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To: Win Smith who wrote (64391)	11/26/2001 9:14:02 PM
From: elpolvo	Respond to of 275872

perhaps. but it wasn't in the song lyrics

To: Win Smith who wrote (64391)	11/27/2001 7:44:53 AM
From: Windsock	Respond to of 275872

Intel picks up pace in bus, DDR333 chipset race By Jack Robertson, EBN Nov 26, 2001 (8:51 PM) URL: ebnews.com Intel Corp. is locked in another time-to-market race with its rivals in Taiwan as the company moves to accelerate the introduction of its latest bus and chipset products, according to sources with knowledge of the company's roadmap. Intel will move the rollout of its 533MHz microprocessor frontside bus (FSB) to the second quarter of 2002, a quarter earlier than expected. The company has set its upcoming 845E PC chipset on a similarly stepped-up timetable in what observers say is an effort to head off competition from Taiwan's chipset manufacturers. Those companies, most notably Via Technologies Inc. and Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SiS), are separately preparing core-logic ICs that support the 533MHz FSB and a 333MHz version of DDR SDRAM (DDR333). Intel declined to comment on unannounced products. But analysts, chipset makers, and memory IC suppliers generally agreed with sources interviewed by EBN that Intel has been able to place its high-speed FSB and 845E on a more competitive launch path. SiS and Via appear well positioned to counter Intel's move, according to observers. SiS is slated to bring two chipsets to market in the first quarter, to be available when Intel brings out its new FSB. The company has already unveiled a chipset supporting the new, higher-speed DDR333 memory, and a spokesman said SiS will quickly adapt the device to handle the 533MHz processor bus. Via is expected to have its chipset, the Apollo P4X333, in the market by mid-2002 to take advantage of the faster bus, according to Frank Jeng, the company's marketing director. Taiwan's Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALi) is also pushing to introduce its 533MHz FSB and DDR333 chipset in the second or third quarter of next year. Depending on the price premium the new chipsets carry in mass production, they could become the mainstay of the Pentium 4 market, according to analysts. Kevin Krewell, an analyst at MicroDesign Resources Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., said the same 533MHz chipset will support the existing P4 400MHz FSB and DDR SDRAM speed grades up through 333MHz. At the right price, the device could become a one-size-fits-all chipset that would be a convenience for systems designers using the P4, according to Krewell. But a 533MHz FSB chipset is no slam dunk technically, despite vendors' previous experience building the 400MHz version, according to Bert McComas, an analyst at InQuest Research Inc., Gilbert, Ariz. “The chipset must operate at incredibly fast speeds,” McComas said. “Each advance in speed at these frequencies is that much more challenging.” Other observers said the new 533- MHz FSB and chipsets will also increase the debate over how much performance is needed within the mainstream PC market. “It will help Intel increase its processor speed grade,” said Bob Merritt, an analyst at Semico Research Corp. in Redwood City, Calif. “As far as memory is concerned, most Pentium 4s with 400MHz FSBs can't fully utilize all the memory bandwidth that is there now.” Still, Krewell said Intel will take full advantage of its inside knowledge of the faster bus line and memory interface. Intel licenses SiS and ALi to support P4 processors but provides no technical support. Via remains unlicensed, which hasn't stopped the chipmaker from putting its DDR chipsets supporting the current 400MHz FSB into mass production. Intel's deployment of a 533MHz FSB is a natural extension of the move to a quad-pumped version of its Pentium III 133MHz bus line. The faster FSB will reduce P4 latency and increase performance by allowing a few more instructions per clock cycle, according to InQuest's McComas. Both Krewell and McComas said the 533MHz P4 bus will set the stage for Intel to transition its 400MHz FSB to the Celeron processor family. However, the difference in clock speed between those two buses is considerably less than between the P4's 400MHz bus and the 133MHz bus now used by the Celeron. “It may become harder for Intel then to differentiate between the two processor price points,” McComas said. Additional reporting by Faith Hung