X-bit labs

April 2004 Hardware News Overview (page 2)

Category: Editorial

by Andy Yaschenko

[ 04/21/2004 | 09:34 AM ]

As for the delay with DDR2 support, AMD is going to make up for it no sooner than the second half of the next year. So far, they have limited themselves to using memory modules on DDR500 chips. AMD manifests no desire to support the upcoming BTX form-factor, proposed by Intel. AMD says the heat dissipation of their processors fits perfectly into the ATX framework and will fit in the near future due to the transition to the 90nm tech process, scheduled for the second half of this very April, although mass production of such chips will only start in June.

In March, we heard the announcement of the highest-performing x86 processor of today, the Athlon 64 FX-53. Some people around the world could even see it in retail stores.

And without any announcements, the Athlon 64 2800+ appeared on pricelists, with 1.8GHz frequency, 512KB cache, and an official price of only $178! It is for the Socket 754, of course, since the Socket 939 is delayed again. They set the launch of the Socket 939 Athlon 64 CPU to the end of May as yet, so we’ll hardly see many such processors in shops in the Q2. At least, in what may be called “mass quantities”.

On the other side of the battlefield, Intel doesn’t feel too well, too. By the latest rumors, the LGA775 platform is postponed to June. Processors and mainboards for/with this socket are expected in this month, although mainboards are already sampling. Processors will probably be late, as usual.

There are many versions explaining the reasons for the delay, including the notorious problems with the 90nm tech process. At least, the 3.4GHz Prescott, announced back on the 2^nd of February, won’t be here until April. As a kind of compensation, Intel rolled out the 2.4GHz model priced very moderately, something like $120. Such chips may be defective 3.4GHz models, by the way.

Overall, Intel is busy making things right with manufacture. Besides the 90nm process, the 130nm Pentium 4 EE and the Xeon processor transition from six metallization layers to eight, probably to permit a higher chip yield. Meanwhile, a 65nm line is being prepared at the experimental D1D – Intel traditionally remains the leader in mastering new tech processes.

The Xeon also received some attention in March. The 90nm Nocona core with 64-bit addressing (the technology is likely to be named EM64T), also in the LV version, with frequencies up to 2.8GHz, appears by the end of this year. The Pentium 4 with those 64 bits is unlikely to show up soon. The technology will most likely appear in the Xeon first, which family welcomed new members in April, including the 3GHz Xeon MP with 4MB of L3 cache.

Getting done with the big two, I’d like to mention the agreement of Intel and Intergraph as they ended their six-year patent war. Intergraph won the day completely with trophies amounting to $675 million.

Transmeta, on the contrary, keeps low and doesn’t sue anybody. The company gets closer to its client, NEC, licensing technologies for reducing the chip’s power consumption. Now NEC will use this knowledge in its 45-90nm tech processes and Transmeta will have its licensing fees – every extra cent counts for them!