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04/03
Intel i875P chipset, formally known as Canterwood, was released on April 14th. The i875P is the Workstation version of Springdale (the i865), providing support for both 533Mhz and 800Mhz FSB speeds along with Dual Channel DDR400 memory and AGP8X. The i875P also feature a new interface called the Communications Streaming Architecture (CSA) bus. The CSA bus is dedicated to high speed LAN devices (Gigabit Ethernet) and provides a separate 2GB/s link to prevent LAN devices from saturating the ICH/MCH link or the PCI bus. The i875P chipset is essentially a speed binned version of the i865 Sprindgale chipset in which Intel has enabled its Performance Acceleration Technology memory mode (PAT). Intel's PAT provides reduced memory latencies which are implemented by using 'bypass paths' and 'fast paths' in the MCH. The i875P will also provide ECC memory support and will use Intel's ICH5 or ICH5-R south bridge.
The performance of the i875 chipset is notably better than the i845PE (around 9% in content creation, 4-10% faster in games & up to 23% faster in professional 3D applications) and outperforms Intel's previous performance champion, the i850E, on the majority of benchmarks.
Intel ICH5 / ICH5R south bridge was released on April 14th. ICH5 features support for Serial ATA, 8xUSB 2.0 ports and Software RAID-0 (on ICH5R) in addition to the featureset of ICH4. RAID-1 support for the ICH5-R will be provided in a future driver release.
Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz (800Mhz FSB) was announced on April 14th, although shipments have been delayed for technical reasons. The 3.0Ghz P4 (stepping D1) is the first Pentium 4 to feature an 800Mhz FSB speed (200Mhz Quad Pumped), and like the 3.06Ghz Pentium 4 it features HyperThreading technology.
The 800Mhz FSB speed of the 3Ghz Pentium 4 provides around a 2-8% advantage over the 533Mhz P4 3.06Ghz processor in games, around 1.5% in business applications and up to 11% in professional 3D applications.
Intel Pentium 4M 2.5Ghz mobile CPU was released on April 16th.
Intel Mobile Celeron 2.2 & 1.26Ghz were released on April 16th.
Intel Price cuts occurred on April 20th. See the Intel CPU Prices page for additional information.
AMD Opteron 240, 242 & 244 (Sledgehammer), the dual-processor members of the Opteron series, were released on April 22nd. The 240 and 242 models are being made available straight away, with the 244 reaching the mass market in June. The clock speeds of these processors are 1.4Ghz for the 240, 1.6Ghz for the 242 and 1.8Ghz for the 244. Both Sledgehammer and its Desktop class brother Clawhammer (Athlon 64) feature AMD's proprietary x86-64 instruction set, which is an extension to the current x86 instruction set to enable 64bit operations, and are built on a 0.13 micron SOI process. The basic architecture of the Hammer processors are based around previous generation Athlon cores, with the addition of the x86-64 instruction set, SSE-II, significantly improved branch prediction, a larger and improved 1Mb L2 cache and a slightly longer pipeline to allow additional clock ramping (12 integer and 17 FP stages rather than 10 Integer and 15 FP in the Athlon). In addition to the increase in size, the cache architecture has been improved by an increase in TLBs (L1 instruction from 24 to 40 entries and L2 from 256 to 512 entries), the use of ECC rather than parity in the L1 cache and improved L2 cache latency. The Hammer processors use a new NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) bus which will replace the EV6 bus used with AMD's Athlon and Duron processors. NUMA is able to link 8 or more processors together, with each processor having access to the full bandwidth of the processor's bus, and will use AMD's HyperTransport technology (formally LDT - Lightning Data Transport) bus protocol. The Hammer core contains three HyperTransport links - one to connect to the external AGP controller (& southbridge) and two to connect to additional processors (a direct link to 2 processors). The core additionally contains an on-die memory controller (as opposed to it being integrated into the North Bridge) for improved memory latency. The memory controller supports up to PC2700 DDR SDRAM through a 128-bit DDR interface (compared to the 64-bit DDR interface of Clawhammer) accessing up to 8 DIMMs per CPU.
Sledgehammer will be built around a 940 pin package, which includes an Integrated Heat Spreader to improve thermal transfer and reduce the risk of crushing the core when adding a heatsink. The Sledgehammer core also features fast thermal protection circuitry to prevent CPU thermal damage even if power is supplied without a heatsink attached. Initial server oriented benchmarks show that the Opteron 244 competes well with current high-end Xeon processors, offering superior performance in web server applications, many rendering engines and transactional systems. Note that while Sledgehammer offers generally superior performance to the equivalently priced Xeon processor, it very much depends on individual applications as to which architecture comes out on top.
