November 1996

Tuesday, November 26, 1996

• Several OEMs claim Klamath @ 233 MHz (now delayed till April 97) is no faster than current 200 MHz Pentiun Pro depending on the application
• Intel says they are ramping up production in hopes of catching up with demand for Pentium Pro and forthcoming processors.
• AMD expected to ship "tens of thousands" of it’s K6 200 MHx chip in first quarter of next year, "millions" in second half of 97

Monday November 25, 1996

• Katmai project from Intel was hinted at by a close source.
• Fexible mother board architecture was also discussed. Quick Notes – Mother Boards

Friday November 22, 1996

• For those of you that were asking, our new accounting program is running on a Intel VS440FX, Pentium Pro 180, 128 megs of RAM, 2.7 gig storage.
• Most OEM pricing on CPUs is volatile. 200 MHz CPUs are now available.

Thursday November 21, 1996

• Red Tag Sale On Line order up and running.
• More Pentium Pro 180’s arrive.
• Cyrix and IBM CPU’s still back ordered to distributors. ESC is not accepting any new orders for them at this time.
• More on SEC (Single-Edge Contact).
• In his keynote speech at Comdex Andy Grove predicts up to 1 Billion tansistors on CPUs by the year 2011. The Pentium Pro is currently at 5.5 million. Andy also predicts dramatic increases in processor speed for the next 15 years, up to 100,000 million intructions per second.
• New single transistor SRAM patent allows slow (70-100 ns) chips to be built in up to 40% less die area.
• Samsung to begin sampling 64 M-bit SDRAMS (66/83 MHz, later to 100/143 MHz) next month with production slated for Q1-1997.

Wednesday November 20, 1996

• Working on new in-house accounting system.
• Switching in-house netware server over to NT 4.0 server.

Tuesday November 19, 1996

• Intel says Klamath cost to drop and performance increase with new Single Edge Contact (SEC) microprocessor card due out in early 1997
• NLX Form Factor discussed in InfoWorld
• Dispute regarding Pentium/MMX achitecture. Performance may slow due to MMX instructions being mixed with Floating Point instructions. The two types of instructions can’t run simultaneously.

Monday November 18, 1996

• Question of the Day: What voltage can I set a VRE CPU at on a SuperMicro P5STE?

3.48 is a valid range. JP11 is on 1 and 2.

Friday November 15, 1996

• Heated Intel Boxed Program Discussion Heightens – (see Inside Intel)
• We’re still working on http://web.archive.org/web/19970228002134/http://www.esc-tech.com/. Please, let us know what else you’d like to see: webmaster@einsteinscomputer.com.
• IBM and Cyrix 6×86 CPU’s are becoming extremely tight in the market. We are not accepting any new orders for them at this time.

Intel Inside Update – Friday November 15, 1996

The discussions with Intel became rather heated today. Today’s issue revolves around implied and expressed warranty. We agreed that the bulk of today’s conversation would not go online today until after Intel has internally discussed the matter.

One of our client’s faithfully purchased a boxed Pentium Pro 180 from us approximately one month ago. Unfortunately he had difficulty with NT and Win95 crashing. We replaced the SuperMicro Motherboard regardless of the fact this would have been the first bad SM board. This did not resolve his problem and his crashes continued. His contact with Microsoft suggested that the problem was within the Intel CPU. Therefore our client opened his warranty information, called Intel’s 800 phone number as it instructs, and was told to take it back to the place of purchase for a replacement.

Excuse me? They won’t handle it directly as stated on their warranty card?

Yes, Intel faithfully passed the buck. Such is faith. Such is a worthless warranty too. As a company that seems to have no product to sell (after all there are very few boxed CPUs available in the market) it only seemed a natural extension for us to wonder why Intel wouldn’t replace their own CPU. Yeah right.

Today’s heated discussion with several Intel representatives turned ugly after asking what we thought was clarification. The conversation started by asking them if this is their normal policy: "The end user must return to the place of purchase." This is a strange policy if you look at the warranty information that is included with the boxed CPUs. For your own protection we urge all of you to read this very carefully. It states:

Intel Pentium and Pentium Pro Processors
Three Year Limited Warranty

Limited Warranty

Intel warrants that the Pentium and Pentium Pro processors, if properly used and installed, will be free from defects in material and workmanship and will substantially conform to Intel’s publicly available specifications for a perioD of three (3) years after the date the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor was purchased (whether purchased separately or as part of computer system).

If the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor which is the subject of this Limited Warranty fails during the warranty period for reasons covered by this Limited Warranty, Intel, at it’s option, will:

• REPAIR the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor by means of hardware and/or software; OR
• REPLACE the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor with another Pentium or Pentium Pro processor; OR, if Intel is unable to repair or relace the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor.
• REFUND the then-current value of the Pentium or Pentium Pro processor.

THIS LIMITED WARRANTY, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES THAT MAY EXIST UNDER STATE LAW, APPLY ONLY TO THE ORIGINAL PURCHASER OF THE PENTIUM OR PENTIUM PRO PROCESSOR, OR PENTIUM OR PENTIUM PRO PROCESSOR BASED COMPUTER AND LASTS ONLY FOR AS LONG AS SUCH A PURCHASER CONTINUES TO OWN THE PROCESSOR.

Extent of Limited Warranty

Intel does not warrant that your Pentium or Pentium Pro processor will be free from design defects or errors known as "errata". Current characterized errata are available upon request.

This limited warranty does not cover any costs relating to removal or replacement of any Pentium or Pentium Pro processors that are soldered or otherwise permanently affixed to your system’s board.

