IO, IO, it's off to Zion we go

A slide seen on an Intel roadmap earlier this week has spelled out its plans for input-output (IO) processors until the end of next year.

This quarter, and right up until the end of this year, Intel is relying on its 80960 for eight way, four way and dual processor platforms.

There are three flavours of these. The 80960RN supports 64-bit PCI, 33MHz PCI, 100MHz CPUs, 66MHz SDRAM and has integrated XOR. The RM, for four way systems, is similar but supports 64/32-bit PCI. The RS supports 32-bit, 33MHz PCI, 100MHz CPUs, 66MHz SDRAM and has no XOR support.

It gets more interesting in Q1 next year, when Intel's Zion 80303 beings to appear. This has 64-bit, 66MHz PCI support, also supports 100MHz CPUs, and has integrated XOR.

In the second half of 2001 the Verde IO processor, which is an eight way and four way chip, makes its debut. It supports PCI-X, up to 600MHz CPUs, up to 133MHz DDR memory and has integrated XOR.

So now you know. ®