Hi all; Rambus admits PC-133 benchmarks were bad news. Another RDRAM mention in this weeks' EE-Times:
Rambus links threaten to put the brakes on speedy Pentium 4
"It's too bad [Pentium 4] is bogged down by the whole Rambus issue," said Janet Ramkissoon, an analyst at Quadra Capital. "It is an economic issue, because the Rambus modules can cost as much as four times [what SDRAM modules cost]."
...
In July, Intel posted benchmarks for identical Pentium III systems, one with the Rambus 820 chip set and another with the 815, which supports PC-133 DRAMs. They finished in a dead heat.
Those benchmarks "were not the kind of news we wanted to hear," said Avo Kanadjian, marketing manager at Rambus Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.). "But please remember that . . . with the Pentium 4, we have two Rambus channels, and the 850 chip set draws upon the very successful 840 dual-channel chip set for the workstation space."
With demand low, memory vendors have not been producing RDRAM chips in high volumes. "The Willamette can't be supported by the volume of RDRAM chips that we are forecasting," said Tony Massimini, chief of technology for Semico Research Corp. (Phoenix). "The only way that processor will ramp is with a chip set that links it to SDRAM."
Intel said it will develop a chip set for Willamette that supports PC-133 SDRAM, for release in late 2001.
techweb.com
-- Carl |
