Monday February 24, 1997
- Question of the Day: When will the new TX boards be available?
Everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new TX PCIset motherboards. Distributors expect to see the ASUS boards after the first of March. We won’t have pricing on these new ASUS boards until after distributors receive their shipments. SuperMicro will release their P5MMA after March 1. Pricing is posted on http://web.archive.org/web/19970228001931/http://www.einsteinscomputer.com/prcsuper.htm.
We’ll post benchamark information for you as soon as we can get the boards. - Question: Do you have EDO/ECC memory?
EDO/ECC memory is available through our internet partner, Crucial Technology, a division of Micron. You may call 888-363-2562 to ask questions and order. - Should we pick up Kingston memory? Please let us know at: presales@einsteinscomputer.com
Wednesday February 19, 1997
- ASUS announced 5 new motherboards based on the 430TX chipset. Model numbers are TX97, TX97-E, TX97-X, TX97-XE, and TX97-XV.
- Pentium Pro with 1 Mb L2 Cache should be available in 4th Quarter 1997. Intel is positioning the Pentium II, Pentium Pro and Pentium with MMX into different market segments.
Tuesday February 18, 1997
- Intel formally announced the 82430TX PCIset for Pentium and Pentium with MMX motherboards..
- SuperMicro officially released the P5MMA motherboard.
- AMD K5-PR-166 is available for shipping for $210.00 and the PR-K5-133 price has dropped.
- Samples of the Gigabyte 586TX motherboard will be available approximately two weeks.
Monday February 17, 1997
- Generic memory prices increase again. Manufacturer’s slowdown of 16-megabit chips and the shift to 64-megabit chips is causing a ‘shortage’.
- Toshiba shifts to 64 Mb chips in response to downward pricing trend of 16 Mb.
- ASUS AT Medium Tower arrived. Model T-10 AB has six drive bays, sparkle power supply, and is tool-less for removing the side panel.
- Happy Birthday Leanne
- Lora is back from her two week vacation
Inside Intel Update – February 17, 1997
In case you haven’t noticed there is a large gap between the writing of these web pages. Intel and ESC have had numerous conversations regarding their product line. Between the holidays, the New Year’s Day flood, and vacations we have not devoted ourselves to this page. We would like to thank all of you emailing us for the continuation of this section. Unfortunately December 1996 was overwritten.
In summary:
January 8, 1997 was the introduction of the Pentium MMX CPUs. Shortages of the boxed program occured almost two weeks after the introduction of the product. One week prior to the newly released commercials touting the MMX CPUs the OEM market price was increasing because the product was short in the box program. Are the shortages a miscalculation or a plan to drive demand?
Asian boxed product has been entering the US market. The third tier distributors have been offering Intel boxed product. This product was originally sold in the Asian market and then brought to the US. Because the demand for the boxed product is greater than Intel is supplying to the US, the Asian product has been filling the void. According to Intel Technical support the same warranty applies. This means you would go back to the place of purchase.
February 7, 1997 brought a huge suprise. Instead of announcing a 300 MHz P6, Intel provided information concerning a 400 MHz CPU.
Friday February 14, 1997
- Valentine’s Day
- According to PC Week the Pentium II is the new name for the Intel CPU formerly referred to as the Klamath. Who thinks of these names? Pentium II … Geesh.. do you think that they were up all night thinking of that name? Why not just add to the confusion. Hmmm… Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium with MMX, Pentium II… What were they thinking? Pentium II would have been a good name for the Pentium with MMX, Pentium Pro II would have been acceptable (barely) for the Klamath. Intel must really hate computer salespeople. I feel sorry for the salespeople who are going to try to straighten this mess out !! "No Mr. Purchaser, you really want the Pentium IV with DSP. Ahem.. I mean MMX3 release 2.06"
Thursday February 13, 1997
- We will be adding the Gigabyte motherboards to our product line next week. Key features include CPU voltage autodetect, 6 SIMM sockets, and PS/2 mouse cable included with motherboard cable set. This is a good entry level HX chipset motherboard.
Wednesday February 12, 1997
- GigaByte GA-586HX motherboard arrived for testing.
Tuesday February 11, 1997
- Internet security issues were discussed in Washington D.C. C-SPAN carried the gathering live this morning. Government regulations were discussed. If you are interested in this topic, now is the time to voice your opinion to your representatives.
- Intel OverDrive 166 MHz with MMX Technology will be released March 3, 1997. If you have a socket 5 or 7 motherboard you will be able to use this product. Pricing is expected to be in the same range as the Boxed Processor.
Monday February 10, 1997
- We have a limited supply of Boxed Providence motherboards ready for shipping. If you are interested please give us a call.
- Corsair Microsystems has announced a 128 Mb ECC/EDO DIMM module. Price is $1498.00. Resellers should call for pricing.
- We have paperwork for GigaByte motherboards. Should we pick up this product line?
Saturday February 8, 1997
- Yesterday Intel showed a 400 MHz microprocessor, 7.5 M-transistors, .35 micron at IEEE conference in San Francisco.
Friday February 7, 1997
- Those of you who’ve been watching this website for awhile have figured out something is different this week. Yes, it’s true. Lora went on vacation. My baby sister will return February 18, 1997. Therefore I’ve been trying to manage all four web sites. Now you know who the main brain is behind this operation!
- Microsoft stops NT development for PowerPC. I realize this isn’t a hardware issue, but the influence of this decision is pretty dramatic. Ole Billy Bob must be running mighty scared to pull the plug. What’s he scared of today? Mr. Paranoid knows that the Intel platform will face heavy competition this year. Therefore he’s going to shore up support to protect his R&D investments. Is it a smart move? Time will tell. Personally start looking at the PowerPC line more seriously. With the Stevie twins back in action at Apple and Motorola’s engineering brains working overtime, expect 1997 to be a year on the edge. Pretty exciting stuff for the nerd crowd.
- Klamath delayed to May was actually yesterday’s news. This is from an internet article by PC Week. The reasoning is to release the 233 MHz and 266 MHz at the same time. A pseudo "one-two" punch.
Thursday February 6. 1997
- There seems to be some confusion from what I wrote yesterday. I take full responsibility for not clarifying the differences between the September orders and what is commonly found in the market today. The US Boxed Pentium Pro 200s (Part Number starting with BP) and the Asian Boxed Pentium Pro 200s (Part Number starting with ABP) are two separate items. The pricing of these two products is very different. Both come in bo
xes from Intel but the distribution is different. The Intel US Sales Team does not get credit for the product beginning with ABP. It also costs more because it is not sold through Authorized Distributors, but instead by Third Tier Distributors. The ABP are readily available whereas the US supply has been poor and/or non-existent. It was the BP product that arrived yesterday and was sold out almost immediately. I apologize for not being clear yesterday.
Wednesday February 5, 1997
- Boxed Pentium Pro 200s from our September order might arrive in the next two days. If you are interested please call us. The price is set at $612.72 for quantity one.
- Boxed Pentium 200 MHz with MMX have shipped from the distributors. We should receive them in the next couple of days.
- For tracking DRAM fluctuations try this URL http://web.archive.org/web/19970228001931/http://www.aice.com/
- Intel Overdrive for the MMX will be released in March 1997. We will be adding the benchmark for this CPU in a couple of days.
Tuesday February 4. 1997
- Boxed Providence back orders should be filled in the next two weeks. ETA 2/17/97
Monday February 3, 1997
- Intel 430TX chipset will be released on February 18, 1997. Watch for new product introductions by Intel, SuperMicro, and ASUS.