A year ago Posted 14 August 1998 -- over a year ago Intel is set to change the ground rules on its architecture once more with the introduction of a modification to its slot design later on this year. An Intel representative confirmed today that it would move to a new slot design dubbed SECC 2. "This is the mark two version of slot one," he said. The design is a cut down version of slot one, he said. "It's the current slot one package with the backing plate taken off so the heat sink can be attached directly to the processor." There are two reasons for the change to the Pentium II cartridge. Firstly, it will cut down the cost of the surrounding packaging, producing cost savings for Intel. But secondly, and possibly more importantly, it is a result of the faster process technology Intel is currently developing. Joe D'Elia, senior CPU analyst at Dataquest UK, said: "This results in a product that will be cheaper to build. It looks as if Intel is learning from having to build the slot architecture and this boils down to cost reduction." He said that although it was undoubtedly true that Intel's advances in process technology resulted in heat reductions, the fact they were introducing faster processor speeds to some extent cancelled that out. As it moves from .25 micron technology to .18 micron and then to .13 micron, the heat issues become less and so the necessity of wrapping the chip with what one OEM described as a "waffle machine" will become unnecessary. Higher clock speeds are also likely to emerge from the introduction of SECC 2, but the move has no connection with the 370-pin Socket Intel is readying for next year. That is intended to bring the cost of manufacturing and production down, to enable Intel to compete the more successfully with its lower end rivals AMD, Cyrix and IDT/Centaur. ®