Yesterday’s corporate announcement upset the planned announcement of a prized 500MHz Alpha chip scheduled for Monday July 1 which was to reclaim performance leadership from HP, whose PA 8000 has held it briefly. Corporate tried to postpone the announcement until next week but it got out anyway because of editorial briefings last week. The top-of-the-line 21164 is a 2 BIPS – 2,000 MIPS – machine capable of 15.4 SPECint and 21.1 SPECfp with volumes projected for September. An accompanying 433MHz 21164 is said to offer 13.3 SPECint and 18.4 SPECfp. The 500, sampling now along with boards and form factors, is expected to keep DEC ahead of Intel Corp even as the Pentium Pro goes to 0.28 microns next year, it said.
