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

To: Buckwheat who wrote (27467)	12/31/1997 11:41:00 PM
From: Elmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1579676

Buckwheat, The advantages of Slot1/Socket8 go far beyond cost. For starters there is the GTL+ buffers. They are of a low voltage swing, terminated type and result in a much cleaner signal than the socket7 equivilants. They will scale to higher frequencies MUCH easier than socket7. In addition, the P6 bus archeticture differs from the x86 bus in that it is no longer based on bus cycles, but rather transactions. Split transactions allow for multiple transactions to be in various stages of execution and may complete out of the order they were issued. This is such a tremendous advantage in multi processor systems that you don't now see, nor will you ever again see, socket7 based multiprocessor servers. AMD isn't stupid enough to even pretend to compete in this arena. They know socket7 is effetively limited to single socket home systems. Is Slot1 an advantage for the home user? That is the challenge Intel faces. They need to prove there is an advantage and so far, the market is not yet convinced. I think Intel will continue to widen the performance gape. Today they are 2 speed grades ahead of AMD. I think they will be 3 or more ahead next year. EP

To: Buckwheat who wrote (27467)	1/1/1998 12:25:00 AM
From: Time Traveler	Respond to of 1579676

Buckwheat, Since Intel has to advance Socket 7, Intel introduced Socket 8 a few years ago with P-Pro. The merit over Socket 7 is overwhelming indeed, but Socket 8 technology is expensive indeed (perhaps even more expensive than a K6 in Socket 7). Don't you think that is why Intel introduced Slot I? On top of this, Slot I has the following improvement over Socket 8: - Increased power handling capability as mentioned by Elmer. - Increased real estate to allow more ICs or EMI quenching capacitors in this multi-chip package. - Increased resolution of Vcc selection (5 bits in Slot I vs. 4 bits in Socket 8). Plus a few more items which I have not yet thought of, please keep in mind that there are quite a few technical advantages of Socket 8 over Slot I, but the overwhelming advantage of Slot I over Socket 8, however, is cost. This thermal brick is actually cheaper to produce than a K6. The consumers who do not want to pay for a P-Pro can settle for a P-II with improved performance over Socket 7. It is indeed a win-win situation for the consumers upon the introduction of Slot I. "Higher priced boards for consumers. Higher priced cases and power supplies for consumers." Do they really? Slot I motherboards have built-in local power supplies! This reduces the over-all system power requirements. "Motherboard vendors achieving parity or superiority have to start over" This is called progress. "Another "start" at the bottom, step by step chipset feature upgrading" You lost me here. Are you talking about upgrading a chipset on a motherboard? "It would also be interesting to know the comparative performance of the slot 1 PII 300 verses the theoratical PPRO 300 on a socket 8 board." Would you care to lead the way? We will add to the list you compiled. This is if you have time to do so. All these discussions were done several months ago here at SI. "Intel is willing to dup the user out of signicant performance to save $10 ($-less PII)." When a company first introduces a fine product such as P-II, this company has the right to charge whatever the market can bear to recoup the development cost. Now, AMD introduces a product that is more expensive to produce at a lower price. It is AMD who is not making any sense at marketing (please consult with our resident marketing expert Maxwell). Jealousy towards somebody else making money is totally criminal minded and should be none of your concern. John.