Taiwan PC Makers Size Up New Intel Chipset
(06/05/00, 2:07 p.m. ET) By Faith Hung, Electronic Buyers' News
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Intel unveiled an update to its 820 chipset Monday, promising improved performance and flexibility for the desktop market segment.
The chipset, dubbed the 820E, features a new I/O Controller Hub, the ICH2, and uses the same Direct Rambus DRAM Memory Controller Hub as the original 820 chipset, Intel (stock: INTC) spokesmen said here at the Computex 2000 trade show, the largest computer show in Asia.
The ICH2 provides an additional USB controller, a LAN interface, dual Ultra ATA/100 controllers, and up to six-channel audio capability.
"The 820E is designed to take advantage of the power in the fastest Intel Pentium III processors, providing the highest performance in video, graphics, and multimedia, both on and off the Internet," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's desktop platforms group.
Intel has high hopes for the 820E following a recall last month of motherboards equipped with its 820 chipset. While the 820 chipset itself experienced no flaws, boards using Intel's Memory Translator Hub (MTH) to enable the chipset to connect to lower-performance Rambus SDRAM memory were intermittently rebooting or locking up.
Shipments of 820 boards populated with faster Direct Rambus RDRAM memory have also been slow to take off in Taiwan, where most vendors have remained committed to older chipsets that communicate directly with SDRAM. Suppliers cited issues associated with Direct Rambus (stock: RMBS) prices and availability of the memory chips.
"We hope the market's acceptance of the 820E will be good," said Jason Chen, a vice president of Intel's Asia-Pacific regional division. "The chipset is ready for shipment from about 30 Taiwanese makers of motherboards and systems," including Acer Open, First International Computer, Microstar International, and Asustek Computer.
Still, Intel's partners in Taiwan remain cautious about the new product.
"Given the problem that happened with 820, the demand for 820E will probably be slow in the beginning," said David Chang, a spokesman for Asustek. "We may see a significant improvement [in demand] later on if the 820E proves that it doesn't have the same problem."
The 820E is available for $35 each in 1,000-unit quantities, Intel said.
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