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Intel to launch Tualatin tomorrow?

Latest leaks say it will

Intel will officially launch its 0.13 micron Pentium III die-shrink, codenamed Tualatin, tomorrow, 19 June, if company sources cited by Web site X-bit Labs are to be believed.

With a clock speed of 1.13GHz (as predicted) and an L2 cache of 256KB or 512KB (ditto), tomorrow's Tualatin will apparently be aimed at the server market.

We knew Tualatin would make an appearance in the Value end of the General Purpose and Front-end Dual-Processor server sectors (as Intel calls them), but we'd heard that the part will debut at 1.26GHz. We expect the server part to ship with the second of those two L2 options, 512KB. It should be supported by Micron and ServerWorks chipsets.

We also expected it to ship after the desktop version, but X-bit's sources suggest desktop Tualatins won't appear until 6 August, at which point two more 1.13GHz and 1.26GHz parts will be launched with 512KB of L2. According to Intel roadmaps we'd seen previously, the desktop parts would contain 256KB of L2.

Between then and now, Intel will officially unveil its Mobile Tualatins on 30 July. The Intel Mobile roadmap we saw earlier this year pointed to 1.06GHz and 1.13GHz parts in July, but later leaks suggested 866MHz, 933MHz and 1GHz chips had been added to the list, and X-bit's sources appear to confirm that. These newer clock speeds suggest Intel may be shipping Tualatin in preference to the Coppermine-T variant of its 0.18 micron Mobile PIII which was scheduled to provide those speeds.

Such a move would be consistent with a plan to migrate to 0.13 micron across the PIII range as soon as possible. The spread of releases points to the time it will take Intel to ramp up 0.13 micron production. Indeed, VIA and Acer Labs have already announced Mobile Tualatin chipsets.

And don't forget that, as X-bit points out, these are official launch dates. Shipments of the chips will take place sooner to allow PC makers to announce and, ideally, ship product based on the new chips at launch. Indeed, Tualatins are already coming off the production line and have been seen on sale in Japan.

X-bit notes that the Mobile Tualatins will be accompanied by the 830MP chipset, but our (admittedly slightly older) roadmap has it down as 830M, which will support Mobile Tualatins in all markets but the sub-notebook arena (Intel is sticking to the 440MX through Q1 2002). ®

Related Stories

Intel Tualatin to replace Coppermine, fast
Intel 0.13 micron Tualatin Pentium IIIs to ship late June
VIA Socket 370 chipsets to support Intel Tualatin
Acer, Trident intro mobile Tualatin chipset

Related Link

X-bit Labs: Tualatin news

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