Jozef - Re: "Has Intel announced pricing and availability of Slot 2 CPUs? I take it you will need a new motherboard."
Of course a new motherboard will be required - with 100 MHz 440BX and 100 MHz SDRAM.
The Slot 2 processor will be introduced on April 15. The chip itself has been available internally since last August/September. The 440 BX has also been available for several months.
Pricing does not appear cheap. The following unofficial article may give you some guide lines.
Paul
{======================}
news.com
Pricey chips to sustain Intel profits
By Michael Kanellos
NEWS.COM
February 10, 1998, 12:55 p.m. PT
URL: news.com
Upcoming high-end Pentium II chips represent more than a technical redesign. They are away for Intel (INTC) to raise prices and continue to drive its high margins.
Future "Deschutes" Pentium II chips based on the Slot 2 design will range in price from $1,200 to almost $2,000 in volume, with the most powerful chips in the line possibly approaching $3,000 at the time of release.
These high prices will allow Intel to offset the extreme price pressure it is under at the low end of the PC market, as buyers increasingly snap up low-cost computers, typically below $1,000. These low-end boxes use processors costing as little as $95, sometimes even less.
While some of the manufacturing costs involved in making Slot 2 chips justify the higher price tag, these processors will certainly enjoy higher margins than their desktop equivalents. Current Pentium II chips range in price from $268 to $722.
Intel will also likely offer sales tie-ins with upcoming chip sets, main circuit boards, and graphics chips to bolster overall sales of all products, according to Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Loewenbaum & Company.
Slot 2 refers to the packaging and interface that will be part and parcel of Pentium II chips for workstations and servers. The Slot 1 package, introduced with the Pentium II, is the sleek, black casing that is synonymous with the look and feel of the Pentium II. (Slot 1 is featured in most of Intel's current TV ads.) A 400-MHz line of Slot 2 chips will debut midyear, followed by a 450-MHz version at the end of the year. |
