Petz - Additional Deschutes information - for your "education"
Paul
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Intel charts course for
Pentium II
By Brooke Crothers and Jim Davis
August 13, 1997, 6:10 p.m. PT
Intel (INTC) today detailed the road map for
the Pentium II processor, which includes new
Pentium IIs running at 333 MHz when they
debut in 1998 and chips running as fast as
400 MHz later in the year.
Intel will also begin to use new Pentium II
designs to aggressively implement a strategy
to increase a computer's overall
performance, not just that of the processor.
Intel will have two basic system designs for
the Pentium II processor. In addition to the
current "Slot 1" design, Intel will add a new
"Slot 2" design, which was previously
undisclosed. The Slot 2 design will improve
the computer's overall performance.
Intel's Pentium II Road map
Late 97
Pentium MMX chips to become more prevalent in
sub-$1000 computers.
Early to First Half 98
Deschutes, a smaller Pentium II made on a new
production process, to be released.
Pentium II to hit 333 MHz; Bus speed to increase
to 100 MHz.
Pentium II for notebook computers released.
The chipmaker will also introduce a Pentium
II cartridge design for notebook PCs in 1998.
All Pentium IIs come in a rectangular
cartridge that plugs into a slot--thus the Slot 1
and 2 designation. The cartridge design
allows Intel to deliver the Pentium II in a
relatively inexpensive package that also
includes high-speed cache memory, critical
for keeping the Pentium II running as fast as
possible. The older Pentium and Pentium
Pro processors come in a square package
with pins, looking much like a high-tech pin
cushion, which plug into tiny holes.
Slot 1 is the design currently used in Pentium
II-based PCs, which use an aging 66-MHz
system bus. But Intel will increase the bus
speed on these systems to 100 MHz in 1998,
as reported on August 7 by CNET's
NEWS.COM. This is important for improving
a computer's overall system speed because
the processor uses the system bus to talk to
other components in a PC. Performance
bottlenecks can occur when fast 400-MHz
Pentium II processors slow down to talk to a
66-MHz bus.
Slot 2, which will come out in mid-1998, is the
design "for midrange and higher-end server
and workstation products. The same market
that the Pentium Pro processor is selling into
today," said an Intel spokesperson.
The critical difference between Slot 1 and
Slot 2 will be that the latter will be the first
Pentium II design to support multiprocessor
servers capable of using four processors--a
market currently addressed only by Intel's
older Pentium Pro processor.
Many large businesses want machines with
the added processing power offered by such
machines but have been limited to buying
systems using the older Pentium Pro
processor, which will be slowly phased out
next year.
Another important, though somewhat
esoteric, difference is that the processor will
be able to communicate with the high-speed
cache memory at the same speed as the
processor, dramatically boosting processor
performance in comparison with current
Pentium II processors using the Slot 1
design. Currently, the processor and cache
talk at half the speed of the processor. Slot 2
will also have a 100-MHz bus as standard,
while Slot 1 designs in 1998 will come in both
66- and 100-MHz bus-speeds.
Processors that are expected to plug in to the
100-MHz Slot 1 and Slot 2 designs will
initially run as fast as 400 MHz, Intel said. Intel
will also bring out a faster version of the Slot
1 Pentium II running at 333 MHz. This will plug
into the older 66-MHz bus.
Finally, Intel will also bring out a smaller
Pentium II cartridge for notebook PCs. These
cartridges will be used in ultra-thin
notebooks, analogous to IBM's 560 notebook
PC.
(Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer
Network) |