AMD Price changes are expected on April 22nd. See the AMD CPU Prices page for additional information.
AMD 8000 series chipsets, for the Hammer processor series, was released alongside the Hammer processors on April 22nd. The Workstation version of this chipset, formally known as Lokar, will not contain the PCI-X bridge. The Server version, formally known as Golem, will contain the PCI-X bridge and may be released with Sledgehammer in Q1. The 8000 series chipset will consist of an AGP hub (North Bridge, without the memory controller as this is now on-die), an I/O hub (South Bridge) and an optional PCI-X bridge. These chips are linked by AMD's HyperTransport technology.
The AGP hub is called the AMD 8151 and supports AGP 3.0 specification signalling (for AGP 4X and AGP 8X) as well as legacy AGP 2.0 signalling (for AGP 1X, 2X and 4X). The I/O hub (AMD 8111) supports 8 x 33Mhz, 32-bit PCI slots, 6 USB ports, ATA133 support, an integrated Ethernet controller and AC97 6 channel audio and modem. The AMD 8151 PCI-X bridge (optional and aimed at the Server / Sledgehammer market) integrates two PCI-X bridges on the one core, with support for 5 PCI master slots per bridge. The PCI-X bridge supports 66 and 33Mhz PCI as well as 133Mhz, 100Mhz, 66Mhz and 33Mhz PCI-X, and provides hot plug functionality.
nVidia nForce3 Pro 150 chipset was announced alongside the Hammer processors on April 22nd. The nForrce3 Pro 150 is based around nVidia's Athlon chipset, the nForce2. Like nForce2, nForce3 is a single processor only chipset, but due to Hammer CPU's featuring their own memory controller, nForce3 is a single chip solution containing an AGP tunnel alongside Southbridge functionality. nForce3 Pro 150 features integrated & hardware accelerated 10/100 LAN, 3xUATA 133 IDE channels with hardware assisted RAID 0, 1 & 0+1 and the ability of channel 3 to be used as 2xSATA channels via a bridge, support for 6xUSB2 ports and AGP 8X.
VIA K8T400M chipset, for the Hammer processor series, was released on April 22nd. The K8T400M is a Dual Processor capable chipset implemented as separate North and South bridges (unlike nForce3, which is a single processor, single chip solution). The K8T400M North Bridge provides an AGP8X tunnel with the accompanying VT8237 South Bridge providing 2xSATA150 and 2xUATA133 channels with RAID 0, 1 & 0+1 support, 8xUSB2, 10/100 ethernet and 6 channel sound.
Matrox Millennium P650 & P750 were released on April 23rd. These cards are based around the Parhelia LX GPU, a slightly modified version of the original Parhelia 512 GPU released last spring. Parhelia LX features support for AGP8X and additional optimisations (possibly an improved fragment Anti Alias algorithm and a revised memory controller). However, the new cards feature a narrower 128-bit bus (rather then the original 256-bit bus) and are aimed at the business and CAD/CAM sectors rather than the gaming market.
The Millennium P650 features DualHead support and has an ERP of $169. The P750 features TripleHead support and has an ERP of $235. Both cards feature 64Mb of memory.
Windows Server 2003, the Server editions of Windows XP, was released on April 24th. The Windows Server 2003 products include Windows Web Server, Windows Standard Server (replacing Windows 2000 Server), Windows Enterprise Server (replacing Advanced Server) and Windows Datacenter Server (which now supports 128Gb of RAM up from 64Gb in the Windows 2000 version). Enterprise and Datacenter Servers are available as 64-bit versions. Windows Server 2003 is a significantly updated version of Windows 2000 server, featuring improved migration tools, significant performance improvements, volume shadow copies technology and updated versions of many services, e.g. IIS, Media Services, Terminal Services etc.
Windows XP 64-bit Edition 2003, the 64-bit version Itanium of Windows XP, designed primarily for Itanium 2, was released on April 24th. This version of Windows XP will only be available through OEMs.
Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003, codenamed Everett, was released on April 24th alongside Windows Server 2003. Everett is a minor update for Visual Studio.NET providing better security, improved performance and the final version of the .NET Compact Framework for Mobile phone and Handheld devices.
Intel Price cuts for Celeron processors occurred on April 27th. See the Intel CPU Prices page for additional information.
