|
Much to the market?s surprise, Intel is reportedly to become the first company that will start mass-producing dual-channel-DDR-based Pentium 4 chipsets. Supporting motherboards are expected to enter volume production in early October
According to sources, the dual-channel product from Intel is the company?s Granite Bay core-based chipset, previously designed for servers and workstations only.
Though gaining an earlier time-to-market, Intel?s Granite Bay chipset may not be the product with most advanced specifications when Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and VIA Technologies launch their respective SiS655 and the P4X600 in the fourth quarter.
Sources noted that Intel?s Granite Bay supports only DDR266, while both the SiS655 and P4X600 are based on DDR333 architecture. Moreover, the Granite Bay requires two identical DDR modules, but the SiS655 allows users to mix modules of different capacity, thus enabling a much cheaper solution.
SiS has been sending SiS655 samples this month, and mass production is expected to begin at the end of November or early December, one month earlier than originally scheduled. Given the chipset?s specifications, SiS is said to have high hopes for the product. To consolidate the SiS655?s position as its most high-end DDR Pentium 4 chipset as well as simplify its product lines, SiS has decided to give up its SiS648DX, which differs from the former SiS648 in its DDR400 support.
VIA has in fact been faster in its development progress. After sending samples this month, the company is expected to start mass-producing the P4X600 at the end of October or early November. However, with the technology licensing issue with Intel still unresolved, VIA?s P4X600 may be harder to sell in the OEM and SI (system integrator) sectors.
Source: HardwareConnect
|
Linear Mode
