Intel Corp claimed to have become the first to break the 1-GHz speed barrier for general purpose microprocessors in a demonstration on stage at the Intel Developer Forum yesterday. Albert Yu, senior VP and general manager of Intel’s Microprocessor Products Group called the demonstration, using a standard 0.25 micron Pentium III, but with special cooling techniques a milestone event. Unfortunately, the demo itself, showing a PowerPoint application running while a CPU meter climbed steadily up to 1002-MHz, was highly undramatic and left the audience, aside from Intel employees, cooler than the chip. Intel is now ramping up for the introduction of chips using 0.18- micron technology later this year, a transition it expects to be the fastest in its history. Clock speeds will be at 600-MHz and beyond, according to the company’s processor roadmap. Intel says it plans to have 1-GHz frequency chips in commercial production some time next year, hoping to beat both the PowerPC and the Alpha to 1-GHz. Six years ago, Intel Pentiums using 0.8 micron technology were running below 100-MHz.
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