Intel to introduce new integrated graphics core

Intel to introduce new integrated graphics core
By Jack Robertson, EBN
August 29, 2001 (3:21 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010829S0067

SAN JOSE--Intel Corp. in the fourth quarter will introduce its first new integrated graphics core in years in a new version of its 830 chipset for the Tualatin Pentium III-M.

Frank Splindler, vice president and general manager of the Intel Mobile Platform group, told EBN Wednesday that the new graphics core is the firm's first since extending the life of its old 752 core in the 810 and 815 SDRAM chipsets.

Interviewed after his Intel Developers Forum keynote speech, Splindler emphasized that the new integrated 830 graphics core is a unique Intel design and not related to any graphics vendor core.

The core, as yet without a product number, will be integrated into several versions of the Pentium III-M chipset -- an 830M at the higher end of the value PC space and an 830MG for the real economy space.

He said early tests indicate that the new Intel graphics core in the upcoming 830 chipset has up to twice the performance, depending on application, over the older 752 core in existing chipsets.

Richard Doherty, principal analyst of Envisioneering Inc., Seafort, N.Y., said Intel's updated integrated graphics core "is bad news for graphics chip vendors and other integrated chipset competitors."

Rivals have carved out a growing space in Intel's dominant integrated graphics market, providing more advanced graphics cores than the microprocessor giant's aging 752 core.

Splindler said the new Intel graphics core will be adapted to show up in a possible new integrated graphics version of the 845 chipset for the Pentium 4.

Intel also disclosed at IDF that it has achieved first silicon on the next generation Xscale ARM-based processor for handheld and portable clients, which will be sampled to OEMs next year.

Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of the Wireless Communications and Computing group, declined to estimate when the Xscale processor would enter production, but said it will show up in product desig ns in 2002.

David Rogers, Intel Xscale marketinbg manager based in Austin, Tex., said initial tests are showing that the new processor has performance levels of 2 Mips per milliwatt and frequently higher.

The Xscale processor will use the latest ARM V.6 instruction set which Intel just licensed. Intel develops its own variant of the ARM processor core, but Rogers said it will exceed the level of the new ARM 10 reference core announced by ARM.

Splindler also told IDF that the Pentium 4 mobile processor will be introduced next year at a 1.5-GHz speed grade "with a production ramp in the first half of 2002." He said the mobile Pentium 4 chip will reach 2GHz frequency by the end of 2002. It is built on Intel's 0.13-micron process.

Intel will also start sampling in the fourth quarter a new integrated South Bridge chip, which Intel calls its I/O Controller Hub, which includes the new USB 2.0 port embedded in the chipset. Louis Burns, vice president and head of Intel desktop processor group, sai d the new integrated USB 2.0 hub can be part of any new Intel chipset when connected to the Memory Controller Hub.

Some analysts at IDF said that by integrating USB 2.0 into the chipset, Intel is making a strong move to force adoption of its sponsored interface against competing standards.