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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stoctrash who wrote (29855)	2/23/1998 1:59:00 PM
From: let	Respond to of 50808

C'mon Fred E..Give me (& CUBE) a break ! (I know it doesn't "have to"...but even Apple is over $21 today! $21.18 last up 1.18) Just teasing ya, lol

To: Stoctrash who wrote (29855)	2/23/1998 3:35:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

No mention of Cube... 740 Due for Second-Quarter Release -- Intel Graphics Chip Coming On Board Kristen Kenedy 02/23/98 Computer Retail Week Page 07 Copyright 1998 CMP Publications Inc. Santa Clara, Calif.-Intel's recently announced 740 graphics chip will be the center of several add-on boards shipping as early as next month-including an Intel-branded version, Computer Retail Week has learned. Intel plans a Q2 release of a 740-based graphics board called Express Graphics in 2MB and 4MB versions, according to industry executives briefed on Intel's plan. Intel already markets a line of networking products under the Express brand. Pricing for the new board is not known, and Intel officials did not respond to inquiries at press time. Other manufacturers shipping boards based on the 740 during the first half of this year are co-developer Real 3-D (a division of Lockheed Martin), STB Systems, Diamond Multimedia and ASUS. In addition, TV-tuner manufacturer Hauppauge Computer Works announced plans for a TV tuner card designed to work with the 740. Zoran, developer of a software-based DVD decoding routine and a longtime Intel partner, also announced a DVD daughter card reference design that works with the 740 chip. The daughter card would control a DVD -ROM drive and provide software-based DVD video playback, costing manufacturers about $30 per board, according to Zoran. All 740 boards this year will be designed for the accelerated graphics port bus, except for a PCI version of Real 3-D's StarFighter. Engineers at Real 3-D developed a bridge component that tricks the PCI board into functioning like an AGP board, except it can't access system RAM as true AGP boards do, said George Forbes, director of product marketing at Real 3-D. A custom ASIC includes performance enhancements comparable with AGP, he said. The 740 is a 2-D/3-D graphics accelerator that also provides video support. Manufacturers are enthusiastic about the chip's ability to exploit all the features of the Intel-developed AGP, a special graphics bus in P2 motherboards that provides a faster pipe to the CPU and allows the graphics board to use local system memory as well as its own onboard memory. Intel said the 740 fully utilizes the Pentium II's floating point unit, a key element in 3-D processing. A recognizable brand name in the consumer channel tops off the chip's strong points, vendors said. "Intel developed the AGP specification, so their chip takes advantage of all the AGP features," said Ken Wirt, vice president of Diamond Multimedia. Previous AGP boards did not make full use of all available AGP features, he said. The Intel brand name carries weight with consumers and helps drive up sales, Wirt said. Graphics board makers will very often feature the name of the chip manufacturer on their retail packages, and Diamond plans to play up the Intel name to help spur sales, he said. Peter Glaskowsky, an analyst at MicroDesign Resources, said the 740 isn't necessarily faster than other 3-D processors on the market, but it provides a superior visual quality in a crisper, cleaner graphics presentation. "We believe demand for the Intel 740 will be very strong," he said. "Intel will ship at least 10 million units in 1998, giving them about 20 percent of the market for 3-D chips for PCs." Nevertheless, Intel still faces some strong competitors. Rival chipmakers Riva and Rendition both expect to release significantly faster chips in the first half of the year. There is also the Voodoo 2 Graphics chip from 3Dfx, which will be delivered in boards starting this month. That chip is a 3-D accelerator, so it must be used with a 2-D graphics accelerator in PCs. But Voodoo 2 claims strong support among the game-playing community, and vendors expect it to remain the leader in the game- graphics space for the time being. Although some AGP boards will show up as retail products early this year, volume sales probably won't start until late in 1998, manufacturers said. By that time, some of the early AGP systems shipped in late 1997 will be a year old, and consumers will be more likely to upgrade their graphics boards.