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

To: Charles R who wrote (105377)	4/14/2000 1:15:00 AM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574115

Chuck, And now to something completely different: JC has a link to this page: ixbt-labs.com It's a good read in it's entirety. Here are some highlights: It was Pentium III Xeon designed for the same clock frequency - 866MHz. Unfortunately, it was none other but the same Pentium III in SC-330 Slot 2 cartridge. It will turn into a fully fledged Xeon only by the end of May, when 700-800MHz PIII Xeon with 1-2MB L2 on-chip cache appears. Then within the second half of the year the working frequency will grow up to 900MHz (1GHz for Xeons with 256KB L2 cache), and after that the Xeon family will give way to a server Willamette aka Foster. This CPU will be also available in two variants: the same 256KB L2 on-chip cache with 1.5GHz CPU clock and 512KB/1MB L2 on-chip cache with 1.4GHz clock. In general, Intel doesn't have to worry about its position for a secured couple of months: its leadership in the field of server x86 processors is guaranteed, because 1GHz Mustang from AMD with 2MB L2 on-chip cache is expected only in Q4 at the earliest... Anyway, let's continue with Mustang. This CPU is especially interesting due to its name, which for some reason also belongs to the first mobile CPU on EV6 bus AMD is going to launch. It will be not a mobile Spitfire or ThunderBird, but exactly as we said: Mustang. At first, a mobile version of a server processor may seem just absurd to you (because it looks like a combination of two mutually exclusive notions), however, it is exactly what we have. Frankly speaking, a newcomer will borrow only core from the server Mustang: 2MB L2 on-chip cache will turn into some poor 64-256KB (not sure yet).... This move will help AMD to win back the lost leadership from Intel in this field, since the clock frequency of Mustang will start from 1GHz, while the mobile Pentium III will only reach the sacred 1GHz in the beginning of 2001. And in the near future (in the end of April) we will see 700MHz mobile Pentium III (together with an even more mobile Celeron).... Until the launching of the mobile Mustang, the positions of AMD in the notebook market are held by a long-suffering pair: K6-2+ and K6-III+, which we have been expecting since the last year already. But now not so much waiting is left. The first mobile AMD processors with PowerNow technology (similar to SpeedStep from Intel) will come out in April. It will probably be clear then if K6-2+ can be used in Socket7 mainboards or not. However, it's not the right time to mourn for the competitors an to eulogize Spitfire. The three candidates for the leadership seem to have very similar features. They are Spitfire due in June, Celeron II launched on 29 March in two versions (566 and 600MHz), and Samuel, which first prototypes (working at real 500MHz, and 100MHz FSB) VIA will have in May already. As for Joshua, it falls out of the race because of absolutely unsatisfactory qualification results. Cyrix, RIP Now it's pretty hard to forecast anything concerning the performance, but as for the working frequency, Spitfire is an indisputable leader. We expect the following situation by the end of "2000" race: the first prize will be given to Spitfire (900MHz), the second - to Celeron (733MHz) and the third - to Samuel (650MHz). Here everything is pretty clear, but as it comes to performance... At present we don't have any information about Spitfire's L2 cache size. We can't say whether this CPU will have 128KB L1/64KB L2 cache, or whether AMD will be generous enough to make a symmetric 128/128KB cache, which will allow their offspring to leave behind Intel Celeron with 32/128KB and Samuel with 128/64KB. However, although Spitfire is expected to be boasting the highest clock frequency by the end of the year, all the competing products will start the race in almost equal conditions. In June Spitfire will support up to 700MHz, and on 26 April Celeron will reach 677MHz, which means that it will be only one step behind. Perhaps, it will make this last step in this quarter already, that's why by the time Spitfire is about to come out, Celeron will also be able to work at 700MHz clock. Joe

To: Charles R who wrote (105377)	4/14/2000 1:30:00 AM
From: vince doran	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1574115

Kap: Have you heard anything about timing of T-Bird from Austin? Because if I had to construct a negative summary of the CC info, it would be: In a hot demand market, Athlon did not set the world on fire, and it clearly was not a capacity constraint. To light the fire, T-Bird and S-Fire are going to be required. S-Fire is going to be limited by socketed mobo supply for some time. T-Bird can run in current infrastructure AFAIK. And T-Bird is the chip that can demolish the perception that Cumine is equal to Athlon. I hope and assume that these things are at least as obvious to AMD. So how about it Kap? Heard any little bird songs you'd care to share? Cheers, Vince Oops! Sorry Charles, not directed to you, but of course would be very interested in anything you or anyone else might have gleaned.