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CPU Report - Q4/2000 to Q1/2001
Intel
Intel, in late November, begins rolling out the Pentium 4, with initial chips shipping at speeds of 1.4 GHz and 1.5 GHz. Aggressively priced, the new chip is expected to rapidly force current "high-end" Coppermine Pentium III models down to the lower end of the market, forcing slower chips such as the 700 MHz model out of production. (A 700 MHz PIII is "obsolete" -- can you believe it!?).
Also, on Nov. 13th, the company released 733 and 766 MHz versions of its low-end Celeron processors, expected to be among the last to use the 66 MHz Front side Bus (FSB). The first quarter of 2001 will herald the first Celeron models to boost the FSB speed to 100 MHz. All Celeron models so far have been limited to a 66 MHz FSB.
For those now suffering "CPU envy," it's worth mentioning that a blazing fast new CPU and requisite motherboard replacement won't necessarily produce a stellar improvements in game performance. As shown in a recent test at Anandtech.com, Quake III at 1024x768x32 running on a PIII 800 with a Front Side Bus speed of 133MHz only beats a lowly Celeron 566 (running on a 66 MHz FSB) by a mere 15 fps! Quake III, and many other games based on similar graphics engines are bound more by graphics card performance than sheer CPU muscle.
Thus, for the average user, a PIII 800 (currently selling for around C$305 as an OEM part) is plenty of CPU. However, slower chips, such as the PIII-700 and Celeron 533 and 566 models continue to be popular, due to their usually superior overclocking abilities. The PIII-800 EB (133 MHz FSB), for example, can typically hit only about 882 MHz when overclocked at default voltages; a lower-priced PIII-700 can usually reach 933 MHz.
AMD
AMD has earned a lot of respect in the past year, but the company announced some disappointing news in mid-November, as it scrapped plans to unveil a multiprocessor version of its Athlon ship and announced delays in other models. The canceled Athlon was code-named "Mustang;" the delays affect new mobile versions of Athlon and Duron processors, code-named Palomino and Morgan. These chips, starting at speeds of 1.2 GHz and 800 MHz respectively, are now expected in Q1 of 2001, instead of Q4 as previously announced.
The company characterized the reasons for the delays as strategic and marketing related, as opposed to being caused by technology problems.
Ahead, the company is planning a 2002 release of a Palomino variant for the desktop code-named "Thoroughbred," built on a more advanced 0.13-micron fabrication process. This will be followed, the company says, by "Appaloosa," a 0.13-micron version of the Duron.
Even more interesting was the company's announcement of "Clawhammer" at COMDEX Fall/2000. The company announced that it will deliver in 2002 a new processor, code-named ClawHammer, starting at speeds of 2GHz...and that's just for starters. The ClawHammer, boasts AMD, is just the first in a new family of Hammer processor family sporting a speedy new 64-bit architecture. Betanews has details.
Transmeta
Now that some of the hype over the company's much-ballyhooed "code morphing" technology has diminished, people can see the original Transmeta Crusoe 5400 and 5600 chips for what they really are: mid-range performers, slower than those powered by a Pentium III processor, with lower power consumption than Intel's portable chips. Transmeta chips have been featured in a number of recent prototypes, including the Microsoft Tablet PC demonstrated by Bill Gates during his COMDEX Fall/2000 keynote speech. Microsoft, however, says the final Tablet PC, expected in 2002, may or may not use one of Transmeta's processors. Transmeta chips have already been spotted in prototypes or product plans from Casio, , Gateway/AOL, Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC and others. Sony is already selling its Vaio PictureBook, based on a 600MHz Crusoe TM5600 chip, in North America. Some manufacturers, however, have passed over the Transmeta chips in favor of Intel's forthcoming lower-power PIII models. Compaq and IBM both canceled (or at least postponed) plans to release Crusoe-powered retail products. IBM cited lower than expected battery life as its reason for dropping previously stated plans to base its ThinkPad 240 mini-notebook, now known as the ThinkPad X-series, on the Crusoe 5600.
Transmeta on Nov. 13th announced its intention to deliver an entirely new version of Crusoe in 2002 that, according to the company, doubles the performance and cuts power consumption in half.
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