by Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford

  Some of you may also be wondering, can I run these new "EB" CPU's on a on a 100 MHz bus? The answer is YES! For example, let's look at the upcoming Coppermine 733EB CPU. Since the multiplier is lower, you won't be getting 733 MHz when you boot up the system and the cost associated with buying this CPU to run on a 100 MHz bus would not be a good idea!

Instead when you booted this CPU up on a 100 MHz bus, you would find that the CPU is posting at 550 MHz (5.5 x 100). So obviously it is to your advantage to run any CPU designated with an "EB" on a 133 MHz system board. Now that we have covered the basics of these new CPUs, let's talk about the new Camino i820 Motherboard that we have all been waiting patiently for Intel to release.

Camino i820

You may or may not have heard of this new motherboard chipset from Intel. This is the latest and greatest in motherboard technology. There are going to be a lot of changes on these new motherboards so let's start talking about some of the advantages of using an i820 and some possible problems and/or disadvantages.

First off, this new motherboard was supposed to be released quite a while back. In fact, it was to be released originally in July of 1999. Intel pushed that date back to what they felt was a very firm date of September 27, 1999.

Unfortunately, memory issues with the new RDRAM (see below for a discussion of RDRAM) arose when filling all three RIMM memory slots on the motherboard. Sporadic issues were occurring with machines under these configurations. The expected release date of i820 is still scheduled for late October so I suppose we will see if they have managed to fix this problem or not. Some have suggested the use of only two RIMM slots to alleviate the problem but this is not really a viable solution (IMO).

Let's talk about some of the advances that the i820 brings to the table.

AGP 4X

We all talk about the advantages of using AGP but does anyone really see an advantage? It is certainly debatable. Of course the jump for AGP to AGP 2X was not much but clearly the jump from AGP 2X to AGP 4X should provide the foundation for potential performance gains. We will see the AGP bandwidth go from 528Mb/sec. on an AGP 2X bus to slightly over 1Gb/sec. with the newer AGP 4X. This is a pretty remarkable improvement and with new video cards coming online, this increase should be far more noticeable from non-AGP computers to AGP 4X and probably even from AGP 2X to AGP 4X.

ULTRA DMA 66 (UDMA 66)

This is one area of advantage that most of you may not have heard of or, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated advantages of i820. Most all motherboards today come with a standard operating IDE rate of 33Mb/sec. data transfer referred to as UDMA 33. While a hard drive may occasionally burst up to 33Mb/sec. most fast hard drives will see a steady transfer rate somewhere in the low- to high-teen range (13-19Mb/sec.).

What UDMA 66 allows is the higher transfer capability of a hard drive. Thus we have a new standard with UDMA 66 for a possible sustained rate of 66Mb/sec. transfer from the hard drive through the system bus.

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Most would argue with me that this is not really an "advantage" right now since most hard drives are only sustaining between 13-19Mb/sec. like I stated already. However, for most of us, buying a new machine is not something we do every year. The habit of playing computer games and upgrading one component a year is expensive enough!

The advantage that UDMA 66 brings is that within a year to a year and half, some new hard drives will possibly be doing quite a bit of bursting to over 33Mb/sec. I would expect sustained transfer rates to be up over 20Mb/sec (perhaps near 30 or more). It can be hard to imagine the difference in speed this technology can make but for those of you who have seen the difference between 7200 RPM drives and 5400 RPM drives, perhaps you can fathom the increase. Like CPUs, hard drives are seeing leaps in technology and speed.

Newer motherboards are already offering support for UDMA 66. Abit has the new BE6 that supports UDMA 66. Asus and others are following with motherboards of their own. Of course, you can always go the dedicated route and purchase an Ultra 66 controller like the Promise Fast Track 66 reviewed here a few months ago.

Rambus DRAM / RDRAM memory

Wonder how many of you even know about RDRAM? I thought I knew something about RDRAM before I got my hands on some but I found that there was a lot more about this memory that I did not know! Like usual, back to the books I went so I could learn about this new memory. Let me try and give you a quick run down on the advantages of using RDRAM and any possible disadvantages.

First off, let me explain why the move to RDRAM is necessary. When Intel was deciding a long time ago where they wanted to go with the new i820 and Coppermine, they realized that SDRAM was going to have pretty much run its course. SDRAM just did not provide the bandwidth and speed necessary to give tomorrow's system the necessary raw horsepower.

So, Intel began to research who was working on bridging the gap from slower speed RAM and the kind of high speed RAM Intel was looking for. A company called RAMBUS was working on just the kind of RAM technology Intel feels will do the trick.

Soon, Intel began working with RAMBUS to bring RDRAM to the PC. Now, this memory runs VERY fast and as a result, quite hot! One of the things I thought was neat about RDRAM is that it comes with its own heatsink!

Another feature new to consumers is that any RIMM slots that are not being used by a RIMM must be terminated using a "continuity module" or "CRIMM" that acts as a terminator to the memory interface. RIMM sizes are going to be 64, 96, 128 or 256 MB. Anyway there is quite a bit to discuss here so let's review the different types of RDRAM that consumers will be looking to purchase.

Go to Part III.