Cyrix Corp yesterday demonstrated its Pentium II performance chip at the CE-BIT trade fair in Hanover, having settled its lawsuit with rival Intel Corp and gained access through its parent National Semiconductor Corp to the Pentium II intellectual property (CI No 3,340). Cyrix claims it created the market for high-end performance in the sub $1,000 personal computer market, and this is where its 6x86MX PR266 is targeted. Intel, the company says, has recognized the market for this type of performance at the low-cost end of the market, hence its announcement of its own Celeron chips (see separate story). But needless to say, Cyrix claims it can deliver 266Mhz Pentium II performance at around half the price of an Intel system. The Cyrix chip uses socket 7 design, which supports SDRAM, 66Mhz PCI and AGP advanced graphics port. All the Cyrix 6x86MX processors include level 2 cache and full MMX support. The processor is currently manufactured on IBM Microelectronics’ 0.35 micron metal CMOS process, but Cyrix says National Semiconductor has successfully made the chip on its 0.25 micron process pilot manufacturing plant in Santa Clara, California. Volume production is expected this summer, form NatSemi’s South Portland, Maine plant. The PR266 costs $180 in quantities of 1,000, against the Pentium II at $375.
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