Industry shocked by Pentium® III announcement.
In a surprise announcement, Intel discussed the Pentium® III processor with the Press.
The computer industry was turned on it’s head today by a Surprise announcement from the industry giant Intel. Formerly known as Project Prelate, the Pentium® III processor will be introduced at speeds of 600 MHz, 800 MHz, and 1000 MHz. The processors are expected to be released as early as 1999.
The Slot M processors will have 2 MB L2 Cache built onto the package. The processor will also house the new Intel MMX Instructions known as KNI (Katmai New Instructions). Motherboards with 200 MHz external bus speed settings are required. A future Intel AGP2set is also a requirement. Details of the AGP2set were not available at the time of publishing this article.
The Slot M processor was kept a secret in anticipation of AMD’s announcement of the Slot A processor. Rumors have been circulating that AMD has been producing a Slot A processor in Fab 51, a secretive lab located deep in the desert of North Africa. Today’s surprise announcement may signal Intel’s knowledge that this processor does exist.
Intense negotiations between Digital, HP, and Microsoft allowed the technical advance to become reality. Digital contributed to the Slot M, a deviation of the EV-7 bus.
Dr. Thomas Pabst is quoted as stating, "this Slot M processor is what this Industry has been clamoring for. It will have phenomenal performance. Intel’s announcement today is a strong signal that they understand everyone’s desire for greater performance. Generally, Intel releases product in incremental performance changes. This is a break from this tradition. All of us applaud their initiative."
Other Industry Pundits strongly agree with Dr. Pabst. El Gato, the Purrfect cat detective from PC Week, has also been quoted as stating, "Intel masterfully kept this processor a secret from even the best of us gossip mongers. My hats off to them."
Anandtech has already attempted to overclock the processor, "Using a clock multiplier of 4x, the 600 MHz is easily overclockable to 800 MHz. I can’t wait to get my hands on the 1000 MHz processor. Now if they would only lower the price."
Dan Chadwick, from Tweakit, has released initial benchmarks, "….this thing screams….mater of fact if you attach it to the socket 7 riser card (Abit part # KP6-BS) with 400MHz front side bus support, this baby clocks up to 2000MHz on any socket 7 board. Although I do still find the AGP performance a little slow, it will definitly give the new Intel 450BS chipset w/4x AGP a run for its money."
Dean Kent, from Real World Technologies, has confirmed that stocking the product is not a problem. "All of the engineering samples work right out of the box, no tweaking, no fuss, no mess. Intel has done a terrific job with this product."
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