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: Joe NYC who wrote (110266)	5/10/2000 6:50:00 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1583870

Joe, RE:"My understanding is that Solano 815 is 133 MHz, but only SDR, not DDR. Intel will be very late arriving to the PC-133 party, and again "My roadmap does not include any DDR," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of the company's chip set group" I mean't that Solano would be a stopgap to get Intel to a 133 MHz DDR chipset. Didn't mean to say Solano was a DDR capable chipset. Solano would give them something to fall back on should they dump RAMBUS. I don't know if you remember but I was really taken back learning that Solano ws only a trumped up i810 and not a 133 MHZ BX chipset...and about it's slow release. BTW...Louis Burns should be shown the front door... Jim

To: Joe NYC who wrote (110266)	5/10/2000 7:51:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 1583870

Joe, the Register had a typically sardonic take on Intel and Rambus today, somewhat before this latest fiasco broke. I think they perhaps overstate the case here, but if true, Intel is sure going to end up getting raked over the coals by the ram-bs artists. A million shares of RMBS at $10 isn't going to cover this, not to mention the problem of Willy and Timna being either saddled with expensive bs-ram or crippled with an MTH. And there's no relief in sight, near term: "Intel will use its continuing best efforts in marketing, public relations, and engineering to make the Rambus-D DRAM the primary DRAM for PC main memory applications through December 31, 2002; ... " I don't know, if AMD and Micron can get together on the chipset/DDR front, they can really put the big hurt on Intel . Rambus is our friend... Intel continues Rambus PR puff theregister.co.uk Chip giant Intel endorses Rambus memory so frequently,and with such ardour, for its up and coming Willamette platform that if you believed in conspiracy theories you'd be bound to find one here. According to a story in yesterday's EE Times, Intel has once more reiterated its faith in Rambus memory as being the only memory that its next IA-32 processor, Willamette, will have truck with. Further, the magazine quotes an Intel executive as saying that DDR, double data rate memory, is not on the Willamette roadmap at all. Here it's time to take a break from whether Rambus is a better option than DDR memory, and we can also safely ignore the fact that Foster will use DDR memory rather than Rambus. Instead, it's worth taking a look at the nature of the contract between Intel and Rambus, which exists, in the form of an SEC filing, which is still findable here. Amongst a lot of other interesting information, is this paragraph: "Intel will use its continuing best efforts in marketing, public relations, and engineering to make the Rambus-D DRAM the primary DRAM for PC main memory applications through December 31, 2002; and (b)Intel will communicate to the top (10) DRAM manufacturers, Intel's intention to support the Rambus-D Interface Technology in its integrated circuits for low end workstation, performance desktop, and basic PC platforms." This is a contract, right? And Intel would be crazy to break such a contract, hedged as it is by all sorts of clauses, sub clauses and Santa Clara-style clauses which would keep m'learned friends busy until Moore's Law stopped working. So, you see, dear readers, Intel has little choice but to carry on belting out that PR message that Rambus is the bee's bollocks not only for its current Coppermine desktop platform but also for its up and coming Willamette desktop platform. Intel also has to carry on beating that particular drum up to the end of 2002, despite anything that its PC customers, its third party partners, its memory partners and even Her Majesty's Press have to say. Despite Intel's latest pledge to support Rambus, the latter's share price has fallen by over $28 in the last two days of trading on Wall Street, closing yesterday at over $178. This is a far cry from the $500 Rambus execs wanted, and brokers Morgan Stanley tipped, pre-stock split. © Intel yesterday sold over one million shares it had in Micron, valued at around $70 million. Last week Micron confirmed it would bring its DDR Samurai chipset to market in the second half of this year. The Register's take on today's news: Latest Caminogate cockup will cost Intel dearly theregister.co.uk Cheers, Dan.