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Microprocessor
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| Top Stories for May 12, 2000 (details below) | |
| Electronic Buyers' News | Intel offers free upgrade to RDRAMs in recall |
| Electronic Buyers' News | Intel board recall offers clue to Rambus motherboard penetration |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Latest Caminogate cockup will cost Intel dearly |
| The Register | Intel continues Rambus PR puff |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of May 7, 2000 |
Older News |
| May 12, 2000 | ||
Intel offers free upgrade to RDRAMs in recallBy Jack Robertson and Mark Hachman May 11, 2000 |
What started out as a product recall Wednesday (May 10) may end up as a Direct Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) giveaway program that could prove exceedingly costly for Intel Corp.
According to Intel estimates, its recall of faulty motherboards involves fewer than a million boards. But if every customer were to trade in a defective board for one equipped with Rambus memory, the glitch could cost Intel as much as $300 million, according to Drew Peck, analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp. (Boston). |
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Intel board recall offers clue to Rambus motherboard penetrationBy Jack Robertson May 11, 2000 |
Intel Corp.'s recall this week of motherboards containing faulty circuitry has produced an unintended by-product by revealing roughly how many boards the company has shipped to date equipped with the new Direct Rambus DRAM interface.
Since rolling out the platform in November following a series of technical delays, Intel has shipped fewer than 500,000 motherboards populated by the company's Intel 820 chipset and Direct RDRAM, according to industry estimates. The chip duo, which supports high-end Pentium III microprocessors, has been carefully positioned in an effort to take a significant chunk of the workstation and top-tier PC markets in 2000. |
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| May 11, 2000 | ||
Intel recalls motherboards with defective memory translator hubsMay 10, 2000 |
Intel Corp. today said it is replacing motherboards with defective memory translator hub
(MTH) components used to transfer signals from memory to the Intel 820 chipset.
The MTH, which is used to allow the Direct Rambus DRAM-enabled Intel 820 to accept SDRAM, has been found to cause system noise issues that can cause some systems to "intermittently reset, reboot, and/or hang," Intel said in a statement issued today. In extreme conditions, the noise could potentially cause data corruption. Intel said that in some instances the company has been able to induce data corruption under synthetic stress testing in its laboratories. |
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Potential Pentium III bug easy to diagnoseBy Michael Kanellos and Ian Fried May 10, 2000 |
Consumers who want to know if they are affected by a recently revealed bug inside some Pentium III computers at least have the satisfaction of knowing it's easy to get an answer.
Intel has set up a Web site providing details on how a bug in the memory translator hub, or MTH, can cause Pentium III computers to freeze and display a blue screen. The site also contains a utility to determine if a given computer contains the part. Consumers are being urged to contact manufacturers and dealers as well if they are experiencing problems. |
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Rambus at the root of Intel's memory troublesBy Ian Fried and Michael Kanellos May 10, 2000 |
Intel's got another problem, and once again the trail leads to Rambus.
Intel today said it has discovered problems with a chip called the memory translation hub, or MTH, inside several Pentium III-based PCs. Intel's plan to fix its latest bug--which will involve swapping the motherboard and memory in affected computers--could cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars, according to analysts. That puts the MTH problem in roughly the same class as Intel's infamous 1994 Pentium "floating point bug," for which the company took a $475 million charge. |
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Similar Intel glitch affects high-end workstationsBy Ian Fried May 10, 2000 |
Intel has been quietly working for months to fix a glitch with high-end workstations similar to the desktop computer problem announced today.
In February, Intel stopped shipping its high-end 840 chipset for use with traditional memory because of problems with a companion translator chip. Intel said earlier today that a glitch with a translation chip that goes with the 820 chip set for PCs could cause systems using traditional memory to reboot or hang and may cause data loss. Intel said fixing that problem may cost up to several hundred million dollars. |
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Industry assessing fallout from Intel motherboard recallBy Jack Robertson and Mark Hachman May 10, 2000 |
What started out as a product recall earlier today may end up as a Direct Rambus DRAM
(RDRAM) giveaway program that could prove exceedingly costly for Intel Corp.
