Upgrade to Pentium III should be a breeze

Upgrade to Pentium III should be a breeze Consumers and personal computer makers wanting to improve Pentium II systems by adding Pentium III processors should find it easy going because the chips share design features. Upgrading won't be difficult, according to Ming Chok, vice president of technology at Soyo, a company that makes the main circuit boards which house the processor. Consumers who want to replace a Pentium II with a Pentium III (or a Pentium II Xeon for a Pentium III Xeon) probably won't have to change their "motherboards" or their chipsets. Users will have to update the PC's BIOS, but the software will be available on the web, Chok said. "You can just put a Katmai into a PII motherboard. It's no problem," he said, referring to the upcoming chip's code name. An Intel spokeswoman confirmed the Pentium III's componentry would be similar to the Pentium II's. After it emerges in late February or early March, the Pentium III will become Intel's mainstream processor. The new chip will contain 70 additional multimedia instructions and run at faster speeds than current Pentium IIs. Both chips are built around the same processor "core." Additionally, Pentium IIIs will initially come in the "Slot 1" and "Slot 2" packages found on current Pentium II and Xeon chips, respectively, although new package designs will emerge later in 1999. Intel uses a "Slot" cartridge to house processors on the motherboard. The first Pentium IIIs will also use the same 100-MHz system bus found on many Pentium IIs. The bus is the principal data pathway between the chip and the rest of the computer. Pleasing PC makers While the easy transition will benefit consumers, PC vendors may be still more pleased. Because the chips are roughly the same from a design standpoint, manufacturers are not going to have to rearchitect their systems to accommodate the new chip. Pentium III-based computers are therefore likely to be available upon the chip's launch. This is important because Intel is pursuing a relatively fast transition to the Pentium III. No new versions of the Pentium II will come out once Pentium III emerges, said Greg Welch, brand manager for Pentium III. Pentium III will also come to the notebook line by the second half. An Intel spokeswoman confirmed that the Pentium III will use the 440BX chipset, which currently goes with the Pentium II, and fit into standard Pentium II motherboards. Similarly, the Pentium III Xeon will use the 440GX chipset, which goes with current Pentium II Xeons. But she recommended that users contact their computer makers about the BIOS upgrade. Design changes will be needed in the future, said Chok and others. Intel is slated to upgrade the system bus on the Pentium III from the current 100-MHz clock speed to 133 MHz in the second half of the year. This will require a new chipset as well as additional motherboard testing, Chok said. A number of Pentium II systems use an older chipset with a 66-MHz bus, which would have to be changed in an upgrade. Intel is also scheduled to come out with a faster version of its Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), which will require new motherboard. Also in the future, Intel will change the slot packaging to cut costs, according to Paul Otellini, executive vice president of the Intel architecture business group. New "form factors" for Pentium III chips should emerge during the "peak selling season" of 1999, he told analysts during the Intel financial conference call yesterday. Additionally, future Pentium III chips will have integrated secondary cache memory, which may change how the chips connect to PCs. In all, these new forms will probably make future chips incompatible with current Pentium II motherboards. Simplify, simplify Simplification between chip generations will likely continue in other ways. Last year, Intel began trying to reduce the number of peripheral technological changes between chip generations, Otellini said, reversing past practice. Having new chipsets and motherboards for each new chip generation not only added costs to PC makers' bottom lines, but handling the transition also meant additional costs for customers. Large businesses qualify, or pre-test, systems before they buy them. The qualification process can take up to six months, according to Michael Takemura, North American desktop marketing manager at Compaq, and a change in chipsets typically prompts a re-qualification. As a result, business customers were often faced with the choice of spending on more qualification or postponing an upgrade. Otellini said that Intel's goal is to develop chipsets that last over two generations of processors. "They [PC makers] are saying, 'Give me a platform that is not going to change,'" he said in announcing the change in November.

GPL might then run with all the graphics on and a full carset and a high frame rate...

>GPL might then run with all the graphics on and a full carset and a high frame >rate... >>The new chip will contain 70 >>additional multimedia instructions and run at faster speeds than current >>Pentium IIs.

Full sound? ;-) I'm just glad that it's supposed to be a simple upgrade...will extend the life of my PC a little bit so I can stay fairly up to date untill MHz turn into GHz.

