insane stuurt ons weer richting The Register, waar gemeld wordt dat Intel wat problemen heeft met hun 64-bits Itanium (codenaam Merced) processor. Het lukt Intel namelijk niet echt om de CPU's boven de 400MHz te draaien, daarnaast is hiervoor al een erg zware power supply nodig. Compaq's Alpha processor gaat daarentegen wel erg lekker en zal veel eerder de 1GHz grens bereiken. Hieronder de info van The Register:
A report in Forbes magazine is claiming that the prototype Merced systems that are out and about are failing to reach satisfactory clock speeds.And, according to the piece, Intel's CEO, Craig Barrett, is hopping mad that the firm's flagship 64-bit processor is failing to perform as fast as he hoped it will.
The prototype machines not only are restricted to around 400MHz, but also need huge power supplies to keep them humming, said the Forbes article.
Two weeks ago, we reported on the basis of information from Intel partner Hewlett Packard, that we could not expect realistically to see Merced Itanium machines appear on the market until October 2000. Although this falls into the second half of next year, Intel had hoped that machines would be available earlier than that.
And, again according to HP, initial systems are supposed to clock at around 800MHz.
Intel's problem with the clock speed of the Merced is aggravated by competition from both Compaq with its Alpha processor and AMD with its Athlon processor.
AMD, for example, is easily reaching 1GHz already with the Athlon, and is now in the happy position of being able to pick and choose when to introduce microprocessors at that speed. The AMD part is a 32-bit chip.
And both Compaq and its partner API are likely to have air cooled 1GHz Alphas available before any Merced box gets out of the door. The Alpha processor is a 64-bit chip.
