A copy of a presentation given by Intel Corp to some of its OEM customers at the Computec exhibition in Taiwan, detailing its road-map until May next year, was recently slipped to the Register newsletter and predictably enough, the rivers run through it. As was already known, the next two parts are code-named Klamath and Deschutes, after two US rivers. Klamath is a cheaper Pentium Pro with MMX multi-media extensions and Deschutes is a still-more shrunken Pro than Klamath. The Microprocessor Report had previously thought Klamath would be a single chip implementation, rather than coming with a Level Two cache as does the Pentium Pro. But it now appears that the Klamath will have two Level Two cache options of 256Kb or 512Kb, but only running at half speed: 100MHz compared with the full 200MHz on the Pro. But more significantly, the Register claims that it is highly likely the processor itself could eventually be the Merced 64-bit chip collaboration with Hewlett-Packard Co. OEM customers are being advised to prepare for the Klamath chip set launch for the first quarter of next year. Intel will pass the cost price of the static RAM on to the OEM customers. The Klamath board will ship complete with PLGA processor component and T6 Tag RAM, two or four statics and a heat sink. It will be launched in 200MHz and 233MHz versions with the two Level Two cache options. Compared with the Pro, aside from the MMX extensions, Klamath will run 32-bit Windows95 applications slightly faster and will be the same as the Pro on SpecInt95 and Windows NT applications. And compared with the P55C, it will be 20% faster on MMX technology benchmark, 20% to 40% faster on NT and slightly faster for Windows95. All comparisons are based on the 200MHz version, according to Intel. The Klamath will run cooler than the Pro: 22 Watts at 200MHz and 25 Watts at 233MHz, compared with 35 Watts for a 200MHz Pentium Pro. As far as prices to OEM customers, the Klamath 200 will be slightly above the Pro 200 in the first half of next year. They will be priced as a complete system comprising processor, board and Tag RAM, with the static RAM chips separately priced, as outlined above.
