Upgrades

Sony’s new emotion Engine CPU

A new processor that’s hoping to take gaming machines in the next

generation

It looks like Intel and AMD aren’t the only ones in the race to come

out with better processors. Sony is planning to introduce a new chip, the

Emotion Engine, with colossal processing power. It’s supposed to be

three times more powerful than the PIII. The 128-bit chip will be fitted

into Sony’s new gaming machine, the PlayStation II.

The chip specifications are mind boggling: It will take 240 square mm

of real estate and house 10-million transistors using a 0.25-micron

process. The cost of manufacturing this chip alone will be $100. And that’s

not all. It’s supported by a rendering chip called the I/O processor

that will cost another $100 to manufacture. Speaking of rendering, the

chip is capable of rendering 3D animations in real-time without a cough.

Sony’s plans are to introduce this chip as a set-top box and desktop

computer substitute by introducing a mouse and keyboard with it. But if

the chip and its colleague, the I/O processor, alone cost $200, the cost

of the machine will not be that low.

More Info: www.playstation.com/index.html

Two Celerons on one motherboard

A cost-effective upgrade to your Slot 1 motherboard

People owning Slot 1 machines with Celerons can now expect to increase

their PC’s performance without upgrading to a PII or PIII processor.

Legend QDI, a top Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer, has introduced

TwinMagic, the world’s first dual-Celeron, Socket 370-interface

mainboard. This board can fit into any Slot 1 motherboard.

This innovation can have many advantages. As the new Socket 370

Celerons are not very costly, the board provides an excellent upgrade path

for Slot 1-motherboard owners. It could be used for either desktop PCs

sitting inside homes, or fit into servers in offices. Due to the two

processors, the PC or server would show considerable performance

improvement.

Though TwinMagic would work with all desktop OSs, it’s supposed to

work much better if operated in Windows 2000’s multitasking environment.

It can work on either a 66 or 100 MHz front-side bus with a core voltage

of 1.3 to 1.5 V.

More info: www.qdigrp.com/eng/tm_p.htm