According to Intel estimates, the recall affects fewer than a million motherboards. But if every customer were to trade in defective boards for Rambus-equipped devices, the glitch could cost the company as much as $300 million, according to Drew Peck, analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp., Boston. |
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Intel Web site details Itanium microarchitectureBy David Lammers May 10, 2000 |
Intel Corp. posted details of the Itanium microarchitecture on its Web site Wednesday (May 10) in an effort to spur tool development among the academic and open source communities, said Jason Waxman, IA-64 program marketing manager at Intel.
The Itanium Processor Microarchitecture Reference is a guide to the functional behavior of the 64-bit Itanium processor, which is scheduled to move to production in the third quarter. Waxman said Intel has worked closely with Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., and other major vendors to enable the development of compilers, linkers, debuggers and assemblers that are needed to create applications. |
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Intel woos open-source crowd with chip detailsBy Michael Kanellos May 10, 2000 |
Intel has posted the microarchitecture for its upcoming Itanium processor on the Web in an effort to make it easier for open-source programmers to build applications for the new chip.
The microarchitecture, which contains technical information on the chip's subsystems, cache structure and other microarchitecture details, typically isn't publicly disclosed before the commercial launch of a chip. Hardware makers and software developers usually have copies but must sign nondisclosure agreements. |
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The Register Files |
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Latest Caminogate cockup will cost Intel dearlyBy Mike Magee May 10, 2000 |
The problems that have beset Intel with its i820 (Camino) chipset became compounded evermore today as the firm confirmed it was recalling nearly a million motherboards with defective memory translator hub (MTH) parts.
The Register exclusively revealed the latest problem one month ago, but this one is going to cost Chipzilla dear. Intel has put aside a sum believed to be in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars and is offering a "new lamps for old" replacement system which uses Rambus memory instead. The recall only affects the SDRAM flavour of Caminogate. |
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Intel continues Rambus PR puffBy Mike Magee May 10, 2000 |
Chip giant Intel endorses Rambus memory so frequently,and with such ardour, for its up and coming Willamette platform that if you believed in conspiracy theories you'd be bound to find one here.
According to a story in yesterday's EE Times, Intel has once more reiterated its faith in Rambus memory as being the only memory that its next IA-32 processor, Willamette, will have truck with. Further, the magazine quotes an Intel executive as saying that DDR, double data rate memory, is not on the Willamette roadmap at all. |
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Today's Related Stories |
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Intel recalls boards with memory translator chipBy David Lammers May 10, 2000 |
Intel Corp.'s long-suffering effort to establish a market for the Rambus memory architecture took another unexpected turn on Wednesday (May 10), when Intel announced that it would replace motherboards that have a defective memory translator hub
(MTH).
Fewer than one million systems have shipped with motherboards using the MTH and the 820 chip set. The 820 was originally designed to support Rambus DRAMs (RDRAMs); the MTH components allow a system to support standard synchronous DRAMs as well. The high cost and limited availability of RDRAMs led Intel to support this "bridge" approach that allows customers to load systems with SDRAMs until the availability of RDRAMs improved. |
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Intel to replace faulty PC motherboardsBy Melanie Austria Farmer and Michael Kanellos May 10, 2000 |
Intel said today it has discovered a problem with components inside some Pentium III computers that could cost the company several hundred million dollars to fix.
The company said it found problems with Pentium III computers containing a chip called the "memory translator hub" (MTH). The MTH is malfunctioning because of system noise, or internal computer signals. The flaw with the MTH can cause computers to freeze up or reboot. Customers can download a utility from an Intel Web site to test if their computer contains an MTH. |
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Chipmaker reports defective motherboards were shippedMay 10, 2000 |
Intel Corp. shares fell more than 9 percent Wednesday after the world's largest chipmaker said it shipped nearly 1 million computer circuit boards that could contain a defect that destroys important files.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company sells a variety of parts that go into a computer, including the motherboard, the primary component on which the processors, main memory and support circuitry rest. |
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| May 10, 2000 | ||
Intel commits to using only Rambus with upcoming Tehama chip setBy Will Wade May 9, 2000 |
Intel Corp. is running prototypes in the lab of core logic for its upcoming Willamette microprocessor, featuring support for Rambus DRAM technology. Both the core logic and Willamette are due for commercial release by the end of the year, but analysts are concerned that Intel's focus on RDRAM could backfire if the memory chips are not available at competitive prices by then.
