Iteresting article on push by microprocessor manufacturers to support advanced graphics and multimedia performance and what the future holds in this area. What does this mean to LGPT? Multimedia means floating-point which is Log Point's business and which Intel and AMD are offering with Katmai and 3D-Now, respectively. In such a growing technology, LGPT could reap huge rewards.
Chips With Glitz
In 1999's desktop microprocessor arena, graphics- and multimedia-acceleration will take center stage.
By Sebastian Rupley
December 30, 1998 -- One of the key technology competitions for 1999 promises to be the race to deliver desktop PC microprocessors with muscular new multimedia-acceleration features. Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD) and Intel are both focused on that goal, and the first half of the year will bring a flurry of new multimedia-smart offerings from the two companies.
At both the low end and the high end, the prospects for marquee-level microprocessors as we approach the new millennium will revolve around how they handle advanced graphics and multimedia.
From K6-3 to K7
AMD is ramping up to deliver a new version of its K6 microprocessor in the first quarter of 1999. It's code-named Sharptooth and officially dubbed the K6-3. According to some early reports, the 450-MHz K6-3 chip may outperform the Intel 450-MHz Pentium II and an Intel Celeron 450A. The K6-3's release will be timed very near to the release of Intel's new Katmai technology. Both K6-3 technology and Katmai technology are customized to speed up performance while running multimedia applications.
The new AMD chip grabbed headlines recently when a Web site called AnandTech published preliminary benchmark tests purported to have been run with a prototype of the K6-3. AnandTech's preliminary benchmark tests showed a prototype of the K6-3 chip outperforming both the 450-MHz Pentium II and a Celeron 450A when running graphical applications.
As has been the case with its 3DNow! multimedia instruction set, AMD remains focused on differentiating its chips by accelerating graphics and multimedia with new multimedia instruction sets. That will be the primary focus as AMD rolls out the much-awaited K7 chip in the first half of 1999. According to AMD chairman W.J. Sanders III, 1999 will be a critical year for AMD's 3-D-boosting efforts. "In 1999," he says "new AMD 3-D technology will be delivered, and it will give us an opportunity to distinguish ourselves from Intel and lead the way to visual computing platforms that deliver a near-theater-quality experience."
Katmai Is Coming
Intel's own plans for its line of 32-bit processors in 1999 and 2000 are ambitious. The company is planning to ship its Tanner chip-a 500-MHz processor with the new Katmai multimedia instruction set-by the beginning of the second quarter of 1999. Unlike Intel's MMX technology, which is limited to integer-based calculations, Katmai New Instructions will deal primarily with 3-D rendering and other floating-point operations.
Tanner will be followed by another chip based on the Katmai instructions, called Cascades. Then, in 2000, Intel plans to deliver a superpipelined chip with an entirely new 32-bit core, capable of 1-GHz clock speeds. Code-named Foster, the chip will be aimed first at workstations and servers. A second version of Foster, dubbed Willamette, is due sometime in 2001, and is targeted to replace the Pentium II in desktop machines.
Even as AMD and Intel race for pieces of the graphics- and multimedia-acceleration pie, the question remains: Can desktop PC software catch up? AMD, for example, has had success with its 3DNow! effort in attracting buyers of low-end game machines, and such buyers remain the bulk of the market for advanced 3-D designs. Likewise, Intel's Xeon effort has helped it make a success of its foray into producing chips for PC workstation platforms.
But the history of games and advanced graphical applications on the PC platform has shown that these niche applications-and the chips that power them-can have a powerful spillover effect on mainstream desktop computing. As 1999 and the new millennium unfold, we'll see if the software applications we use every day can keep up with the new multimedia-smart chips. |
