Winter 2002 IDF – Day 1
Twice each year Intel puts on the Intel Developers Forum here in the U.S., which is a chance for people within the industry to get together and find out what Intel and its partners have cooking for the next six months. This event is being held in sunny San Jose, California, and the weather has of course been good, but the bigger question is what new surprises are in store.
Day one could perhaps be called the event’s ramp up day, and always really gets the ball rolling. And this year was no exception. By all accounts from others who had been here before, it takes a little time to really get things into gear. The focus of IDF is always more on the technical briefings than the Technology Showcase, which is not to say that you can’t find good information and demonstrations in there as well, but don’t expect the lavish booth extravaganzas that you perhaps find at some other shows, because at IDF the focus is strictly on the technology. If you want to learn about what is going on in the industry, you will get about all of the vision you can handle and more technical briefings than you can possibly attend.
Keynote Address From Patrick Gelsinger & A Message
Patrick Gelsinger in action at the open keynote address on Day One of the 2002 Winter IDF
To lead things off, Intel’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Patrick Gelsinger treated us to an excellent presentation that was full of vision. What was unique about this vision is that it carried a message. His message was that Intel will continue to produce the silicon that is the engine that powers computing, and that they will move to provide the tools to deliver information anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Keynote Address From Patrick Gelsinger & A Message, Continued
Of course, this is no small mission to undertake, and there are obvious bumps in the road. The new Intel concept is to provide tools that will allow developers to write applications once that will run best on all Intel processors. In order to do this, they are going to provide tools for IA-32/PCA, IXA/IA-32, and new Hyper Threading tools as well. This will be in addition to the IPP libraries, compilers, VTune, PCA, IA-32, and IPF tools that are already available. What is important is that, in addition to the tools, they are going to provide the support and training to make these tool sets even more useful. This is definetely a step in the right direction, a sentiment that was echoed by several developers to whom we talked.
Speaking of Hyper Threading, during the presentation, an interesting demo was given to show the performance that Hyper Threading technology can offer for typical everyday applications. These were everyday, off-the-shelf-type applications, and from what we could tell, not some sort of recompiled versions of applications that were specially adapted to take advantage of the Hyper Threading technology. The results were impressive, delivering a performance boost of almost 25%. The real upshot of the deal is that Hyper Threading technology is coming. Expect 25% of the desktop processors, 60% of workstation processors, and 80% of server processors that ship next year to feature the new Hyper Threading technology. Intel intends to expand the Hyper Threading and make it available throughout the entire processor line over time. Until we get a chance to test it up close, it is hard to know how much of an additional performance boost it will provide, but any technology that gives developers a free boost of performance is truly a good thing.
A new code word that you will be hearing a lot more about was rolled out today. “LaGrande” will be the buzzword for the technology that will create a new, safer computing environment. LaGrande will of course feature “hardware strengthening,” which is perhaps the only solution that will deliver a truly trusted computing environment. Details on how this will work are sketchy at this time, but it will feature accepted technology that should really address at least some of the nagging security concerns that will need to be addressed in order to move to a computing environment that is truly less vulnerable.
The highlight of the presentation that got everyone talking was a demonstration showing the current Intel Pentium 4 Northwood processor cranked up to an incredible 4.7GHz. While this processor was described as using an “active cooling” solution, no additional information was given as to what kind of cooling solution it was. This demonstration did, however, accomplish the intended goal, which was to show that Intel still has a significant amount of head room left in the current .13 process. While it did convince us of that, we were still left wondering what kind of cooling solution was required to dissipate the kind of heat that would be generated from a processor running at 4.7GHz. We will have to continue to nose around and see what we can find out on that front.
Fall 2002 Innovative PC Awards
In what has become what we consider a major event for Intel, the winners of the Fall 2002 Innovative PC Awards were announced. Intel sponsors this event with help from PC Magazine, which is instrumental in testing all of the PCs in their respective product segments.
