Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Paul Engel who wrote (32960)	5/27/1998 9:12:00 PM
From: Maverick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1570553

AMD to launch K6-2 3D supported by MSFT, announce top-tier PC design win SAN FRANCISCO, May 27 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc will introduce a new K6 chip with improved multimedia technology, and it hopes to entice video game developers to embrace the chip by launching it at the big E3 trade show. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said it will introduce the AMD-K6-2 Thursday at the E3 Expo in Atlanta, the biggest trade show for the video game industry. The new semiconductor will contain a new multimedia instruction set called 3D Now. Analysts said the new instruction set seeks to improve on Intel Corp's (INTC - news) MMX multimedia technology. The new K6 has three dimensional graphics capabilities embedded in the chip. ''The idea is to accelerate even more of the graphics process than MMX does,'' said Dean McCarron, a principal at Mercury Research in Scottsdale, Ariz., adding that AMD is trying to ''out-MMX MMX,'' referring to Intel's technology. The new K6 is the first upgrade of AMD's microprocessor since it was launched in April 1997. The K6, which is a clone of Intel's Pentium II, has found a home among some top-tier PC makers in their sub-$1,000 offerings, such as Compaq Computer Corp (CPQ - news) and International Business Machines Corp (IBM - news). McCarron said it is possible AMD will also announce on Thursday some top-tier PC vendors who plan to use the new chip. AMD has made inroads with PC makers by pricing its chips at an average of about 25 percent less than Intel's processors. But with its newest K6, its instruction set differs from Intel, and analysts said the key to its widespread use will be in the software packages that are designed around it. Microsoft Corp (MSFT - news) is supporting the K6-2 with an application programming interface (API) called Direct X, which is a key interface between the hardware and the software applications. Direct X is now in customer testing and was not included in Windows 98. But software developers can easily download upgrades to get new APIs, such as Direct X, McCarron said. ''Having the hardware in place is only one step,'' McCarron said. McCarron said that he expects the K6-2 will be in widespread use in about a year, but that some new PCs and software applications that take advantage of the K6-2 3D capabilities, especially in the video game area, will be seen this year, by the big fourth quarter retail season. Intel is also developing a new generation of multimedia and three dimensional graphics capabilties, in a chip code-named Katmai, which is expected sometime next year.

To: Paul Engel who wrote (32960)	5/28/1998 8:15:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1570553

AMD will release a 350MHz K6-2 in Q3, 400 MHz K6-2 in Q4 98, K6-3 late 98. AMD revs up Intel rivalry with K6-2 By Lisa DiCarlo, PC Week Online 05.28.98 10:30 am ET Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s K6-2 chip, announced today, is not only a watershed product for the company, but it also marks the beginning of a campaign to compete on more levels with Intel Corp. The K6-2, with 21 integrated 3D instructions called 3DNow, is the first nonclone processor developed by an Intel X86 competitor. Cyrix Corp. and Centaur Technology Inc. will use the 3DNow! extensions in forthcoming processors. Although AMD officials declined to name OEM partners, they said Compaq Computer Corp. and IBM Personal Computer Co. -- which already use the original K6 -- are likely candidates. Later this year, AMD (AMD) will introduce the K6-3, which is essentially the same as the K6-2 but with an on-chip Level 2 cache. That processor will compete squarely with Intel's Katmai, the code-name for a line of chips with integrated 3D instructions. However, Katmai will not hit the market until the second quarter of 1999. Dana Krelle, vice president of marketing at AMD in Sunnyvale, Calif., said this gives AMD not only a time-to-market advantage over Intel but also a price/performance advantage. Specific pricing of the K6-3 will not be disclosed until its release, but Krelle said all AMD processors will cost at least 25 percent less than comparable Intel processors. In some cases, where AMD claims its chip is faster, the price is equal. For example, AMD's 266MHz K6 costs $156 and Intel's 266MHz Celeron is $155. Celeron, which has no secondary cache, has been widely criticized for poor performance. However, Intel will plug a performance gap with the release of a 300MHz Celeron this summer, officials said. "These are bonafide alternatives to Intel processors,'' said Michael Slater, founder of MicroDesign Resources Inc. in Sebastopol, Calif. While it's true that Intel's competitors have viable alternatives in the low-cost and mid-range space, some corporate customers are still unwilling to take what they see as a risk in using a non-Intel processor. "Are they going to give me a million dollars if it breaks?" said Chuck Clabots, vice president and chief information officer at United Behavioral Health in Minnetonka, Minn., and a PC Week Corporate Partner. "That's essentially what we'd be looking for them to do.''