05/03
AMD Athlon MP 2800+ (Barton), based around Barton, the follow-up to the Thoroughbred core Athlon MP, was released on May 6th. Barton MP contains 512Kb of L2 cache and has a 266Mhz FSB speed.
Intel Price cuts for Pentium 4 processors occurred on May 11th. See the Intel CPU Prices page for additional information.
nVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (NV35), the successor to NV30 (GeForce FX 5800 series), was released on May 12th. NV35 is strongly based around NV30, but with modifications to provide better performance and yield. The most notable improvement in the architecture of NV35 is a doubling in width of the memory controller from 128-bit to 256-bit, providing 27.2GB/s of memory bandwidth. The NV35 core also features nVidia's UltraShadow technology, which is designed to accelerate the types of shadow operations used by the Doom 3 engine. The GeForce FX 5900 features a 450Mhz core clock speed (slightly slower than the 5800 Ultra's 500Mhz) and 256Mb of 850Mhz DDR-1 memory (compared with 1Ghz DDR-II on the 5800 Ultra). The GeForce FX 5900 Ultra is expected to retail for $499.
Initial benchmarks show that the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra has surpassed the performance of ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro (even the updated 256Mb DDR-II version) under most benchmarks, most noticeably with early Doom 3 benchmarks.
AMD Athlon XP 3200+, based around the Barton core but running on a 200Mhz DDR FSB, was released on May 13th.
AMD Price changes occurred on May 13th.
nVidia nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset for the Athlon XP was released on May 13th. nForce2 Ultra 400 is the successor to nVidia's nForce2, featuring official support for 400Mhz FSB Athlons. Apart from being validated for a 400Mhz FSB speed, the Ultra 400 is identical to the nForce2 chipset.
nVidia nForce2 400 chipset for the Athlon XP was released on May 13th. nForce2 400 is a single channel DDR SDRAM version of the nForce2 Ultra 400 platform.
VIA KT600 chipset, for the Athlon platform, was released on May 13th. The KT600 is the successor to the KT400A chipset. In addition to the functionality offered by the KT400A, the KT600 supports the 400Mhz FSB speed of future Athlon XP processors and contains a more optimised memory controller. Initial tests show that the KT600 offers performance equal to or greater than nVidia's nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, even when the latter is in Dual Channel mode.
VIA KM400A chipset for the Athlon processor was released on May 13th. The KM400A chipset features is an integrated graphics version of the KT400A, but also features an integrated AGP8X controller for the option of external graphics.
Intel Pentium 4 2.8, 2.6 & 2.4Ghz were released on May 21st. These processors feature an 800Mhz FSB speed and HyperThreading technology.
Intel i865PE chipset, formally known as Springdale PE, for the Intel Northwood and Prescott P4 cores, was released on May 21st. The i865PE is the high-end desktop version of the i875 chipset, lacking PAT technology and ECC support, but retaining the rest of the i875's featureset. The i865PE supports both 533Mhz and 800Mhz FSB speeds, Dual Channel DDR266, DDR333 & DDR400 SDRAM, offering up to 6.4GB/s of memory bandwidth, AGP8X and the CSA Gigabit Ethernet bus. The i865PE supports up to 4Gb of memory through 4 DIMM sockets. Springdale will include Intel's ICH5 south bridge.
Intel i865P chipset, formally known as Springdale P, for the Intel Northwood P4, was released on May 21st. The i865P is a scaled back version of the i865PE, offering support for 400Mhz and 533Mhz FSB speeds, but not the 800Mhz FSB required by later CPUs, and Dual Channel DDR266/333.
Intel i865G chipset, for the Intel Northwood and Prescott P4 cores, was released on May 21st. The i865G is the integrated graphics version of the i865PE, featuring support for 533Mhz & 800Mhz FSB speeds. The graphics core of the i865G, known as "Intel Extreme Graphics 2", is up to twice as fast as the core introduced with the i845GE, although initial benchmarks show that it is still only half the speed of the integrated graphics in nVidia's nForce2. The graphics core features a 350Mhz RAMDAC, providing good 2D resolutions and refresh rates.
SiS 648FX chipset, for the Pentium 4, was released on May 21st. SiS 648FX is the successor to the SiS 648, providing support for DDR400 and an 800Mhz FSB speed.
Intel Price cuts for Celeron processors occurred on May 25th. See the Intel CPU Prices page for additional information.
06/03
Intel Mobile Pentium 4 3.06, 2.8, 2.66 and 2.4Ghz mobile CPUs are were released on June 11th. These CPUs, unlike the Mobile Pentium 4M processors, are essentially Desktop CPUs, with integrated SpeedStep technology, and are targeted at the Desktop replacement market.
