Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage and microprocessors and motherboards have the same relationship. Forgive the hackneyed link. So while it is with no great surprise that Intel has confirmed this morning the release of an 800MHz Coppermine Pentium Xeon processor, aimed at the workstation and low-end server market, there is a little bit of a problem with the carriage part of the equation. The most interesting part of this announcement is the part about motherboard support for the 800MHz Coppermine Xeon. An Intel statement mentioned only the processor, and did not say which mobos will support the server-workstation chip. There's a difference between Slot One and Slot Two. While Intel's much vaunted i840 chipset does, in theory, support this latest Coppermine announcement, so far there are absolutely no designs which yet support this Slot Two part. The OR840 board which Intel pre-announced last October 25 only supports Slot One parts. It will be towards the end of this calendar quarter that there will be mobos supporting this Slot Two part. The processor will use a 256K on-chip cache and the 133MHz front side bus, and Intel promises that there will be further revs of clock speed during the year. According to Intel, the 800MHz Xeon "is available now" using the Slot Two connector it is keeping for its server processors for the time being. Demand for server versions of the Pentium III is far less than for desktop Coppermine processors, so while the 800MHz Pentium III still remains in as short-supply as a hen's tooth, it is likely that Intel will be able to meet demand for this particular variety of fowl. The Pentium III 800MHz Xeon will cost $901 if you buy 1000 of the babies. (Are there 1000? -- Ed) Intel will reports its quarterly earnings at 9PM GMT, today. ®