Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/09/15/amd_durons_tbirds_to_get/

AMD Durons, T'birds to get dual support?

Intel's stepping c0 trip or typo

By Mike Magee

Posted in Channel, 15th September 2000 10:34 GMT

Stepping 3 Resellers briefed by AMD on its future plans have been told wondrous tales of future dual processor support for both Thunderbirds and Duron microprocessors.

That comes as evidence grows that Intel is still humming and hawing over providing such support for Pentium IIIs, never mind its Celeron platform, with the latest c0 stepping of its top-end desktop chip appearing to fall at the first hurdle.

According to JC's Pages, the 760MP will sample in December, and mobos will be on the market in the first quarter of next year.

If the reports turn out to be true, resellers and probably Linux developers will issue a whoop of delight. Symmetric multiprocessing support for the Thunderbird, has been awaited for some time, and if AMD delivers it for the Duron too, it will represent another challenge to Intel.

The reseller forum also appears to suggest that reports of AMD moving aggressively into the workstation market, first reported on AMD Zone, appear to have some substance behind them.

AMD also appears to have signed up a total of 40 other companies to its Lightning Data Transfer (LDT) bus, including Transmeta.

Intel, meanwhile, has posted a note of mystery about the steppings of the Pentium III on its Developer pages, A reader points out: "There is a curious note (12) in the list of steppings of the FC-PGA PIII, in the latest Spec update. It says many of the FC-PGA cC0 Pentium IIIs cannot be used in dual processor systems. Is Intel just typo happy or have they stepped into it again? This would be very lame to the people who have been waiting to use these supposedly improved versions in their systems."

The Intel link used to be here, but it seems it has now pulled it, no doubt as a result of this article.

Since we posted this story, another reader has referred us to this post on an Intel forum. He notes: "According to a reply from the Intel support forum for the PIII, this notation 'appears' to be a typo and is therefore not true. This is not confirmed yet by sending it 'up the chain'.

"Geez, if they make billions in profit you would think they could afford to hire someone who can draft and publish a several page document correctly. Maybe Intel could get more use out of these forums after all, as a
way to publish the 'correct' info from 'up the chain'."

So the PDF is 'up the chain' and Intel has 'pulled the chain' on it.

Now, in what appears to be stepping three of this story, another reader has passed on fresh news. He says: "Looking closer, it appears that intel replaced it (the September version) with the August version, which still has the "footnote 12" for cC0 steppings.

"I suspect that if you have the story link to here, you'll get whatever the latest party line is." ®

See Also

AMD takes aim at biz market
Intel promises better Pentium III 1GHz supply
AMD to axe prices again October