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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jmanvegas who wrote (23113)	6/21/1999 12:13:00 PM
From: MileHigh	Respond to of 93625

Agreed, no mention of RMBS below... Alpha picks up speed, lowers costs By Rick Merritt EE Times (06/21/99, 9:30 a.m. EDT) CONCORD, Mass. — The Alpha Processor Inc. subsidiary of Samsung will bring the costs of Alpha-based systems to a new low as it launches two motherboards and a processor module at PC Expo in New York this week. The company will also tip word of a low-cost version of the Alpha 21264 processor it plans to produce early next year, and it will demo a 1-GHz version of the chip that is expected to ship in next year's second quarter. The Alpha group on Tuesday (June 22) will roll out its UP1000 motherboard, which uses a modified version of Advanced Micro Devices' Iron Gate chip set. The board is geared for systems that could sell for as little as $3,500. "This will be the lowest-cost desktop platform Alpha has ever had," said Gerry Talbot, chief technology officer of Alpha Processor (Concord, Mass.). Shaving costs The company will also roll out a board that uses Compaq Computer's Tsunami chip set and targets systems that would sell for about $4,500. The UP2000 reduces memory-upgrade options to shave costs from an existing Alpha board aimed at a $6,000 system configuration. Both boards will use a Slot B processor module defined by Alpha Processor and based on the mechanical specs of Intel Corp.'s Slot 2 for Xeon processors. Slot B uses a massive copper heat spread and accommodates 5- or 12-V operation. The 21264 draws 1.5 to 2 V and will ultimately hit 1.5 GHz, Talbot said. At PC Expo, the company will demonstrate a version of the 21264 running at 1 GHz, though it does not expect to ship such speed grades in volume until the second quarter of 2000. A 750-MHz version, made in a 0.25-micron process with aluminum interconnects, will ship in July. Samsung will bring up a 0.18-micron process with a mixture of aluminum and copper interconnects late this year. The shift is expected to yield parts at 833 MHz before year's end. Alpha Processor expects to ship a low-cost version of the 21264 early next year that will be based on a die shrink of the 264 core running at less than 800 MHz and fabricated in a 0.18-micron process. Late next year, Samsung will add silicon-on-insulator and a more extensive use of copper, to yield parts as fast as 1.5 GHz eventually.