AMD Building K7 Platform To Rival Intel
techweb.com
As Advanced Micro Devices' K7 moves
closer to a scheduled rollout sometime in
June, both AMD and chip set makers are
working together to establish an
infrastructure of supporting logic.
According to executives at chip set maker Via
Technologies, AMD will develop and ship a small
number of high-endcore logic chip sets for systems that
use two or more K7s running in parallel. Via,
meanwhile, will design and supply single-processor chip
sets for the higher-volume, "value-oriented" mass
market, according to Dean Hays, director of marketing
for Via's U.S. operations in Fremont, Calif.
Likewise, Acer Laboratories will also focus on
uniprocessor K7 chip sets. "It probably won't be in the
multiprocessor market, since our focus is on the
mainstream, high-volume market," said Nancy
Hartsoch, vice-president of sales and marketing for
Acer, in San Jose, Calif.
The K7's EV-6 bus, which AMD licensed from Digital
Equipment, is fundamentally different than either the
Super7 or P6 bus that Pentium-class and Pentium
II-class processors use. By selecting a unique
microprocessor and bus architecture, AMD has
committed itself towards designing a true alternative to
Intel's chips.
"We're migrating from a microprocessor company to a
[computing] platform company," said a spokesman for
AMD, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
That has forced AMD to take its relationship with its
chip set suppliers to a new level. When Intel abandoned
the Socket 7 Pentium market for the Pentium II
microprocessor and its Slot 1 connector, only Via,
Acer, and Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), plus some
much smaller chip set companies, were left to provide
core logic for AMD's K6 and its successors. Intel,
meanwhile, held onto its P6 patent technology with a
tight grip, only recently licensing Via, SiS, and S3 to use
the bus. Acer is still negotiating a license.
Had suppliers like Via been recruited by Intel to
produce the Slot 1 chip sets, AMD would have been
left in a very precarious position, said Via's Hays. But
sticking with AMD has paid off for all parties. As
AMD's microprocessor market share has grown, so
has revenue for the supporting logic. Offered the
opportunity to manufacture a K7 chip set, Hays said
Via enthusiastically agreed. A day later, three AMD
engineers showed up at Hays' doorstep in Fremont,
ready to begin work.
Although the two companies have worked closely
together since then, Hays estimated that Via's ability to
ship a K7 chipset would be about a month behind
AMD. Acer Labs will also ship a K7 chip set later in
1999, Hartsoch said.
An AMD representative declined to comment on
specific details concerning the company's chip set plans
or its relationships with its partners. Online
computer-hardware review sites, however, have noted
the existence of the AMD-751, AMD-752,
AMD-755, and AMD-756, two unreleased K7 chip
sets each with a north and south bridge. AMD originally
posted the chip sets to its website to display their year
2000 compliance, then later removed them. However,
an AMD spokesman confirmed all four chip sets as
AMD products designed for the K7.
The EV-6 bus runs at 200 MHz, twice as fast as both
the 100-MHz "Super7" bus used in Socket 7 systems
and Intel's own 100-MHz P6 bus. With the delayed
release of the "Camino" or Intel 820 chip set in
September, Intel will probably increase the P6 bus
speed to 133 MHz.
Hays said there was no technical reason why the
Super7 bus could not be increased to 133 MHz. But
AMD's engineers have been restricted to improving its
K6-III and finalizing the K7, Hays said, and the two
sides have not met to hammer out a design
specification. AMD's K7 will be released at 500-, 550,
and 600-MHz, according to an AMD spokesman,
although industry sources close to AMD added that
only limited quantities of the 500-MHz speed grade
would be manufactured.
AMD has not publicly made any overtures to license
the EV-6 bus as a true alternative to Intel's P6
technology. The EV-6 patents are also still legally
owned by Compaq Computer, which acquired Digital.
But Hays said he hopes that AMD can begin delivering
on its promise to deliver a competitive platform as well
as a competitive processor.
"I think it would be wonderful to shift the whole
[Super7] infrastructure to something the market could
rally around," Hays said.
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