The first P6-based computers will range from affordable (under $4000) PCs to systems selling for more than $10,000
Dave Andrews (with additional reporting by Mark Reynolds)
Surprise. The first PCs based on Intel's next-generation P6 processor won't be limited to big honking application servers designed to run massive database management systems. Over the next two months, vendors will release a variety of PCs ranging from moderately expandable, low-end (for P6) desktop systems selling for under $4000 to high-end servers. Vendors will also release powerful multiprocessing PC workstations suitable for 3-D modeling, CAD, and visualization.
At presstime, most companies that BYTE surveyed declined to release specific information on their P6 plans. However, sources report that many manufacturers, in
cluding Gateway, Dell, and IBM, will use -- in at least some of their desktop systems -- the Aurora motherboard that's manufactured by Intel. The Aurora board is reportedly designed for P6 systems that will fall into the mass market. The Aurora's intended audience explains its feature set: three open PCI slots, enhanced IDE instead of SCSI on the motherboard, no integrated sound or networking, and support for one P6 processor only. Because the motherboard lacks integrated networking and video acceleration, users will likely fill the system's first two PCI slots quickly.
Intel's position as a supplier of P6 motherboards for desktops and servers could mean good news and bad news for PC vendors. The good news is that in today's highly competitive market with tight profit margins, a vendor using an Intel motherboard can bring a P6 system to market more quickly than if they designed and debugged the motherboard themselves. Companies such as Gateway 2000 (North Sioux City, SD) thrive by integrating readily ac
cessible, standard components into relatively inexpensive bundles that appeal to mainstream consumers. "We were able to take the Pentium and put it in a product that appealed to the mass market," says Rus Graham, Gateway 2000's marketing communications manager for desktop products. Although Graham wouldn't comment specifically on Gateway's P6 product plans, he says that the company's PC strategy would remain the same with the P6.
The bad news, at least for vendors designing their own motherboards, is that Intel's motherboard operation could commoditize the market. Some vendors aren't satisfied with the Aurora's feature set and will provide more add-on slots and integrated components on their motherboards. But vendors have also learned that differentiation achieved through independent motherboard design is more complex with Intel's newest processor: The P6 has about 100 more pins than the Pentium, requires more control signals to handle multiprocessing, and has lower noise margins due to the P6 bus's us
e of modified Gunning transceiver logic running at 1.5 volts, compared to some Pentiums that run at 3.3 volts (lower voltage means lower noise margins). Some vendors feel Intel's motherboards give their competitors an unfair advantage. "Intel's motherboards allow Compaq wanna-bes," says Mike Lambert, Compaq vice president of product marketing in North America. But Intel's policy also means more vendors will make P6 desktops and servers, which should drive prices down more quickly. Several vendors predict prices for fully loaded desktop P6 systems will drop below $2000 within 24 months of the chip's initial release.
Two computer makers -- Intergraph and Hewlett-Packard -- have released preliminary information on their own P6 motherboards and systems. "The P6 will be excellent for Windows NT users," according to Jeff Schnabel, product manager of desktop personal computers at HP (Santa Clara, CA). "We designed our motherboard to better serve those users." HP's high-end P6-based Vectra, which is expected to
extend HP's XU line of PCs, will offer features that power users expect, such as Ultra SCSI and a 16-bit Sound Blaster chipset integrated on the motherboard. The high-end Vectra will also support ECC memory and symmetric multiprocessing (through a socket that accepts a second P6). It will also have four open PCI slots, compared to the Aurora's three, though HP says separate network and video cards will fill the first two slots.
HP's entry-level system is based on a modified version of its P6 motherboard. The low-end Vectra will be a single-CPU machine that doesn't offer ECC memory, SCSI, or integrated networking. Prices were not final at presstime, but HP says the less expensive Vectra will sell for a price that's at or slightly above current prices for a high-end 133-MHz Pentium-based Vectra XU.
The P6 also lets vendors like Intergraph (Huntsville, AL) that develop high-end systems for 3-D CAD and graphics compete more readily with midrange RISC processors such as Digital Equipment's 266-MHz 2
1064A.
Intergraph's TDZ Interactive line
of 3-D workstations (see the photograph
of the dual-P6 motherboard
), which will range in price from $10,000 to $38,000, will be available with one to four P6s and Intergraph's GLZ OpenGL 3-D accelerator cards.
"We believe that a P6-based system will deliver performance that's equal to or better than RISC processors like Mips' 250-MHz R4400 and the 21064A," says Chandler Hall, Intergraph's product marketing manager. "But at a lower price and with binary compatibility with x86 applications and the underlying hardware drivers for networking and graphics cards."
Although BYTE tests show that the P6's performance drops to Pentium-level performance when running 16-bit operating systems such as Windows 3.1, Intergraph says that still beats the 486-level or lower performance you get from a RISC workstation running an x86 application in emulation.
Head-to-head comparisons between these first P6 systems and competing RIS
C workstations were not possible before we went to press, as P6 system vendors were still optimizing performance. Andrew Allison, a consultant and the editor of
Inside the New Computer Industry
(Carmel, CA), estimates that the most powerful RISC processors, such as Digital's 21164 Alpha CPU, will offer better integer and superior floating-point performance to the P6. And RISC vendors are not standing still as Intel prepares to formally announce P6 pricing in November. Digital, for example, was expected to announce in late September a line of Windows NT workstations, based on 233- and 266-MHz 21064A Alpha processors, that will sell in the $4000 to $6000 range. But Allison says the P6 puts the x86 camp within striking range of midrange RISC workstations. Says Allison, "The P6 clearly represents a threat to the [RISC] workstation and server markets."
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Interactive series of workstations will be available with up to four P6 CPUs. Prices will range from $10,000 to $38,000.
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While some computer makers will use Intel's Aurora motherboard, Intergraph and HP have designed their own. Intergraph says its TDZ motherboard, like the dual-P6 model shown here, will deliver performance comparable to some RI
SC workstations.
P6 Expands PC Spectrum
