<font color=darkred>You’ll Get a Slot You Like "B"
API used its first birthday party to unveil the Slot B architecture and chip packaging it co-developed with AMD. Similar in concept to the Intel Slot 2 Xeon module, the Alpha Slot B processor module contains the CPU, cache memory, voltage regulator, and a massive heat sink. Significantly, Slot B packaging enables Alpha and AMD K7 processors to share a common motherboard. This commonality will allow Alpha systems to exploit AMD K7 volumes, thus driving down the cost of Alpha-based products and rendering them more attractive to OEMs. This of course is consistent with API’s goal of driving Alpha into the high-volume marketplace. (SKC notes that API, like Compaq itself, is now placing increasing emphasis on Linux as a volume expansion solution for the 64-bit platform.)....
...Mo’ Better Motherboards
Debuting with Slot B was the UP (as in Ultimate Performance) 2000, a dual-processor-capable Alpha motherboard based on an extended ATX form factor. Developed under the code name “Swordfish,” the UP2000 supports one or two Alpha Slot B processors starting at 667MHz, and uses the same Compaq 21272 “Tsunami” core logic chipset found on Compaq’s DP264 motherboard. The UP2000 should ship by late July or early August. Prices (in 100-piece quantities) for UP2000 boards equipped with a single Alpha Slot B processor range from $4,554 (667MHz CPU with 2MB of L2 cache) to $6,611 (750MHz processor with 8MB of L2 cache.) In its role as a cost-reduced variant of the DP264, the UP2000 sells for about $1.2K less than equivalent DP264 offerings, but is constrained by slower memory and a maximum memory capacity of 2GB compared with 4GB.
Due sometime in the third quarter is the UP1000, an ATX form factor board supporting a single Alpha Slot B processor starting at 600MHz. Code named “Naut-ilus,” the UP1000 boasts the first-ever AGP support for Alpha. The econoboard also introduces AMD’s Northbridge Irongate core logic chipset, a cost and component-reduced replacement for the Compaq Tsunami chipset. The UP1000 will replace the incumbent 164UX and 164LX Alpha uniprocessor motherboards. API has yet to disclose pricing and delivery dates, but the firm believes the UP1000 will allow OEMs to build entry Alpha systems for about ~$2K...
The New Alpha Timetable
Equally notable is the latest instantiation of the Alpha processor roadmap. After languishing at the 500MHz to 600MHz level for more than a year, Alpha appears set to reassert a demonstrable clock rate advantage over Intel. API has 667MHz EV67 parts today, and claims it will ship 750MHz EV67 CPUs in August. Samsung late this year plans to bring up an 0.18-micron CMOS8 process with a mixture of aluminum and copper interconnects. API therefore hopes to be able to ship 833MHz EV68 processors by November, and 933MHz EV68 parts by February 2000. If all goes well and API manages to adhere to its quarterly “speed bump” schedule 1GHz EV68 parts could materialize by May 2000. Samsung’s Y2K move to silicon-on-insulator and then copper technology could yield EV68 parts running at 1.2GHz before the new millennium, and ultimately at speeds as high as 1.5GHz. In the interim, API plans to revisit its PCA “value series” Alpha chip strategy by shipping a low-cost version of the 21264 early next year. The “Alpha Lite” will be based on an 0.18u die shrink of the 264 core running at less than 800 MHz...
Waiting in the Wings
API already has plans for second-generation Slot B motherboards. Within the next 12 months, the UP1000 and UP2000 motherboards will be upstaged by “Caspian,” a dual-processor ATX form factor board based on the Irongate-2 chipset. Caspian will support Alpha Slot B EV67 and EV68 processors and will provide up to 4.2GB/sec of memory bandwidth using PC-266 DDR-SDRAM. Also on board will be 4X AGP, dual 64-bit 66MHz PCI-buses, and up to 8GB of memory. Sometime thereafter, SKC anticipates the debut of “Tasman,” an eight-way Slot B board based on an API core logic. Tasman will support 16 to 32GB of 133MHz DDR or RAMBUS memory. If API can meet its price and performance goals, not to mention its timetable, higher Alpha volumes just may become reality.
acersoft.com
Doug are you getting my excitement yet?
Milo
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