I talked to Peter Glaskowsky at IDF in February and he told me that P4 was going to be an awesome chip. I guess he learned something since then.
Kap
investors.com
Pentium 4 Fails To Dazzle
In Early Reviews
Chipmaker will stress product’s multimedia features as it unveils host of microprocessors geared to a world connected to the Net
By James DeTar
Investor's Business Daily
Intel Corp. this week will roll out at least four new microprocessors as it bids to be the top Internet chipmaker.
That bid, though, might stumble, at least at first. The feature product is the next evolution of its linchpin Pentium microprocessor, which powers most PCs. This will be the first time Intel will give most people a look under the Pentium 4’s hood.
Some analysts already have gotten a peek - and they say what they saw more resembles an Edsel than a Mercedes.
“The chip is going to be less efficient than previous Intel parts,” said Peter Glaskowsky, an analyst at Cahners Microdesign Resources in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Still, analysts say Intel will be able to quickly boost the P4’s performance, and Intel touts other benefits of the chip.
“It’s designed for the Internet,” said Doug Carmean, the engineer who led the Pentium 4 chip design. By this, he means it aims to work well with PCs connected to the Net. It will give Web surfers better graphics and audio performance, among other things, say Intel officials.
And though not yet as efficient for its raw clock speed as other chips, it will be fast.
The P4 will run at a speed of at least 1.4 gigahertz. That’s 25% faster than Intel’s current top-end microprocessor, the 1.13-GHz Pentium III. It’s more than twice as fast as the chips in most PCs today.
It’s also faster than archrival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s speediest chip, the 1.1-GHz Athlon, again giving Intel claim to the speed king title. For the past year, Intel and AMD have been trading that crown back and forth.
Aims At Internet
But instead of PC speed per se, Intel is focusing on making products that work well with the Internet, says Carmean. Intel, he says, has shifted its emphasis from being just a maker of chips for PCs to the maker of products for the Internet.
“The big thing we were considering in the design is where the Internet is going,” Carmean said.
Carmean says the P4 will run all existing software for Intel chips, only faster. So what will users be able to do on a P4-based PC that they couldn’t with a P3?
For one thing, Carmean says, Intel has beefed up the graphics. Game designers will be able to add more realistic scenery and faster action heroes.
“One exciting application is that users can shoot video and upload it (onto the Web) extremely quickly,” Carmean said.
In order to put video onto the Web, it has to be put into what’s called the MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) format. The time it takes to do that will be cut drastically with the P4, he says.
There are new features for businesses, Carmean says. One is called database access, or data mining. Users will be able to quickly take their data and put it into 3-D charts and graphs, as needed.
Those are all pluses. But Microdesign’s Glaskowsy says that while the chip will run faster than Intel’s Pentium III, it will not run software as efficiently as the PIII. “Pentium III is within 10% or 20% of the performance of Pentium 4,” he said.
The P4 will be a bigger chip than the Pentium III, and it’ll cost more. In addition, at first it will work only with Rambus Inc. memory chips, which are more expensive than other memory chips. So, Glaskowsky says, it’s going to be a lot more expensive than the P3, at first.
Multimedia Focus
Glaskowsky says PC makers won’t be rushing to come out with machines powered by the P4.
Bert McComas, an analyst at InQuest Market Research in Gilbert, Ariz., agrees on the shortcomings of the P4, code-named the Willamette.
“The Willamette processor is expected to deliver less than exciting performance in mainstream applications, as compared to P3 or Athlon at a given clock speed,” McComas said in a report.
On the flip side, analysts say Intel soon should be able to boost the speed of the P4. While AMD also will be able to speed up its Athlon, that chip will hit its speed limit much sooner than the P4, say analysts.
And right away, the P4 will excel in multimedia applications, like shooting home movies and sending them over the Web to relatives, analysts say. “It will greatly improve the ability to do classic multimedia applications,” Glaskowsky said.
Despite the P4’s failings, Intel firmly retains its status as the 800-pound gorilla in the semiconductor arena, says Glaskowsky.
“Intel has been expanding their business in a number of ways. They don’t just rely on desktop processors,” he said.
Intel plans to unveil the P4 at its annual developer’s forum, which starts Monday in San Jose, Calif. There, Intel also plans to give an update on its forthcoming Itanium chip. Itanium will be used in workstations and high-end servers.
The company also plans to demonstrate a low-power version of its P3 for portable PCs. And it plans to roll out the first-ever chip for Web servers that runs at more than 1 gigahertz.
Message 14244563
Gets more interesting day after day.
Thanx to Kap.
Milo |