Intel has working silicon for both Tehama, the primary chip set for desktop PCs using the Willamette processor, and Colusa, the chip set designed for the server version of the Willamette MPU, code-named Foster. |
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The Register Files |
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Itanium to crystallise PC firms' Intel phobiaBy Mike Magee May 9, 2000 |
Systems from a spate of PC vendors sporting Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor are still on track but the firm's own up and coming Lion system is may end up competing with better known brands from the likes of Compaq, HP and IBM.
Intel is readying versions of its Lion box which will be put in place at server farms across the world, with one of the first to come on stream being in Reading. That will include boxes using both IA-32 and IA-64 architecture. |
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Intel says Sun just isn't trying hard enoughBy Andrew Thomas May 9, 2000 |
New Intel Europe Merced/Itanium supremo, Pierre Mirjolet, today reiterated claims that Sun wasn't trying hard enough to get Solaris running on the first Intel 64-bit processors due for launch next month.
Mike Fister, Intel vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Server Group, speaking at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday said: "Users haven't addressed a request for solutions in combination of the Itanium and Solaris. And demand isn't revving up. The IA-64 work from IA-32 applications that run on Solaris hasn't been going well. Sun's move on the Itanium-based Solaris is slow and I believe that Solaris is becoming an OS dedicated to SPARC." |
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| May 9, 2000 | ||
Intel plans aggressive 'Willamette' introBy John G. Spooner May 8, 2000 |
Intel Corp. has one word for its plans to ramp its next-generation desktop processor: aggressive.
Sources said the company has laid out plan to quickly increase volumes of the chip, code-named Willamette, by rolling out three clock speed versions in order to establish it in the mainstream of the desktop PC market in the first quarter of next year. Intel officials have confirmed that the chip will debut at 1.4GHz in the second half of this year. However, Intel will also deliver chips at clock rates below that speed. Intel, sources said, plans to offer a 1.3GHz version, along with the 1.4GHz clock speed, starting in the fourth quarter. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel: jobs for life – or elseBy Andrew Thomas May 8, 2000 |
Chipzilla's litigious nature will again be on public display this week as its suit against Broadcom reaches the Californian courts. Intel is accusing set top box specialist Broadcom of poaching key staff and using secret knowledge in the development of new STB silicon.
The case was filed on March 8 in Santa Clara County Superior Court and was seen as an attempt by chip behemoth Intel to keep three former employees from taking similar jobs at relative minnow Broadcom – in which Intel was once an investor. But in an amended complaint filed on April 28, Intel is now accusing Broadcom of actively misappropriating trade secrets and placing Intel's former employees in positions where there will be an "inevitable disclosure'' of Intel's intellectual property. This increased legal activity would seem to indicate that Chipzilla now regards the smaller company as a genuine competitor. |
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Intel's Glen Echo canned?By Mike Magee May 8, 2000 |
Sources close to Intel's plans said over the weekend that its ambitious Glen Echo project, which was supposed to sample towards the end of last month and was scheduled to ship in July, has been cancelled.
That will give Lancewood, its trusty workaday server muvvaboard, a further lease of life and two further revs which will last for a clear nine months more, the same sources said. |
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| May 8, 2000 | ||
Intel sues Broadcom over ex-employees
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Two of the semiconductor industry's most successful companies are squaring off in court this week, as Intel Corp. is charging newcomer Broadcom Corp. with misappropriation of trade secrets and interference with employee contracts.
The case, which could help clarify California's employment laws, was first filed March 8 in Santa Clara County Superior Court. It started out as a little-noticed attempt by Intel to keep three former employees from taking similar jobs at Broadcom Corp., a smaller but fast-growing rival in the communications chip market. |
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Intel attempts to put kabosh on trade secret leakageMay 5, 2000 |
Intel Corp. may be trying to halt employees who leave the MPU giant from sharing the company's secrets with the rest of the world.
The House that x86 Built is seeking a preliminary injunction against Internet broadband access chip vendor Broadcom Corp. Intel wants to stop former Intel employees from disclosing its trade secrets to the competition. |
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AMD's Thunderbird advances Athlon
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is planning a lightning fast conversion to its Thunderbird chip starting next month.
