by Beverly Rosenbaum
Off the Pacific Northwest coast are rivers and other area landmarks with names like Auburn, Portola, Deschutes, Katmai and Merced. By no coincidence, these landmarks also serve as code names for forthcoming Intel processors.
In February, Intel announced “Auburn,” the 740 graphics processor developed jointly with Real 3D Inc., a Lockheed Martin Corp. subsidiary in Orlando, Florida. It will be available on add-in cards initially, but should be a standard PC motherboard compone nt later in the year. Auburn supports 3D rendering and could usher in a new generation of advanced games and CAD/CAM applications. A second-generation Auburn processor, code-named “Portola,” is scheduled to debut later this year with even more advanced g raphical capabilities.
“Deschutes,” a 0.25-micron version of the Pentium II, will operate faster and consume less power than current Pentium II processors, which use a 0.35-micron manufacturing process. Deschutes processors will work with Intel’s new 100MHz bus as well as nex t-generation SDRAM.
The next release, “Katmai,” will enhance the Pentium II’s MMX instruction set and speed floating-point operations. This chip’s MMX2 will contain more 32-bit instructions. That could help Intel compete with RISC-based workstations, which generally offer s uperior floating-point performance.
Following on Katmai’s heels will be “Willamette,” a Pentium II processor that will run at an incredible 600MHz. It is expected to have 100MHz system bus, as well as enhanced 3-D geometry and parallel capabilities.
Intel will close this century with “Merced,” its first 64-bit processor developed with Hewlett-Packard. Merced chips will combine RISC and CISC instructions to run new versions of NetWare, UNIX and Windows NT. Clock speeds are expected to go to 600MHz an d beyond, and this chip represents the company’s ambitious move to the high end.
Potential applications for Merced-based machines include computer-animated graphics workstations and high-performance servers. Casey Powell, chairman of Sequent Computer Systems Inc. (maker of big multiprocessing systems based on Intel chips), thinks tha t “Merced will once and for all start to replace the mainframe.”
“Flagstaff,” expected in 2000, will use two chips for the processor.
The Other Players
IBM Corp.’s Austin-based research lab has announced a new 1,000MHz chip that will break microprocessor speed records. IBM’s chip, which is still experimental, will process information at least three times faster than chips currently on the market. What i s significant about the IBM chip is that it was made with current manufacturing technology. The chip is based on the PowerPC architecture developed by IBM, Apple Computer Corp. and Motorola Inc. at their joint design center in Austin. But the chip won’t be commercially available anytime soon, as several technological hurdles remain. Tony Massimini, chief of technology at Semico Research, says chips of that speed require massive cooling and consume large amounts of power. As semiconductor manufacturing p rocesses become more complex, chips get smaller. “Chips running at 1,000MHz,” Massimini said, “will probably not be widely available until chipmakers can reduce the size of their chip engraving to about 0.18 micron.” Just to give you an idea how small th at is: a micron is about 1/70th the width of a human hair.
When this chip is ready, the first uses would include high-end business servers, database mainframes and workstations that deal in complex 3-D animation and simulations. Eventually, however, the chip could run a desktop personal computer. The next genera tion of chips, Intel’s Merced and AMD’s K7, are expected to reach speeds similar to IBM’s experimental chip.
AMD, founded in 1969, boasts that it has sold 85 million x86 processors since 1982 and 40 million in the last four years.
That impressive figure still gives AMD only about 9 percent of the worldwide x86 market, according to Mercury Research. That may change with the introduction of its first sixth-generation processor, the K6.
AMD currently sells three basic designs: the fourth-generation 5x86, the fifth-generation K5 and the K6. The 5x86 is basically a revved-up 486 design running at 133MHz and “power rated” at PR75-meaning it offers roughly the performance of a 75MHz Pentium chip. (Because of its 486 core, the 5x86 has to run faster than an equivalent Pentium to produce the same amount of power, hence the lower PR.) This chip is sold mostly overseas and in sub-$1,000 PCs in the U.S. market.
