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To: MileHigh who wrote (58)	11/23/1998 4:29:00 PM
From: MileHigh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 236

Posted at 7:41 a.m. PST Monday, November 23, 1998 RAM speed set to increase BY JACK SCHOFIELD The Guardian Next year's computers will run significantly faster, not just because Intel, the world's largest chip manufacturer, plans to deliver faster versions of the Pentium processor, but because PC manufacturers will start to move to a faster type of memory known as RDRam (Rambus Direct Random Access Memory). Rambus of California has been developing RDRam for several years, but the first samples have only just been delivered to PC manufacturers. However, 15 memory manufacturers have signed licenses to produce the chips, including Fujitsu, NEC and Toshiba from Japan, Siemens from Germany, LG Electronics and Samsung from South Korea and IBM. RDRam chips should appear in reasonable volumes in the second half of 1999. RDRam can provide data at speeds of up to 1.6 gigabytes per second, twice as fast as today's fastest synchronous (SDRam) memory chips. But they won't fit today's motherboards which take DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules -- small cards designed to hold memory chips). Instead, they'll require new circuit boards with slots for Rambus memory modules known as RIMMs. Intel has supported the development of the Rambus system and took out a license in 1996. Last month Intel also invested $500 million in Micron, an Idaho-based memory chip manufacturer, to ensure an adequate supply of memory components, particularly Direct RDRam. The firm called it an ''investment that supports our microprocessor roadmap into 2000 and beyond.'' Where DIMMs operate at clock speeds of 66MHz or 100MHz, like today's PC motherboards, RIMMs will be able to run at up to 800MHz. This is more important now that processors typically run at 300MHz to 450MHz. Early next year, the speed of Intel's Celeron processor, a low-end version of the Pentium II, will increase to 400MHz, while the Pentium II will reach 500MHz, according to Paul Otellini, director of Intel's Intel Architecture business. The faster chips, which may appear in March, will also be able to perform 70 new instructions that help increase multimedia performance. The ''Katmai New Instructions'' are the first to be introduced since Intel added 57 new instructions with the launch of MMX. In the second half of next year, processor speeds will increase again when Intel's new 0.18 micron (a micron is a millionth of a meter) chip manufacturing technology replaces today's 0.25 micron technology, according to Sun Lin Chou, general manager of Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group. This will enable the chip to run faster, pushing Pentium II speeds up to at least 600MHz even in notebook computer versions. More chips will fit on a single silicon wafer, so each processor will be cheaper to produce. Intel plans to cut costs further by introducing a cheaper form of chip packaging called OLGA (Organic Land Grid Array), which will also provide higher performance. Intel needs to cut costs to become more competitive with rivals such as AMD and Cyrix.