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

To: StockMan who wrote (32987)	5/28/1998 5:09:00 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1570313

Stocky, 3-6 months? I see you have moved to Egypt too. To the state of "de nile". 3D now is here NOW. 100 MHz boards are here NOW and PC100 Ram is here now. BX motherboards are 30-50% more than super 7 boards NOW. Medocino is at least 3-4 months from NOW...looks like a long hot summer for Intel...<G> Jim

To: StockMan who wrote (32987)	5/28/1998 7:53:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1570313

The enhancements in the new line include 21 new instructions designed to significantly expand the capabilities of Intel's MMX multimedia extensions, and to support another graphics enhancement originally developed by Intel, known as the Accelerated Graphics Port, which lets a computer transfer 3-D graphics data from place to place faster. Intel plans to introduce MMX II with a new line of Pentium II processors -- code named Katmai -- in the first half of 1999, sources said. ''I think these processors are very capable of competing with Intel's current Pentium II line,'' said Lynley Gwennap, editor of the Microprocessor Report, a San Jose-based industry newsletter. ''What that does is let AMD compete in a much broader spectrum of the PC industry, and also make more money.'' Pricing for the chips will range from $185 to $370 in standard volume purchases of 1,000 chips. While still priced at least 25 percent below Pentium II processors running at the same speed, it's far more than the roughly $75 to $150 AMD has been able to charge for the existing K6 line. It will also give AMD an opportunity to compete in the largest segment of the PC market, in which systems are priced between $1,000 and $2,000, sources said. ''Obviously these chips are designed for users where 3-D graphics are important, like gamers, designers and Internet users,'' said one source familiar with AMD's plans. Despite the impressive performance of the chips, however, a number of factors could derail AMD's plans. The original K6, or K6 Classic as those chips will now be called, also won critical praise but AMD was unable to produce the chips fast enough to take advantage of its opportunity.[2.75 MM K6 & K6-2 will have been shipped in Q2] And while Microsoft has promised to support 3D-Now in Windows 98 -- with enhancements that are scheduled to ship in July -- the Department of Justice lawsuit against Microsoft could ultimately derail that operating system.[DirectX 6.0 will be available for downloading from the Web for ISV independently of Win98] Although AMD expects that the K6-2 would still offer better performance than the original K6 even without Windows 98, the improvement wouldn't be as noticeable on Windows 95.

To: StockMan who wrote (32987)	5/28/1998 8:03:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1570313

Microsoft, ISV, and IHV Support for 3DNow!(tm) Technology Microsoft Corporation is supporting 3DNow! technology in DirectX 6.0, a common set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for multimedia services in the Windows platform. DirectX 6.0 optimized for 3DNow! technology is expected to be available in July 1998. ''Software developers as well as end users will benefit from broad industry acceptance of the new 3DNow! instruction set,'' said Jay Torborg, director of graphics and multimedia for Microsoft. ''Through our support for 3DNow! in Direct3D, software applications can take advantage of the technology's powerful capabilities without additional effort on the part of developers. The end result is a rich 3D multimedia environment that enables a more compelling and realistic Windows experience for our customers.'' Software applications that leverage the forthcoming DirectX 6.0 API, as well as the OpenGL 1.2 API and 3Dfx Glide API, will automatically benefit from improved 3D performance because these APIs will be optimized for 3DNow! technology. ''As a totally biased game developer, all I care about is pure 3D horsepower,'' said David Perry, president, Shiny Entertainment. ''While most PC processors continue to be focused on making the cursor in my word processor blink a little faster, AMD is embracing the future and, with 3DNow! technology, has harnessed the 3D prowess of the AMD-K6-2 processor to make state-of-the-art 3D games available in your home and on your desk at work.'' Numerous software titles, including Incoming by Rage, Unreal by Epic MegaGames, Microsoft's Baseball 3D, Imagine Studios' Ares Rising, and LiveArt 98 by Viewpoint Data Labs, have been optimized for 3DNow! technology and are available in the marketplace. Many other titles tuned for 3DNow! technology, including DreamWorks Interactive's forthcoming Trespasser, are expected to debut throughout the year. 3D graphics drivers optimized for 3DNow! technology will soon be available for the Nvidia Riva 128, 3Dfx Voodoo2, ATI Rage Pro, and Matrox G-series graphics accelerators. High Performance Sup by the Super7(tm) Platform The AMD-K6-2 processor supports the 100-MHz bus specification of the Super7(tm) platform. The 100-MHz local bus interface speeds up access to the level 2 (L2) cache and main memory by 50 percent over the 66-MHz Socket 7 bus interface, resulting in a maximum bus bandwidth of 800 megabytes per second and an increase in system performance of as much as two processor speed grades. Super7 infrastructure solutions supporting the 100-MHz bus and the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) specification are available now for the AMD-K6-2 processor. Super7 chipsets are available from VIA Technologies and ALI, and motherboard suppliers supporting the AMD-K6-2 include Biostar, FIC, Microstar and others. ''Because of the new 3DNow! instruction set and 100-MHz Super7 bus support, the AMD-K6-2 delivers much greater performance than is possible from a simple megahertz improvement,'' added Raza.

