More stuff regarding AMD woes ahead...
Intel Plans 266MHz Pentium II For Low-Price PCs
(11/06/97; 10:45 a.m. EST)
By Kelly Spang, Computer Reseller News
In a bid to capture a larger slice of the sub-$1,000 PC market, Intel will begin initial shipments next June of a 266-MHz Pentium II processor without any Level 2 cache, sources said.
The chip is designed to head off competition from Advanced Micro Devices and Cyrix's Socket 7 processors.
Intel said it plans volume shipments of the 266-MHz Pentium II without L2 cache by the third quarter next year. Sources said the 266-MHz will be targeted in the third quarter at the sub-$1,000 PC market, and at the market for PCs ranging from $1,000 to $1,500.
In the fourth quarter, Intel will unveil a Pentium II 300-MHz with integrated cache on the same die as the CPU core. That product will be targeted at the $1,000-to-$1,500 market, leaving the 266-MHz chip focused squarely on the sub-$1,000 PC market, sources said.
"This makes life miserable for AMD and Cyrix," said Dave Mack, president of Technology Business Research, in Hampton, N.H.
Slower Performance
The Pentium II processors are now standard with 512 kilobytes of cache. VARs will see some slower performance from chips with no L2 cache, depending on the application being run. By removing the L2 cache on a Socket 7-designed motherboard, a processor's speed could be degraded by as much as 15 percent, motherboard OEMs said. But sources said the Pentium II without cache may be slowed down by less than 10 percent.
Intel would not comment on its processor road map. But an Intel spokesman said: "What we want to do is make sure we offer strong products across all markets and price points."
Intel's plan is to have the Pentium II span from the sub-$1,000 market to that of sophisticated multiprocessing servers by the second half of next year.
By mid-1998, Intel will begin to ship its Pentium II based on Slot 2, which will target high-end servers, multiprocessing systems, and workstations.
In the first half of next year, Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., is also planning enhancements to the Slot 1 Pentium II with the addition of a 100-MHz system bus. That product will be targeted at desktops and entry-level servers.
With the advent of the 266-MHz Pentium II without L2 cache, Intel said it plans to phase out its Pentium-with-MMX product line toward the end of next year, sources said.
Price-Slashing Fest
In the meantime, Intel will push down the price of its Pentium with MMX. Sources said by the first quarter of 1998, the 166-MHz version will be priced around $90, down from $112, and the 200-MHz will be priced around $100, down from $213. The 233-MHz version will be priced at $294 -- the same as the Pentium II 233-MHz.
"What Intel is doing is shelf positioning," said Mike Kliengbiel, sales manager of Denver-based VAR Lewan & Associates. "They will have more products at different price points."
The move to offering Pentium IIs without cache also ties well into channel assembly, Kliengbiel said, by offering VARs and distributors more choice in building systems.
Without cache to reside in the cartridge of the Pentium II, the modified version will still plug into Slot 1, but will be thinner because the board on which the CPU will be mounted won't be encased with the cartridge housing Pentium II processors, according to industry sources. Intel will build these processors to fit into the LX design, modifying a version of the 440LX chip set for the new processors, industry sources said.
The move to integrate L2 cache on the die surprised some manufacturers in the industry because integrating cache could increase the die size and affect yields of the Pentium II processor, sources said. With the .25-micron process and below, though, it may be possible for Intel to pull off the integration without too many side effects such as heat problems, said sources.
"Cache and the CPU in the same [die] needs to be a super-fine-tuned process to [produce] in volume, which is the reason why the AMD K6 hasn't achieved the yield rates," a motherboard OEM said.
By pushing Slot 1 into the sub-$1,000 market, Intel is going to make business difficult for competitors AMD and Cyrix. By 1998, Intel intends to "reach parity" in cost with the Socket 7 design by reducing cost associated with the Slot 1 design, according to industry sources.
Copyright (c) CMP Media, 1997.
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