Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles R who wrote (72729)	9/22/1999 3:08:00 PM
From: Ali Chen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574205

Chuck, <Where is the FSB speed set?> In tech marketing department :) Even old P-II parts (non-multiplier-locked) have had enough timing margins (in practice!) to run whatever FSB frequency is from 66 to 150+ MHz. Intel made a smart move by locking the multiplier, so an attempt to get into 133 quickly hits the internal frequency limit. Therefore instead of locking a 600 MHz part at 6x, all they need is to lock it at 4.5X, and that's it. The other problem was the 440BX chipset with limited CPU to AGP frequency ratios, 1:1 and 2:3. So with 133 the AGP get heavily overclocked and does not work. I guess they fixed this in i820, so there will be the green light to PC-133. Unfortunately, AMD seems to be late to the PC-133 party. As usual <GGG>. <133 MHz FSB Katmais as a backup plan for CuMine?> This is an interesting observation indeed. Could be that the CuMine is still in trouble :) Must be good for AMD. - Ali, "Little Screwdriver Buddy of PRengle"

To: Charles R who wrote (72729)	9/22/1999 3:08:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574205

Chuck, <I am wondering why they even bothered to do the 600/533 PIII-Katmai launch next week.> Probably to gradually ramp down the 0.25 micron fabs by allowing them to continue producing high-speed parts. Even if those parts are going to be sold at lower prices and lower margins than Coppermine parts, it's still enough to extend the life of the Katmai-producing equipment. I sure wouldn't mind buying an "obsolete" 600 MHz Katmai for $250 this year, if I wanted to buy a new CPU. Performance might not be as great as Coppermine 600, but for me that's fine if the price is right. Come to think of it, this could also bring some pricing pressure on the 600 MHz Athlon, which will definitely be hitting higher volumes in Q4. Tenchusatsu

To: Charles R who wrote (72729)	9/22/1999 3:14:00 PM
From: Goutam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574205

Chuck, Re: <Where is the FSB speed set? Wafer sort? Some where else?> My guess is that it's done at final test (after the parts are packaged) where speed binning is also done. <If not, where is the reward for this complication?> Higher ASPs than the ones with 100MHz FSB. Goutama

To: Charles R who wrote (72729)	9/22/1999 3:57:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Respond to of 1574205

Chuckles - Re: 'I fully understand the benefits of moving the business to CuMine but I am trying to scope the operations aspect of it. Where is the FSB speed set? Wafer sort? Some where else? " I would think that there is no change - if the higher (133 FSB) is used, a lower CLOCK MULTIPLIER for the CPU is selected on the motherboard. For example, to get 600 MHz with a 133 FSB, a clock multiplier of 4.5 is selected, as opposed to a Clock Multiplier of 6 when a 100 MHz FSB is used. The Motherboard settings "program" the 4 Core Speed pins on the Pentium III - Lint1, Lint0, IGNNE# and A20M#. Paul