AMD’s fifth-generation K5 chip is a Pentium-class processor that’s produced in two flavors: a 100MHz version, which has a power rating of PR133, and a 116.7MHz version, power rated at PR166.
Neither the 5x86 nor the K5 is available in a version that’s MMX-enabled.
The new K6 supports all 57 MMX instructions and is available in 166MHz, 200MHz and 233MHz versions. Expect to see 266MHz and 300MHz versions before year’s end. The “PR” rating is no longer used, since the K6 is roughly comparable to Pentium Pro class pro cessors of the same clock speed.
Cyrix, founded in 1988, got its start making math coprocessors and has no fabrication facilities of its own. Instead, the company contracts with IBM to manufacture its chips. Cyrix currently offers two sixth-generation processors: the MediaGX and the 6x8 6.
However, the 6x86 will soon be replaced by the 6x86MX (M2).
The MediaGX is available in 120MHz and 133MHz versions, and provides performance roughly comparable to that of a P54C Pentium processor at the same clock speed. Though it does not support MMX, this chip includes Virtual System Architecture (VSA), which c ombines the functions of a memory controller, a video card and a sound card.
The Compaq Presario 2100 uses this chip; it has no need for a video adapter, a sound card or separate video RAM because VSA combines these functions.
The M2 processor supports 57 MMX instructions, and will come in 133MHz (PR166), 150MHz (PR200) and 188MHz (PR233) versions. Though Cyrix processors are used primarily in inexpensive systems, their performance is relatively good. In independent testing, t he M2 couldn’t match the Pentium II’s MMX performance, but it ran applications well. The M2 will probably sell in systems in the $1,000 to $1,500 range.
The newest processor from Cyrix has a power rating of 266, but it’s likely to challenge even 300MHz Intel systems.
AMD and Cyrix processors are used mostly in inexpensive systems designed for the home and small business.
Current low-end systems for the home often cost as little as $800 with configurations that include 133MHz Pentium MMX, 1.6GB hard disks, PCI video adapters with 2MB of video memory and 16MB of system memory.
The next level up includes processors that support Intel’s MMX multimedia instruction set and run at 166MHz to 233MHz-processors such as the Intel P55C line or AMD’s K6 family.
Typical prices for such systems (some of which include 32MB of system memory and 3GB hard disks) range from $1,500 to $2,000, without monitors. The server market, meanwhile, is dominated by Pentium Pros, often in dual-processor configurations.
Other classes of computers are beginning to emerge or are in a state of transformation. For example, a handful of companies (primarily those in the technical and scientific categories) are moving wholesale to Windows NT 4.0 and could migrate to NT 5.0 wh en that begins to ship in 1998.
It’s not uncommon for those users to have fast processors designed to run complex custom applications that perform computationally intensive tasks.
These include Intel’s 266MHz Pentium, or 433MHz or 500MHz versions of Digital’s Alpha processor.
Compatibility
The Intel Pentium MMX, Cyrix 6x86MX and the AMD K6 are fully pin compatible with each other. So if you buy a AMD K6 based system you can in the future upgrade to the Intel Pentium MMX 233MHz processor or the Cyrix 6x86MX by exchanging the processor. The same motherboard supports all Intel Pentium, Cyrix 6x86 and AMD K5/K6 processors up to 233MHz.
How do they compare? Magazine reviews report that the Cyrix 6x86MX is the fastest way to run Windows 95 and offers the best bang for the buck. They run pretty hot but a heat sink and fan will take care of that.
Floating point performance is not so fast.
The Intel Pentium is the most expensive, but it has the best floating point performance. For AutoCAD or scientific software, this is a good choice if you can’t afford a Pentium II.
AMD’s K6 processor, while pin compatible with the Pentium, is actually more like a Pentium II in architecture, and has the MMX instruction set.
The chip choices available today offer more alternatives for high-performance desktop PCs than ever. Only one thing is certain: There will be even more chips to choose from tomorrow.
Beverly Rosenbaum is a HAL-PC member who can be contacted at brosen@hal-pc.org. n
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