Intel Ships 1.3-GHz Pentium 4 To Key OEMs
TECH WEB, 1/2/2001 8:15:00 PM
Jan 02, 2001 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- Intel Corp. is quietly shipping a new--and slower--version of its Pentium 4 processor tomajor OEMs, including Dell, Gateway, among others.
In fact, Dell Computer Corp. has released a PC based upon a slower Pentium 4 chip from Intel, the first step in what the chip giant hopes will be an industry-wide shift to the new architecture.
According to a spokesman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, the new 1.3-GHz Pentium 4 was actually released in late December to Dell and other PC OEMs. The slower, cheaper version of the Pentium 4 is intended to pull customers away from the aging Pentium III line to the new microprocessor family.
"The additional SKU will round out our product line and drive the Pentium 4 into the mainstream that much quicker," the spokesman said. "During the first part of the year, we want to get people thinking about the Pentium 4. The idea is that 2001 will be the year of the Pentium 4."
Although published reports said the 1.3-GHz chip was scheduled for an introduction in late January, the Intel spokesman said the chip's December release date hadn't been altered from its existing schedule. Intel has previously announced and shipped 1.4- and 1.5-GHz versions of the Pentium 4 beginning in late November.
The new 1.3-GHz Pentium 4 costs $409, less than half of the price of the 1.5-GHz version, which is priced at $819. The 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 is priced at $574. All prices reflect lots of 1,000 units.
Dell began selling a version of the Dimension 8100 with the new chip on Tuesday, a spokesman confirmed from the company's Round Rock, Tex. headquarters. Dell currently offers a $100 rebate on all consumer PC systems, including the new 8100 PCs.
Gateway Inc., San Diego, Calif, will also begin selling Performance PC units based on the new chip this Friday, a spokeswoman said. Gateway was planning to launch its systems on Dec. 28, but negotiated some last-minute pricing changes, she said.
The price cuts also mean that Dell, at least, can sell the 1.3-GHz 8100 Dimension system for a more attractive overall price. Configured with a 1.3-GHz processor, the price of a Dimension 8100 PC with its default configuration is $1,749. But with a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4, the price jumps to $2,309, a more rarified price point.
All of the Dimension 8100 line ships with a minimum of 128 Mbytes of PC600 RDRAM, the slowest and cheapest version of Direct RDRAM available. The PC also ships with a 40-Gbyte hard drive, Nvidia TNT2 graphics card, and 19-inch monitor. While the 1.3-GHz Dimension only ships with a 40X CD-ROM drive, the1.6-GHz model upgrades the drive to a 12X DVD-ROM.
While Intel has to date spent little on print or television advertising for the Pentium 4, the company's New York agency, Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, hired Ken Segall away from TBWA/Chiat Day to run the Pentium 4 campaign. Segall's original "Think Different" campaign for Apple Computer Corp. won an Emmy in 1998, as well as an Effie award for marketing effectiveness.
The Pentium 4 advertising campaign will begin in the spring of 2000, officials have said previously. Ken Segall will likely be given at least the $300 million reportedly allocated to the Pentium III's advertising budget, observers have predicted.
However, the company may also have to work out the kinks on a nagging glitch in the accompanying Pentium 4 chipset, the Intel 850, that originally delayed the launch one month.
On Dec. 18, Intel notified customers of a revision to the I/O Controller Hub (ICH-2) used in the Intel 850. The component, Intel officials said in late December, was found to generate undue latency or delays when multimonitor PCI graphics cards were used with Intel 850 systems. Since AGP graphics cards are usually used with Intel 850 systems, the problem was considered minor.
The current "B1 prime" version of the chip will be replaced with a newer version, the B4, which will enter production on Feb. 24. Systems will need to be requalified , according to a note sent to Intel's customers.
But in tests, CRN, a sister publication to TechWeb, also found that the bug also affected audio data streamed from a DVD across the motherboard, causing the sound to stop or stutter. The AC-3 surround sound data was passed from a DVD decoder card to a soundcard over the system bus while the title video was sent out the decoder's S-video output.
Intel said that more people use software DVD decoding than hardware DVD, reducing the likelihood that a majority of customers would experience problems, the magazine reported.
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