To: StockMan who wrote (32987)	5/28/1998 8:06:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1570313

''It's truly a step change in 3D performance, providing better overall performance and significantly better 3D performance than Pentium(R) II.'' For equally configured PCs using Microsoft's forthcoming DirectX 6.0, an AMD-K6-2 processor-based system delivers significantly better 3D performance, based on the Ziff-Davis 3D WinBench(tm) 98 benchmark, than a PC based on the Pentium II. It also delivers mainstream business software performance, based on the Ziff-Davis Winstone(R) 98 benchmark, equivalent to Pentium II. (See table for complete 3D WinBench 98 and Winstone 98 scores and system configurations.) According to the MaruBench(tm) benchmark developed by AMD to measure floating point-intensive 3D performance, the AMD-K6-2 processor greatly accelerates the front-end stages of the 3D graphics pipeline compared to Pentium II on application or game physics. Pricing and Availability The AMD-K6-2 processor is available now. The AMD-K6-2/333 is priced at $369; the AMD-K6-2/300 at $281; and the AMD-K6-2/266 at $185, each in 1,000-unit quantities. AMD plans to offer a 350-MHz version in the third quarter and a 400-MHz version in the fourth quarter of 1998. About 3DNow(tm) Technology 3DNow! technology is the first innovation to the x86 processor architecture that significantly enhances 3D graphics, multimedia, and other floating point-intensive PC applications to enable the emerging ''realistic computing platform.'' 3DNow! is a set of 21 new instructions that use SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) and other performance enhancements to open the performance bottleneck in the 3D graphics pipeline between the host CPU and the 3D graphics accelerator card. 3DNow! technology accelerates the front-end physics and geometry functions of the 3D graphics pipeline to enable full performance of 3D graphics accelerators. With its SIMD-style instructions and dual register execution pipelines, the AMD-K6-2 processor can deliver up to four floating point results per clock cycle. The AMD-K6-2/333 has a peak floating point performance of 1.333 Gigaflops, significantly greater than the 0.333-Gigaflop peak performance of a Pentium II 333, or the 0.4-Gigaflop peak performance of a Pentium II 400. The AMD-K6-2/300 has a peak floating point performance of 1.2 Gigaflops, or four times the 3D processing power of a Pentium II 300, rated at peak performance of 0.3 Gigaflops. With 3DNow! technology, more powerful hardware and software applications can bring a new level of 3D performance and realism to Windows compatible PCs. 3DNow! works hand-in-hand with leading 3D graphics accelerators to achieve faster frame rates on high-resolution scenes, improved physical modeling of real-world environments, realistic 3D graphics and images, and theater-quality audio and video. 3DNow! technology was defined and implemented with input from Microsoft, application developers, graphics vendors, and x86 processor suppliers, and has received enthusiastic industry support. 3DNow! technology is compatible with today's existing x86 software and requires no operating system support,

To: StockMan who wrote (32987)	5/28/1998 8:07:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1570313

thereby enabling 3DNow! technology-optimized applications to work with all existing operating systems. Advanced Process and Interconnection Technology The 9.3-million-transistor AMD-K6-2 processor is manufactured on AMD's 0.25-micron, five-layer-metal process technology using local interconnect and shallow trench isolation at AMD's Fab 25 wafer fabrication facility in Austin, Texas. The AMD-K6-2 processor is packaged in a Socket 7/Super7 platform-compatible, 321-pin ceramic pin grid array (CPGA) package using C4 flip-chip interconnection technology.