news
March 15, 1999, Issue: 1151
Section: News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC133 gaining support
Jack Robertson
The first PC desktops and servers with PC133 SDRAM will be introduced around June, according to chipset and memory vendors supporting the interface technology.
PC133 SDRAM chips have been billed as an interim alternative to Direct Rambus DRAM devices, which were slated to debut in June but have been delayed until the third quarter, according to industry sources.
More than 150 representatives from companies that build microprocessors, chipsets, memory chips, and PCs gathered at a San Jose hotel last week for a status report on PC133. Chipset maker Reliance Computer Corp., San Jose, which is helping coordinate PC133 efforts as part of an ad hoc group, organized the event.
The meeting was held at the same time that JEDEC (Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council) approved the PC133 memory-chip specification as an industry standard.
Operating data on PC133 SDRAM chips disclosed at the meeting "proved conclusively that they are ready to move into the mainstream of the PC market," said David Pulling, Reliance's vice president of marketing. "We also found that all the technical interfaces for integrating PC133 in complete computer systems have been worked out."
Reliance will have PC133 chipsets ready to link to Intel Pentium Xeon processors for servers. Taiwan-based Via Technologies Inc. demonstrated a PC133 chipset for desktops at the meeting. Other chipset makers are said to be developing PC133 products as well.
Also at the meeting, DRAM maker Micron Technology Inc. showed test data for production-capable PC133 chips, according to Pulling. Michael Siebert, marketing manager at Boise, Idaho-based Micron, had said previously that the 133-MHz speed naturally comes as part of the 0.21-micron design-rule shrink. As Micron converts solely to 0.21-micron processing, the quantities of 133-MHz SDRAM parts should soar, he said.
The early start for PC133 will help build an installed base of PCs using the new memory, deferring the need for Direct Rambus, according to Pulling. The longer Direct RDRAM is delayed, the more entrenched PC133 will become, he claimed.
The industry's PC133 effort simply ignores Intel Corp.'s attempts to torpedo the memory chip by sticking doggedly to its own PC100 chipset until Direct Rambus comes along. "We don't need the Intel chipset," Pulling said. "Independent chipset producers can provide the PC133 solution."
Julie Cates, program marketing manager for Rambus Inc., Mountain View, Calif., responded to Pulling's statement by referring to Intel's own product roadmap, which supports Direct RDRAM.
At the Intel Developers Conference last month, Peter MacWilliams, the company's director of platform architectures, said Direct RDRAM and the corresponding Intel Camino chipset would be delayed for an unspecified period of time. "Some of the parts need additional efforts," he said at the time. "We've already seen samples, and we expect to see production parts in the second quarter-a full quarter ahead of the Q3 ramp. This ramp is looking as aggressive as or more aggressive than before, once this thing gets started."
Pulling said Reliance and other companies backing the PC133 group are working to coordinate the development of various interfaces needed to link the faster memory chips with processors. "We had the advantage of all the work that was done to make the existing PC100 SDRAMs a reality," he said. "The PC133 introduction should be a smooth transition from PC100."
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc. |