The Innovative PC Awards provide a glimpse of the technology and innovation that we can expect to see coming in the months ahead. Each product is judged on a difficult and demanding set of criteria that boggles the mind. In this race, performance isn’t the deciding factor, but innovation was rewarded in the following categories: Mobile Full Size; Mobile Thin & Light; Mobile Mini; Mobile Sub-Notebook; Mobile Slate/ Tablet; Consumer Desktop; and Business Desktop.
Winner Mobile Full Size – Samsung Sens P10.
Winner Mobile Thin & Light – Toshiba Portege 4010.
Winner Mobile Mini – IBM ThinkPad X30.
Winner Mobile Sub-Notebook – Panasonic CF-R1.
Fall 2002 Innovative PC Awards, Continued
Winner Mobile Slate/Tablet – Acer TravelMate 100.
Winner Consumer Desktop – Gateway 700XL.
Winner Consumer Desktop – Legend Tianqui 9220.
Winner Business Desktop – Legend Kaitan 6800.
Each of the winners had excellent, new and innovative features that we think you will see trickle down into other products over the next few months. In particular, we really liked the Gateway 700XL with it’s Apple Cinema-like flat panel display, and of course the Samsung Sens P10 notebook book was a big hit, as well.
Rambus – Perhaps Is One Word The People Love To Hate
Reports of Rambus’ demise were greatly overstated, or so was the message coming from the folks at Rambus. Although they didn’t have the new PC1200 Rambus on display, they took this opportunity to showcase the great number of solutions that feature Rambus technology. From Playstation 2 to the Maximum PC’s 2002 Dream Machine, they were all there for the attendees to see.
The Maximum PC 2002 Dream Machine that just happens to be powered by Rambus, and features the Asus P4T533 motherboard.
Perhaps the most interesting news from Rambus was the display of a new Pentium 4 chipset from SiS called the R658, which will be the first chipset to feature Dual Rambus with 8X AGP.
Here is the R658 from SiS under glass in the Rambus booth.
While many may not consider SiS the best candidate for Rambus to be teaming up with to produce chipsets, it was obvious that there is something under the hood of the new R658 that is definitely worth looking at. The R658 will feature the following: 1066 RDRAM Support; 8X AGP support; Proprietary Interconnect Between SiS 658 and the SiS 963; USB 2.0 Support; 1394a Firewire Support; Fast Ethernet Support; Audio/ Modem Support Via AC’97 Interface; APM 1.0b and 1.2 Support; and Dual Channel IDE 133/100/66 support. This is all wrapped up in a PC2001-compliant package. While still a little way off from shipping, you can expect this motherboard to be available for purchase from the usual suspects in the next couple of months. We look forward to getting the R658 into the lab and putting it through the paces to see what it can bring to the table. If nothing else, it isn’t time to write Rambus off just yet as it appears that their business continues to thrive, even though they are not going to be the preferred Pentium 4 memory solution of the future.
Another picture of the R658 from SiS. This time it was out in the open for all to see, but you had to go to the SiS booth to find it. Notice the flashy purple colored heatsink on the Xabre video card in the AGP slot: cool or not, it still caught your eye.
When You Think Tyan, Think Quality!
We caught up with Danny Hsu from Tyan and had a excellent discussion with him about what has been happing over at Tyan. Tyan has been quietly continuing to fulfill what they consider to be the unique needs of the market. Often these products are described as niche products, but it was obvious that they continue to be a company that is focused on quality. Tyan, as many know, worked with AMD to develop their dual processor solutions, but they also offer a complete selection of two and four processor Intel Xeon solutions, as well.
The Tyan S2623 dual processor board close-up.
Tyan also announced that it was going to jump into the graphics card arena using GPUs from ATI. We asked Danny about this, and he said that two things really drove this decision. These were the need to have a graphics card right away that offered 8X AGP support, and the continued requests from customers for a Tyan graphics card solution. Since Tyan had already been using ATI’s integrated graphics on many of their server motherboard designs, it was no surprise that they chose to team up with ATI for their GPU solution.
