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By Richard Morochove
First published February 25, 1999
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Faster, more powerful and secure. That's how Intel positioned its new Pentium III processor in a preview held here last week.
Intel's chip will be available in 450 and 500 MHz. versions after tomorrow's official launch, with a 550 MHz. version out by June. Later this year Intel will release a 600 MHz. Pentium III. PCs that use the new chip should sell at prices starting around $3,000.
The 500 MHz. Pentium III is the fastest chip Intel has released. It gets an added boost from about 70 new instructions formerly known as the Katmai new instructions. Now called SIMD (single instruction multiple data) these new chip instructions can be viewed as MMX on steroids since they enhance certain computer operations, particularly 3D graphics.
Websites will be able to add 3D capabilities without overwhelming your 28 Kbps modem. Intel president and CEO Craig Barrett showed how The Sharper Image will let shoppers view products in its online catalog in 3D. You can rotate a product image to view it from all angles. Excite.com will showcase a new 3D carousel interface for its search engine.
At the preview, hundreds of software developers demonstrated programs scheduled for release over the next few months that support Pentium III's SIMD. G-VOX Interactive Music showed Interactive Music Suite, an innovative music composition program that allows composers to collaborate over the Internet. PC game enthusiasts will love the more realistic action and detail and the Internet multiplayer matches offered by games such as Quake III Arena from Idsoftware Inc.
Training time for speech recognition applications such as IBM's ViaVoice could be cut by up to 90%. Even Microsoft's upcoming Office 2000 suite of applications will be tuned for the Pentium III.
Just how much faster is a Pentium III compared to a Pentium II? Intel wouldn't say, pending the completion of final benchmark tests. However, a usually knowledgeable source estimated that graphic programs written for the Pentium III could run 30 to 50 per cent faster than on a Pentium II running at the same clock speed.
The Pentium III is essentially a beefed-up Pentium II at its core. Unless you upgrade your software to support SIMD it will run at the same speed on a 450 MHz. Pentium III as on a 450 MHz. Pentium II.
Intel indicated this is the end of the road for the Pentium II. No faster chips will be introduced. However, the Pentium III will be delivered in versions as fast as 800 MHz. before it's retired. A mobile version of the Pentium III for notebook computers will be offered later this year.
Yet not everyone likes the Pentium III. The chip includes a processor serial number (PSN) burned into the chip at the factory. The PSN could allow a website to track its visitors.
A demonstration by consumer privacy groups to advocate a boycott of the Pentium III due to its PSN didn't materialize. However, newspaper boxes outside the processor launch at the San Jose Convention Center were stuffed with protest flyers from Big Brother Inside.
Intel has strongly advised PC makers to leave the PSN turned off as a default. A user can choose to use a special program at boot-up to turn on the serial number reporting.
Yet Mike Aymar, Intel vice-president and director conceded, "We didn't put it in the processor to disable it. We believe the PSN is a valuable feature."
For the average home PC user, the PSN will have little use, at least initially. However, it may have value for computer asset control in businesses. Some software vendors at Intel's preview showed how the PSN could track the hardware options installed in each PC connected to a local area network.
In the future it's conceivable the PSN could be used by software vendors who want to track software users or by websites who want to ensure downloaded digital content can be used only on a single PC. The PSN is just the first step in Intel's three-year plan to make the Internet more secure for electronic commerce.
You'll be hearing a lot more about the Pentium III. Intel is planning to spend a whopping $300 million (U.S.) promoting the new chip. This is double the previous high water mark, the $150 million (U.S.) the chipmaker incurred in 1997 to promote the Pentium chip with MMX.
Given Intel's clout in the processor marketplace and the overwhelming support of software developers and PC makers, there's little doubt the Pentium III will soon be a top seller. Yet the privacy concerns posed by the PSN could give an edge to chipmakers that don't plan to include a serial number in their processors, such as Advanced Micro Devices and National Semiconductor. CW
Richard Morochove, FCA, is a Toronto-based computer consultant.
Copyright ©1999 by Morochove & Associates Inc. All rights reserved. This work may not be copied or distributed by any means without our prior written permission.
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