Conference ricks::dechips

661.0. "Computergram: 900Mhz Alpha!! " by ROM01::OLD_CIPOLLA (Bruno Cipolla) Fri Mar 21 1997 06:48

from computergram..:
    
+   DEC CHALLENGES THE INTEL P6 KLAMATH WITH NEW 21164PC CHIP 

Fleshing out the details of its St Patrick's Day announcement 
(CI No 3,122) concerning the cheap 21164PC processor, Digital 
Equipment Corp said that it had the part running at up to at 
least 625MHz in the lab, but it will come in 400MHz, 466MHz and 
533MHz versions. Mother-boards with chip and memory will be a 
$1,000 and DEC is also talking about producing boxes with a 
466MHz 21164PC that go for $2,600, hoping to make Intel Corp's 
forthcoming 233MHz Klamath P6 eat its dust. Such a 
configuration would include 32Mb of memory, a 2.4Gb drive, a 
15-inch screen, eight speed CD drives, 2Mb of graphics memory, 
along with NT and Office software. The 21164PC is the first 
Alpha to incorporate DEC's MMX-matching Motion Video 
Instructions. Unfortunately volumes of the new chip are not 
supposed to be available until the third quarter, when 
21164PC-based boxes, should start appearing. By then, DEC 
should have the second of the part's two chipsets, Koala, 
ready. The other one is Pyxis. Our sister publication, ClieNT 
Server News understands that there are two stripped down 
boards: the PC164sx for around $500 with cache but no CPU and 
the PC164zx for around $350. The full motherboard should 
probably cost around $850 from alternate sources. Against 
Klamath, DEC will claim a 1.5 times improvement in SPECint, two 
times SPECfp, two times Softimage and 1.8 times AutoCAD. 
Meanwhile, ClieNT Server News, has heard of an Alpha chip 
running in the Maynard labs at 900MHz but is not sure which 
part it is.