This limited warranty does not cover damages due to external causes, including accident, problems with electrical power, usage not in accordance with product instructions, misuse, neglect, alteration, repair, improper installation, or improper testing.

< strong>How to Obtain Warranty Service

To obtain warranty service for your Pentium or Pentium Pro processor, you may contact your computer system manufacturer in accordance with its instructions, or you may contact Intel.

To request warranty service from Intel, you should call Intel at 1-800-628-8686 during the warranty period during normal business hours (Pacific Time), excluding holidays. Please be prepared to provide: (1) your name, address, and telephone numbers; (2) proof of purchase; (3) a description of the computer system including the brand and model; and (4) an explanation of the problem. [Note: The Customer Service Representative may need additional information from you depending on the nature of the problem.]

The replacement processor is warranted under this written warranty and is subject to the same limitations and exclusions for the remainder of the original warranty period or one (1) year, whichever is longer.

WARRANTY LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS

THESE WARRANTIES REPLACE ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. INTEL MAKES NO EXPRESS WARRANTIES BEYOND THOSE STATED HERE. INTEL DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES SO THIS LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARE LIMITED IN DURATION TO THE LIMITED WARRANTY PERIOD. NO WARRANTIES APPLY AFTER THAT PERIOD. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS , SO THIS LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

INTEL’S RESPONSIBILITY UNDER THIS, OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, IMPLIED OR EXPRESS, IS LIMITED TO REPAIR, REPLACEMENT OR REFUND, AS SET FORTH ABOVE. THESE REMEDIES ARE THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES FOR ANY BREACH OF WARRANTY. INTEL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY BREACH OF WARRANTY OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, DOWNTIME, GOODWILL, DAMAGE TO OR REPLACEMENT OF EQIPMENT AND PROPERTY, AND ANY COSTS OF RECOVERING, REPROGRAMMING, OR REPRODUCING ANY PROGRAM OR DATA STORED IN OR USED WITH A SYSTEM CONTAINING YOUR PENTIUM OR PENTIUM PRO PROCESSOR. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Now here is the shocker. According to one particular Intel representative, "The Intel Boxed Program is not intended for end users but as an OEM product, and the warranty is only vaild to distributors.." Say what?? That’s certainly not how they presented the product in the past.

Ok, now let’s get this straight. Intel is now stating that the Boxed Processors are only to be sold with a motherboard and that it is not an end user product. Hmm. Does that mean that the warranty information included with the product was fraudulently placed in the box? Did a disgruntled employee slip them in there when no one else was looking? Have all the Intel representatives forgotten that this program was targetted to the small OEMs who want to give the customer the comfort of knowing the product is not remarked?

Alright, maybe we miscommunicated. So we approached the topic in a different manner. Does Intel honor a three year warranty? NO, THEY DO NOT. According to Intel it is the reseller’s responsibility to cover the product.

But wait a second, the marketing material strongly states Intel honors a three year warranty. Have all of us forgotten how to read? Intel even distributes a video that states that, we have been to dealer meetings where they clearly and repeatedly state that Intel covers a three year warranty. Well guess what folks. They won’t.

Now, we have to stop at this point because the last Intel representative we spoke with asked us to wait before we put up the rest of the conversation on the web. But never to miss an opportunity for showmanship … "you ain’t heard nothing yet – maybe Intel is trying to kill the boxed CPU program! … OR … maybe that CPU you have in a box is worthless! … OR … "

Wednesday November 13, 1996

• Comdex scheduling is almost final.
• IBM and Cyrix CPUs not readily available until after Friday.
• Rumors about a 220 MHz and 250 MHz CPUs from Intel has hit the press.
• New web site (www.esc-tech.com) is being organized. This will have a T3 Line to accomodate the larger than expected on line transactions.
• New database for tracking orders and RMAs is being reviewed.
• New products from PC Power & Cooling are being reviewed.
• AMI motherboards are still under review.
• A new banner for linking to our web site has been released. It should be active Thursday afternoon PST. Please see it at Tom’s Hardware. We will add it to our site later. If you are interested in using this banner please feel free to share it with anyone on the internet. Thank you.

Tuesday November 12, 1996

• Busy as usual!
• UPS Driver killed in route from the Bay area to the Sacramento station. We extend our condolences to his family.

Monday November 11, 1996

• Veterans Day. Closed.
• A couple of people still answered phones for the day.

Friday November 8, 1996

• Intel Pentium Classic 133 MHz and 166 CPUs supply is tight. ETA end of November for the remaining stock.

Wednesday November 6, 1996

• Distributors aren’t quoting prices on memory this morning, especially 8×32 EDO. We’ll have pricing for 8×32 EDO this afternoon.
• We added more SuperMicro boards to the product line: P5STE, P6SNA, and P6SNS. The spec sheets are up, but the pricing isn’t. We’ll post the pricing as soon as we can.
• The text only page is the most accurate price list this morning. Please look there for our most recent updates.
• Fast Page Mode (FPM) memory prices jumped. Sorry.
• Intel Boxed 133 and 166 CPUs availability tightening.

Tuesday November 5, 1996

• Our thanks go out to the people in Iowa, who helped us solve the problem Federal Express was having with our packages marked "Standard Overnight". We hope the problem is solved.
• Watch memory prices! There is an expected price jump in the FPM modules.
• 4×32 EDO for $72 each (Hyundai only). Limited supplies.
• Intel’s Williamette (aka P68) project confirmed. Expected clock speeds of 333 MHz to 400 MHz with a shipping time frame of mid 1998. This product will represent the end of the P6 line.

Monday November 4, 1996

• ASUS XT2P4’s arrive as rev 1.4.

Friday November 1, 1996

• Pentium Pro 180, 256K cache are ready to ship today.