Support chips for PowerPC processors are starting to trickle out and IBM Microelectronics and NCR Microelectronics have separately announced PCI – Peripheral Component Interconnect local bus silicon. The IBM chip set combines a CPU Bridge with an ISA Bridge. The former integrates the CPU controller and the memory controller with the PCI bus, while the ISA Bridge connects the PCI bus to the AT bus and provides the basic input-output functions. The CPU Bridge, dubbed the IBM27-82650 is packaged in either a 160-pin or 304-pin quad flat pack. The chip is sampling now with production availability planned for April at $53 for 50,000-up. No details of pricing and availability of the PCI-ISA Bridge chip, the IBM27-82374. NCR’s contribution is to make a commitment to supply PowerPC versions of its existing chip sets for bridging Peripheral Component Interconnect and SCSI buses. Once again, no dates on when the new versions of the NCR53C810 and 53C820 PCI/SCSI input-output will appear.
