its specialized dual Celeron motherboard, which lets PC owners overclock their processors by up to eight times their intended speeds.
Founded in October 1998, Future Power, of Santa Clara, Calif., is a relative newcomer to the PC industry. It has a partnership with Daewoo Telecom, a subsidiary of Daewoo Group, which makes a number of the components used in Future Power PCs. The company's goal is to bring low-cost PCs with the latest technology to a variety of users, including families, students and small businesses.
Its latest offering will likely be as controversial as its last. Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) filed suit against Future Power claiming ePower's design was lifted from the iMac.
Two Millenium models
The Dual Millennium line will offer two different models at first.
A "mid-tower" model with a mid-sized chassis was designed for power users, including graphic designers and gamers. The second, a "full tower," was designed to be a low-end server for small businesses or homes. The two models will be available at the end of the month, Future Power officials said.
The mid-tower model will come with a pair of 466MHz Celeron chips, 128MB of memory, a 20GB hard drive and a 6X DVD-ROM drive. Its graphics depend on a Diamond Multimedia (DIMD) Stealth III accelerated graphics port card with 32MB of on-board memory. The mid-tower will come preloaded with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0 operating system. It will be priced at $1,499. It can be bundled with a 19-inch monitor for $1,899.
The full-tower also uses the twin 466MHz Celeron chips but adds 256MB of memory and a 3Com Corp. Fast Etherlink network interface card along with a 48X CD-ROM drive. Its graphics aren't as beefy, offering only an 8MB board with AGP graphics, manufactured by either Diamond Multimedia or ATI Technologies Inc. This machine will come preloaded with the Linux operating system. Windows NT is an option. It will be priced at $1,399.
The systems achieve their dual-processor status by using a specialized motherboard developed by ABIT Computer Corp., of Taipei, Taiwan. The motherboard, called the ABIT BP6, integrates two 370-pin sockets for pin-grid array Celeron chips.
"The ABIT motherboard is a really famous board for reliability. It's really popular among gamers," said Dong Yun, a system engineer at Future Power. "Basically, the Dual Millenium is for a user that wants to use a more powerful [Pentium III] PC, but cannot afford it."
The motherboard also includes hardware that makes the dual Celeron setup possible. Celeron processors, according to Intel, are not designed to be used in multiprocessor computers. It is, however, possible to use two of the chips together by altering them physically.
The BP6 motherboard pairs the two Celeron chips without altering them.
It also features a jumper-less design, which allows customers to set their own processor parameters in the PC's BIOS, using an ABIT software utility called Soft Menu II. The utility lets users set processor parameters, including clock multipliers from 2X to 8X.
This practice, called overclocking, "is not recommended," said Yun, pointing out Future Power's stance on overclocking. A user could easily use Soft Menu II to overclock their two Celeron CPUs. Overclocking pushes the chip to run at a faster clock speed than it was marked with.
The Celeron chip is a favorite for overclockers, who boost 333MHz or 366MHz chips to higher clock speeds by manipulating jumper settings on their PCs' motherboards.
Caveat emptor
Buyers should beware, according to Intel.
Though most users understand the implications of overclocking and don't mind taking the risk with a low-cost chip such as the $67 Celeron 333MHz, overclocking can cause processors to run hotter than normal and become unstable, leading to data loss.
Overclocking also voids Intel's warranty on a Celeron processor.
In addition, "the design specification [for Celeron] says the processor should be used in single processor applications," said Intel spokesman Seth Walker. "When you run [a product] outside those specifications ... that would void the product warranty."
Walker would not comment further on the Dual Millennium or the ABIT MP6.
The new Future Power Dual Millennium systems will be available at computer resellers and online retailers, such as Cool Shopper, later this month. |