However, the move could frustrate some leading-edge Athlon enthusiasts as the chip maker goes through a complex transition process to a new packaging technology, known as Socket A. Thunderbird, the code-name for the newest version of AMD's (NYSE: AMD) Athlon desktop PC processor, will be available from PC makers in June. But AMD will stagger the launch of Thunderbird based on two packaging options, sources said. |
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Intel's Willamette MPU to infiltrate midrange PC marketBy Jack Robertson May 5, 2000 |
In a significant product realignment, Intel Corp.'s upcoming Willamette microprocessor will now serve both the high-end and midrange PC-market segments, following the cancellation of a program that was to have cast the Pentium III chip in the
mid tier role, EBN has learned.
The Willamette, which Intel has described as its highest-performing desktop processor and a showcase for high-speed, 800-MHz Direct Rambus DRAM, is now being assigned the dual task of capturing top-end and mid-range market share from the Thunderbird and Spitfire processors -- the next-generation derivatives of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Athlon chip, according to sources familiar with Intel's product plans. |
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Rambus availability, yields could dictate Intel chip performanceBy Mark Hachman May 5, 2000 |
Confronted by the twin devils of short supply and low yields in the Direct Rambus DRAM market, Intel Corp. is girding its newest microprocessor for what some say could be a rocky rollout.
The chip manufacturer has been vocal in promoting the inextricable ties between its Willamette CPU and high-end, 800-MHz Direct RDRAM -- a one-two combination that Intel hopes will guarantee its lead in the top tier of desktop PCs. But for all the talk of a monogamous relationship between processor and memory, the Direct RDRAM market is in such a precarious state that Intel could be forced to loosen its vows, according to several market observers. |
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The Register Files |
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Rambus no longer makes Intel's eyes twinkleBy Mike Magee May 7, 2000 |
A senior Intel source told The Register in February that he was very surprised when Rambus became the unexpected star of its Developer Forum show.
We can thank senior Intel VP Dr Albert Yu, however, for putting the spotlight on the amazing dancing Rambus. Yu, demonstrating the Willamette processor at IDF, unequivocally stated that Intel's up-and-coming IA-32 architecture was inseparable from Rambus memory. |
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NEC cuts back on Rambus productionBy Mike Magee May 5, 2000 |
As the price of 64Mb (megabit) memory rises, major semiconductor firm NEC has started to put chips on allocation, according to analysts Bear Sterns.
And, at the same time, NEC is believed to have now realised it vastly overrestimated the impact of Rambus memory and is taking steps to cut back supply and shift production lines to SDRAM (synchronous memory). |
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How the hell... do you overclock the Athlon?By Mike Magee May 5, 2000 |
Do you have an Athlon microprocessor and want to speed up your chip to run from between 750MHz to over 1GHz for the price of a 550MHz chip?
Since Athlons were announced, it has been clear that the technology has some really good overclocking potential inside that seventh generation processor core. At the end of 1999, AMD shrunk the Athlon from .25 micron to .18 micron and gave us lots of reasons to celebrate. These .18 micron Athlons are extremely overclockable. As you can now buy Athlon 550MHz processor for just $137, with some extra small investments you can overclock this processor up to a scorching 1GHz. |
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Intel says no probs with flip chips crackingBy Mike Magee May 5, 2000 |
Semiconductor firm Intel said today that it has had no reports of packaging cracking on its
FC-PGA (flip chip packaging) microprocessors.
But, at the same time, it has warned enthusiasts that they need to use the right type of heat sink with the socketed chips to avoid damaging the packaging. That follows reports on an overclocker's page, which we reported in our hardware roundup yesterday, suggesting several instances of Intel FC-PGA chips cracking. |
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1Ghz Intel shortages hit tier 2 PC buildersBy Linda Harrison May 7, 2000 |
UK system builders are losing Intel business to tier I rivals due to 1GHz chip shortages.
Despite Intel declaring that its 1GHz chips would not be available in volume in Europe until Q3, some UK customers feel they can't wait that long to get these monsters inside their systems. But this leaves many tier II PC builders unable to fulfil orders; and lengthy lead times or a complete lack of the 1GHz Pentium IIIs in the channel are driving customers into the arms of bigger competitors. |
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Large corporations need 2GHz chipsBy Mike Magee May 5, 2000 |
Intel has made available a white paper on its private dealer Web pages which suggests that IT buyers will need microprocessors of 1GHz and up to 2GHz in order to run Windows 2000.
The report, from Competitive Systems Analysis, will bring tidings of good will to Intel Central at Santa Clara, which just loves it when Microsoft produces software that needs a mighty number cruncher to make it tick. |
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