Intel Consumer and Business CPU and Chipset Roadmaps
by Jon Simon : March 30, 2000
The newest. The fastest. The future. Those are three things we live and die by at Sharky Extreme. And here today, we're going to bring you all three with an update of our Intel Roadmap for Consumer and Business CPUs.
This roadmap shows what we believe Intel's future plans to be for their consumer and business CPUs and chipsets. We compiled this roadmap after speaking with multiple sources close to Intel. We then compared our sources' information and filtered it through our own knowledge to bring you this roadmap.
And remember as you read, plans change. Changing market conditions require Intel to adapt. These are what we believe to be Intel's current plans. We will start with what we see are major trends in Intel's roadmap, then we will move on to give specifics about each of Intel's consumer market segments.
Trends
RDRAM Here to Stay
We have said it before and we will say it again. Like it or not, RDRAM is here to stay.
Yes, it does cost an arm and a leg right now, but the prices have been falling and will continue to fall as yields improve and more manufacturers come online. One thing you may not realize is, while the price of purchasing a single RIMM on the after market is extremely high, the volume pricing that companies like Dell and Sony are facing is relatively low.
Dell may have to pay a large premium for a 128MB RIMM versus a 128MB SDRAM DIMM, but you can be sure that they're not paying anything near the $600-700 a RIMM would cost if a consumer purchased it separately.
SDRAM Bandage
Intel is planning on making SDRAM DIMM solutions available for the foreseeable future. This gives price conscious consumers a way to purchase Intel's best. But with Willamette coming at the end of 2000, we expect to see a lot more RDRAM in new systems than SDRAM. In the meantime, motherboards with two DIMM slots and two RIMM slots should be widely available by mid-2000.
DDR SDRAM
As for DDR SDRAM, it certainly has life in it, but we believe it is going to have trouble keeping up with RDRAM in the long run. With today's technology, a PC with two channels of RDRAM can have up to 3.2GB/s of bandwidth. In contrast, DDR SDRAM is not available for desktop PCs as of yet.
Everybody Wins
RDRAM's high-performance and success will be good for Intel in the mid-term since Intel already has the technology for RDRAM in place. But in the long run, RDRAM should be good for all desktop computing. VIA and AMD already have licenses from Rambus and Intel cannot stop VIA and AMD from using RDRAM. While Intel has invested heavily in Rambus and is pushing the technology, Rambus is not a subsidiary of Intel and is not controlled by Intel.
Of course, when you get right down to it, the main reason RDRAM is going to succeed in the PC marketplace is because Intel is pushing everyone into it.
FC-PGA Coming Your Way
Another trend Intel is pushing for is the move away from Slot 1 to FC-PGA Socket 370. The reduced packaging costs of Socket 370 save Intel several dollars on every CPU, which turns into a lot of money when Intel is shipping millions of CPUs. Also, the lower profile of Socket 370 allows more compact, more versatile system design.
Intel has been pushing this move since last year, but it looks like they have finally started to gain momentum. 1GHz may be the fastest speed you will see for Slot 1, and Pentium IIIs won't be running much faster.
...more
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