Intel i825PM chipset, for the Mobile Pentium 4, is expected to be released on June 11th. This chipset is the Mobile Pentium 4 equivalent of Intel's i855 series Banias chipsets, featuring support for up to 2Gb of DDR333 memory and a 533Mhz FSB speed.
Intel i825GME chipset for the Mobile Pentium 4, is expected to be released on June 11th. The i825GME is a version of the i825PM with integrated Intel Extreme Graphics II.
AMD Athlon XP-M 2800+, 2000+ & 1900+ processors were released on June 17th. The 2800+ is intended for the Desktop Replacement market whereas the 2000+ and 1900+ are aimed at Thin & Light laptops.
Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz was released on June 23rd. This processor is expected to be the final speed grade for the Northwood core. Higher speed grades will occur with the launch of the Prescott core.
ATI Radeon 9100 IGP (RS300) chipset, for the Pentium 4, was released on June 23rd. The North Bridge of the RS300 chipset features support for 800, 533 and 400Mhz FSB speeds (with the 800Mhz FSB being ratified a few weeks after launch), Hyperthreading, AGP 8X, up to 4GB of Dual Channel DDR400 memory and integrated graphics based around ATI's RV250 (Radeon 9100) graphics core (perhaps RV280 (Radeon 9200), as it supports AGP8X?). The graphics core can address between 16 and 128Mb of main memory via UMA. The North Bridge is connected to the South Bridge by ATI's 266Mhz A-Links bus. ATI's South Bridges (IXP 200 or IXP 250) provide support for 6xUSB 2, an integrated 10/100 3COM MAC, 5.1 audio and ATA100.
ATI Mobility Radeon 9100 IGP (RS300M) chipset, for Pentium-M and Pentium 4-M processors, was released on June 23rd. The Mobility Radeon 9100 IGP is the mobile equivalent of the RS300 chipset.
Intel Celeron 2.5 & 2.6Ghz were released on June 25th. See the Celeron (Northwood) Roadmap entry for additional information.
Windows 2000 SP4 was released in June 26th.
AMD Opteron 840, 842 & 844, the 8-way multiprocessor version of the Opteron series, was released on June 30th. See the CPU Prices page for additional information.
AMD Opteron 140, 142 & 144, the single-processor member of the Opteron series, was released on June 30th.
Intel Itanium 2 'Madison' 1.3, 1.4 & 1.5Ghz IA64 CPUs were released on June 30th. Madison is the 0.13 micron successor to the McKinley ('Itanium 2') IA64 CPU, being based around the McKinley core but contain a larger L3 cache. The 1.5Ghz model contains a 6Mb L3 cache, with the 1.4Ghz having 4Mb and the 1.3Ghz model 3Mb.
Intel Xeon MP 2.8, 2.5 & 2.0Ghz CPUs were released on June 30th. These processors are based around the Gallatin core and have the same 400Mhz FSB speed. The 2.8Ghz model comes with 2Mb L3 cache, while the 2.5 and 2.0Ghz models ship with 1Mb L3 cache.
Q2/03
SiS 655FX chipset for the Pentium 4 is expected to be released in Q2. The SiS 655 is the successor to the SiS 648, featuring support for Dual Channel DDR SDRAM. The SiS 655FX supports DDR400 SDRAM and an 800Mhz FSB speed. The SiS 655 will feature a 1066MB/s link to the SiS 963 South Bridge which offers support for ATA133, 3 x IEE1394 and 6 x USB2.0 ports.
ALi M1687 chipset for the AMD Hammer platform is expected to be released in H1 2003. The M1687 is expected to support DDR333 SDRAM and AGP8X.
ALi M1688 chipset for the AMD Hammer platform is expected to be released in H1 2003. The M1688 is based around the M1687 core, but features integrated graphics.
SiS Xabre II GPU is expected to be released in Q2. The Xabre II product line is expected to consist of the SiS 340 and SiS341 core. The SiS 34x series is the successor to the SiS 33x (Xabre) GPUs. The entire SiS 34x range will offer full DirectX 9 support, conforming to the pixel and vertex shaders 2.0 specification. The SiS 340 is expected to contain 8 rendering pipelines with a single texture unit each and be clocked at 375Mhz core and perhaps 500Mhz DDR-II SDRAM. The SiS 341 is a cut down version of the SiS340, offering 4 pixel pipelines and perhaps reduced clock speeds.