Tyan has already started to ship their new card based on the Radeon 9000 GPU, and you can expect a Radeon 9700 GPU solution, as well. We asked what we could expect from Tyan’s Radeon 9700 solution, and we were told that we can expect an innovative, performance-oriented solution that will give potential customers another choice in graphics cards. We suggested that a higher performance cooling solution and faster video memory might make a good overclocking solution, and he smiled and said that he hopes that they will be able to deliver something different from the other solutions available, so we will just have to wait and see what that means.
No, Tyan didn’t have their Radeon 9700 Pro card on display, but they did have the Tyan Tachyon G9000 Pro using the Radeon 9000 GPU out for all to see.
In the meantime, we saw one more thing in the Tyan booth that caught our eye, and that was the new Trinity “Granite Bay” S2662 motherboard.
The Trinity “Granite Bay” S2662 motherboard.
Although he would not tell us much else about it, he said it offers a good level of performance and value for the money. Tyan continues to spend an incredible amount of money in research and development, and they realize that there is a perception that they are expensive and perhaps even overpriced, but they look to address this issue with a continued, defined focus on value, quality, and process improvement. Look for Tyan to continue to it’s tradition of providing unique products that are rigorously tested in the most extreme situations. Danny also hinted that they might have a few more intresting products coming down the road, so stay tuned for additional information on these products, as well.
The Trinity “Granite Bay” S2662 motherboard, up close and personal.
Intel Takes Art To The Next Level
Two phrases that you perhaps don’t expect to find in the same sentence are Intel and case modding, but that assumption went right out the window with Intel’s display called “PC Mods – Creating Art With Technology.” We were excited to have a chance to talk with Intel’s Gabriel Achanzar, who is the Gaming Program Manager at Intel. Gabriel told us, “We have been seeing the unique things people have been doing in the case modding area, and it is truly art.” When people have the chance to be exposed to it, they find it very interesting; the only problem is that you can’t go to your local dealer and buy one of these one-of-a-kind masterpieces.
The first case that we looked at was the “Alien Beast,” by Marc Weitz. Marc was the winner of the CPL C3* Contest in the Summer of 2002. This case looks much like a sculpture. A block of Styrofoam was used to carve out the shape for the Alien Beast, and then fiberglass was laid into the Styrofoam to create this one-of-a-kind look. The unit features an Intel Pentium 4 at 2.53GHz on an Intel D850MV2 motherboard. The outside is painted with color shifting paint. The breast plate hides the handmade power switches, and the alien teeth hide the cover for the CD-RW drive.
The Alien Beast by Marc Weitz is one incredible creation!
Next, we have the “Mystery Box” from Dean Liou, which might take the phrase “think outside the box” a little bit to the extreme. The Mystery Box features an Intel Pentium 4 at 2.4GHz in a custom-built aluminum enclosure. The Mystery Box also features a stealth CD-ROM drive and efficient cooling design with low noise.
The Mystery Box by Dean Liou.
The Cyberpumpkin is a strange concept indeed, but that is what turning technology into art is all about.
More Information On The Horizon
More news from IDF is on the horizon, including our encounter with Banias, as well as more stories as they break on location. Serial ATA is something else that everyone is talking about, and we will see what we are able to gather up on that front, as well. In the meantime, we will be on the lookout for the things that are out of the ordinary, or destined for the extraordinary.
Perhaps all of the hallways do look the same, but after awhile of running from place to place, you do get to know them well.
Day One at IDF didn’t perhaps set the world on fire, but it was obvious that Intel is on a mission to get the message out about the new marching orders. What is important is that they continue to provide direction in an industry that sometimes has very little direction, and that, of course, is important in tough times like these.
Please follow-up by reading Fall 2002 IDF: Day 2.