Albert:
Here is another news story regarding the K6.
November 25, 1996, Issue: 712
Section: News
ALTERNATIVE CHIP: Vendor targets high-speed mobile market -- AMD Pins Comeback Hopes On K6 Processor
By Kelley Damore & Ken Yamada
Las Vegas -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is hoping to make a comeback with its new K6 microprocessor. The CPU maker was showing its K6 running at 200MHz clock speeds at Comdex last week. With its power dissipation and management features, notebook manufacturers said the chip could be an attractive alternative for the mobile market that could upstage Intel Corp.'s lead in this area.
The new chip gives hardware OEMs a viable alternative that is actually
expected to offer better performance than any Intel mobile chips coming next year. Intel will not have 166MHz Pentium chips out until the middle of next year, and Pentium Pro mobile designs are not exected from Intel until 1998, sources said. AMD is expected to ship "tens of thousands" of its 200MHz chip in the first quarter of 1997 and up to "millions" in the second half of the year, sources said. The chip will run up to 266MHz clock speeds, which hardware OEMs could see by the end of the year, sources said. "It is clear that Pentium Pro in portables is not practical until early 1998. K6 is an interesting alternative," said Michael Winkler, senior vice president for Compaq Computer Corp.'s desktop and mobile division. Another attractive feature of the chip is that it uses the standard Pentium socket, hardware vendors said. "With the Pentium Pro we have to design a new motherboard," said one source. AMD officials said the 200MHz K6 chip is being sampled right now. While the company expects it to be a good mobile solution, it also is offering the chip to compete against Pentium Pro, Klamath and MMX. Still, AMD officials said the K6 power dissipation is within Pentium's thermal envelope, and AMD will offer power management features on the chip for the mobile market.
JEFF BLISS contributed to this story.
Copyright r 1996 CMP Media Inc. |
