Intel has begun sampling Prescott desktop and Dothan mobile next-generation processors build on its 90nm process. And both chips will achieve "revenue shipments" during Q4, the company says. So reports EBN, citing an unnamed Intel spokesman, undoubtedly responsding to questions concerning recent analyst claims that the company is having trouble getting its 90nm process right.
This latest statement in no way contradicts the delay applied to Dothan. Originally roadmapped for an early Q4 release, the next generation of the Pentium M processor will ship in the last few days of the year - to all intents and purposes, the chip will ship commercially in Q1 2004. "Revenue shipments" usually mean initial, limited-quantity deliveries to manufacturers to enable them to launch product. But mass production of the chip (and thus sufficient systems to sell in volume to the public) usually follow somewhat later.
In the case of Dothan, some Q4 availability is sufficient to allow Intel to make good on its pledge to ship the chip in the second half of 2003. The company has touted the same broad timeframe for the launch of Prescott, the successor to today's top end 'Northwood' Pentium 4 processors. Roadmaps show the chip arriving in Q4 at 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz, ramping up to 3.6GHz in Q1 2004. Lower speed versions will follow two, as Intel ships Prescotts that fail to operate at the higher clock frequencies but can cope with lower, 2.8GHz and 3GHz ratings.
News source: The Reg
This latest statement in no way contradicts the delay applied to Dothan. Originally roadmapped for an early Q4 release, the next generation of the Pentium M processor will ship in the last few days of the year - to all intents and purposes, the chip will ship commercially in Q1 2004. "Revenue shipments" usually mean initial, limited-quantity deliveries to manufacturers to enable them to launch product. But mass production of the chip (and thus sufficient systems to sell in volume to the public) usually follow somewhat later.
In the case of Dothan, some Q4 availability is sufficient to allow Intel to make good on its pledge to ship the chip in the second half of 2003. The company has touted the same broad timeframe for the launch of Prescott, the successor to today's top end 'Northwood' Pentium 4 processors. Roadmaps show the chip arriving in Q4 at 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz, ramping up to 3.6GHz in Q1 2004. Lower speed versions will follow two, as Intel ships Prescotts that fail to operate at the higher clock frequencies but can cope with lower, 2.8GHz and 3GHz ratings.
News source: The Reg
NVIDIA's major rival in the PC space, ATI, recently won the contract to create the graphics chipset for the successor to Microsoft's Xbox - no surprise to those who have been following the internal tensions in the relationship between Microsoft and NVIDIA over the current Xbox contract, but rumours suggest that the final stumbling block may have been a refusal by NVIDIA to hand over manufacturing permissions for the chipset to Microsoft rather than creating and supplying all of the components itself. Given Sony's track record, it seems highly unlikely that it would accept anything less than this from a technology partner - so even ignoring the technology hurdles, a deal seems highly unlikely.
However, our source could not rule out the possibility of discussions between Sony and NVIDIA. "I'd expect that Sony talk to a lot of people," he commented. "In a business like that you always explore all the options, but it would take a hell of a pitch to change minds at Sony about internally developing the GPU, and NVIDIA just don't have that pitch. People hear a whisper that someone from NVIDIA is talking to someone from Sony and bang, you have a massive rumour, but it really doesn't mean anything - people from these companies talk all the time."
All we need now is to drop the codenames!
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