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> I run a full grid with full graphics at a constant 36fps on my Celeron 300A > >GPL might then run with all the graphics on and a full carset and a high > frame > >rate... > >>The new chip will contain 70 > >>additional multimedia instructions and run at faster speeds than current > >>Pentium IIs.

-- Jon Van Ginneken "I wrestled with an alligator, tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail...I'm a bad dude." - Muhammad Ali

>I run a full grid with full graphics at a constant 36fps on my Celeron 300A How? What have you got that I haven't?!! I run a Pll 450 with 64Mgs RAM and Voodoo ll. Is it your Hercules that makes the difference, as I get nowhere near 36fps with a full grid, although after half a lap, frame rates improve as the field spreads out? Robert Young

Yeah and my name is....anything but my name. A 450 may be nice, just not nice enough to hold all cars, all grafx, all details, all effects, highest res (maybe that's where you are tripping me up :-), and 16 sounds on a start and get 36fps...I doubt a 1GHz could do that with latest grafx hardware. I'll still get my PIII 500 in hopes fps for the gobs of money I will pump into Intel. :-) > >Full sound? ;-) > Yep, full sound ;-) -- Jon Van Ginneken "I wrestled with an alligator, tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail...I'm a bad dude." - Muhammad Ali

I think I need to go to a hardware shop now Back soon, bye Natan -- Natan Tazelaar Founder & Editor-in-Chief Motorcar Journal Free Dutch Carmagazine www.motorcar-journal.com >I run a full grid with full graphics at a constant 36fps on my Celeron 300A >>GPL might then run with all the graphics on and a full carset and a high >frame >>rate... >>>The new chip will contain 70 >>>additional multimedia instructions and run at faster speeds than current >>>Pentium IIs.

>Full sound? ;-) Yep, full sound ;-)

<<How? What have you got that I haven't?!! I run a Pll 450 with 64Mgs RAM and Voodoo ll. Is it your Hercules that makes the difference, as I get nowhere near 36fps with a full grid, although after half a lap, frame rates improve as the field spreads out? Robert Young>>> Must be the superiority of Voodoo2 hehehehehe Sorry couldnt resist T_K Long live Rendition Motorsports (though I doubt it will happen) <G>

>How? What have you got that I haven't?!! I run a Pll 450 with 64Mgs RAM and >Voodoo ll. Is it your Hercules that makes the difference, as I get nowhere >near 36fps with a full grid, although after half a lap, frame rates improve >as the field spreads out? Hi Robert I can't comment on the V2, as i haven't tried it. I do have a V1 (monster3d) slotted beside my Thriller, and at the rear of the grid at the Glen i get 9fps with the V1, and with the Thriller i get 33fps for the first few seconds then it's straight up to 36 and stays there, except for major pileups. I was wrong in saying 'full graphics' however, i don't use anti alaising (looks shitty imo) and only have cars & track in my mirrors, which i shoulda mentioned in my original post, but everything else is maxed out. Running 800x600 uses around 2-3fps, but i see little difference in visual quality running 640x480, so i run in the lower res....hey, it's the speed that counts right<g> I know that papy optimise their sims for rendition based cards, could be the reason the Thriller performs so well in gpl ? Cheers Phil

Hey Jon Ooops, sorry......I quess i shoulda clarified that i run in 640x480. 1024x768 on my shitty 15" monitor would make it rather tricky to spot those apex's<g> My reply to Robert Young details further mistakes in my original post. I'll put in a bit more thought, and a bit less *** before i post in future<g> Cheers Phil

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>Yeah and my name is....anything but my name. A 450 may be nice, just >not nice enough to hold all cars, all grafx, all details, all effects, >highest res (maybe that's where you are tripping me up :-), and 16 >sounds on a start and get 36fps...I doubt a 1GHz could do that with >latest grafx hardware. >I'll still get my PIII 500 in hopes fps for the gobs of money I will >pump into Intel. :-)

>Running 800x600 uses around 2-3fps, but i see little difference in visual >quality running 640x480, so i run in the lower res....hey, it's the speed >that counts right<g> I know that papy optimise their sims for rendition >based cards, could be the reason the Thriller performs so well in gpl ? >Cheers Phil Ah, well that could explain a bit, as I use 800-600, and I do find it looks a lot better on my monitor. I have tried 1024 res and this really does push my system, but it does look gorgeous. Thanks for the info. Robert Young