April 1, 1993 RM Opti and Intel Pentium sets
Pentium chipsets precede Pentium availability
Opti Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) and Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) are
sampling motherboard chipsets for Intel's Pentium microprocessor, with
different local-bus provisions. Intel supports its own Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) standard, while Opti favors the VESA Local
Bus (VL-Bus). The VL-Bus enables systems builders to get local-bus
machines out the door early (see Electronic Products, Jan., p. 17),
assuming they can get the Pentium microprocessors themselves. Other
differences in secondary cache control and memory support may be as
significant. Opti supports a 64-bit-wide adaptive write-back direct-mapped
cache from 64 Kbytes to 2 Mbytes. Intel supports 0-, 256-, or 512-Kbyte
caches, of either standard or burst static RAM. Its cache tags are
integrated in the cache controller, which implements either write-back or
write-through protocols. Opti supports 128 Mbytes of dynamic RAM with
pipelined read and write burst cycles. Intel permits up to 192 Mbytes of
DRAM. Intel offers an EISA-bus option, making a four-chip set, while Opti
currently offers only three-chip ISA support. The Intel ISA 82430 PCIset
is $76 ea/10,000. The company's EISA PCIset is $98 ea/10,000. The Opti
PTMAWB-V chipset is $75 ea/1,000. Design kits and technical support are
available from Opti. For Intel's literature packet #HP-61, call
800-548-4725 or . For more from Opti, call Waqas Kahn at
408-980-8178 or . –Rodney Myrvaagnes
CAPTION:
The Opti PTMAWB-V chipset lets developers get Pentium systems to market
quickly, using currently available VL-Bus components.
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