Dave:
CRN reports that Tyan and Supermicro will be making RDRAM capable boards before year end. It looks like Intel is starving Mobo vendors the old BX ZX chipsets and forcing them to use new 820 chipsets. I look for IDF to drive home the fact that Intel is looking forward not backwards.
techweb.com
New CPUs, Memory & Boards -- VARs To Get Faster, Better Server Components
Marcia Savage
Throughout the rest of this year, resellers who build servers can expect faster processors, new memory technologies and more motherboard support for dual- and quad-processing.
Chip giant Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., will continue to crank up the speed of its Pentium III Xeon for servers and workstations and Pentium III desktop chips, topping 600MHz, said Willy Agatstein, director of product marketing for the company's reseller products division.
Intel will also support faster Rambus memory technology with new chipsets due in the third quarter. Direct RDRAM is expected to boost memory bandwidth to 1.6 Gbytes per second.
The company is also expected to boost front-side bus speeds from 100MHz to 133MHz. The front-side bus determines how fast the CPU communicates with the rest of the system. Intel also will boost graphics performance with 4X AGP.
Agatstein said VARs will not be building systems based on products equipped with the enhancements until late this year or early next year. In the meantime, the company will focus on providing a stable platform for customers, he said.
Chuck Fried, president of The Tech Shop, a VAR based in Buffalo, N.Y., agreed that stability is key for customers. "Typically, companies like to not be the early adopters of new server technology, and will wait to see either what others do or how the technology fares in the industry press evaluations," Fried said.
But not everyone equated Intel with stability.
Robb Auspitz, owner of Robb Auspitz Consulting, Fort Washington, Pa., said Intel's indecision on new memory technologies has confused white-box VARs this year.
Intel said in July it will evaluate chipset support for 133MHz SDRAM (PC133). The company previously planned to jump from the current 100MHz SDRAM standard to Rambus, without PC133.
"Do you want to give me a clue in how I should plan my buying?" Auspitz said. "I've got to plan expenses. You don't have straight answers because you don't know what direction Intel wants to go in."
Intel is not the only chip vendor targeting the white-box server business.
Alpha Processor Inc. (API), Concord, Mass., unveiled a new technology at June's PC Expo aimed at making it easier for VARs to build Alpha-based servers.
The start-up, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., wants to expand its 64-bit Alpha chip market by targeting volume server and workstation builders with one- to eight-way systems.
To that end, API introduced the Alpha Slot B technology and the UP2000 motherboard. By allowing different cache sizes and processor frequencies, Slot B lowers production costs and inventory requirements, effectively offering industry-standard packaging for the Alpha chip, API officials said.
The UP2000 motherboard allows resellers to use a standard ATX chassis, PC100 memory and off-the-shelf power supplies to build relatively inexpensive Alpha-based servers, according to API officials.
Lou Artale, president of PC Strategies Inc., a VAR in Canton, Ohio, said API lets resellers offer clients something other than the Wintel platform. "We don't have to go with just Microsoft Windows and Intel processors," he said. "We can offer something different."
However, API's efforts to take cost out of the Alpha platform may not be enough, according to an industry analyst. "A big drawback to Alpha remains its high price," wrote Linley Gwennap, vice president of publications at Cahners MicroDesign Resources, Sebastol, Calif., in a recent issue of the Microprocessor Watch newsletter.
A 750MHz Alpha chip with 8 Mbytes of cache and a UP2000 motherboard has a list price of $6,611, and a 667MHz version with 2 Mbytes of cache but no motherboard costs $2,296, he noted.
"Although these processors deliver better performance . . . and greater bus bandwidth than Intel's Xeon processors, their high prices won't get Alpha into a high-volume workstation," Gwennap observed. "The new slot architecture is a step in the right direction, however, by reducing cost. It should encourage some small system makers to pick up Alpha."
While API wants to expand Alpha's market beyond the high end of the server market, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. wants to expand its chips from the low-cost PC market into the commercial realm.
AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif., in June unveiled its next-generation chip, Athlon. AMD is shipping Athlon with clock speeds of 600MHz, 550MHz and 500MHz, and plans to boost the clock speed to 700MHz in the fourth quarter. The chip features a 200MHz front-side bus.
Ron Myers, vice president, Wallingford Electronics Inc., an Austin, Texas-based systems integrator, said Athlon has potential in workstations and servers. "Intel definitely has a big, big advantage as far as servers go because of the multiprocessor capability," he said. "AMD's Athlon processor, I think, will see some play in the workstation market as well as single-processor server market."
Meanwhile, motherboard makers will offer server builders plenty of support for new memory technologies and dual- and quad-processors.
Charles Liang, president and chief executive of Supermicro Computer Inc., San Jose, Calif., said his company aims to make quad-processor boards economical for small businesses. The boards, available in September, will let clients start with a single CPU and move up to two-way and four-way servers, he said.
A four-way server based on the server building blocks offered by Supermicro-including the motherboard, chassis and power supplies-will be available in the range of $1,500 to $2,500, Liang said.
Tyan Computer Corp., Fremont, Calif., also expects to roll out quad-processor boards by year-end. Don Clegg, vice president of marketing and strategic sales at Tyan, said the company will offer a chassis as an option.
Tyan and Supermicro officials said the companies will support Rambus and SDRAM as well.
Supermicro plans to offer two quad-CPU boards that will give customers the option of using either SDRAM or Rambus via add-on memory expansion cards.
Two of Supermicro's five new dual-processor boards will feature that same option, while the others will have both RIMM and DIMM sockets onboard.
Nuts and Bolts
- Intel, AMD and API increase CPU speeds and support for technologies that improve server performance.
- Motherboard vendors will offer dual- and quad-processor designs as well as choice of memory type.
- Despite the promise of higher performance, VARs prefer not to be first in line for new technologies.
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