*** Some Very Interesting News - Please Read ***
I just wanted to give you all a little last minute news that I have picked up.
My sources say that Intel is releasing a new processor this Monday, and sources claim that it will be the 1.2GHz Pentium 4. Intel is very confident that this newer Pentium 4 will bring the microprocessor architecture into the mainstream, and as such. they have decided to raise prices significantly. I think the 1.2GHz P4 will start at $400, but the 1.3GHz, 1.4GHz, and 1.5GHz models will be $500, $650, and $900, respectively.
I also hear that Intel has released a whole slew of special benchmarks that all review sites must specifically use that proove that Pentium 4 is clock for clock better than the Athlon, by at least 20%. Intel has dispatched marketing representatives to all the major enthusiast web sites to make sure these new benchmarks are executed properly, as there is a 20% margin of error.
AMD plans on putting their new Duron 1.33GHz up against the Pentium 4, since the Athlon is unfortunately stopping production. Basically, their Athlon prices got so low, AMD decided to call them all Durons. Now all Athlons have 64KB of L2 cache, since it's cheaper to make, and AMD needs to cut prices whereever they can.
You can get your 1.33GHz Durons at several places on pricewatch for $2.54, and AMD has promised a $2.00 rebate. Not that you'd want to waste your money on a paperweight anyways.
Also, in an interesting ad campaign, AMD has decided to promote George Lucas' Star Wars Series for their Duron line. Since the fourth episode was titled "Last Hope", and AMD wants to combat the Pentium 4, they felt that their last hope was for people who love Star Wars to buy their CPU out of pity.
In anticipation of this, Intel launched the Blue Men in yet another commercial series titled, "The Empire Strikes Back", where the Blue Men are playing with pipes, and using them to smash fragile Duron CPUs.
In a related story, VIA has decided to stop making AMD chipsets, simply because, "They don't want to." They currently claim that this has nothing to do with Intel finally granting them a Pentium 4 chipset liscense. ALi and SiS are still firmly in the AMD camp, although they have commented that DDR perhaps was not the right solution after all.
A recent rumor going around is that Rambus has made out of court settlements for all of their cases, and are now ensuring that DDR prices are double that of Rambus. This is much to Micron's chagrin, as Rambus has decided to make them pay triple in royalties.
Lastly, I want to catch everybody up with some Microsoft news. Basically, Windows XP has gone through a last minute change in the interface. Apparently, Microsoft has bought up the last of Apple Computer (all $20 anyways), and has decided to use Aqua, the interface for OSX, as the new Windows XP interface.
CEO Steve Balmer claims that adding insult to injury was the best solution to making sure Microsoft does not suffer or look bad because of the newer features of the Mac OSX operating system. William Gates, who was also available for comment, said that this has only brought him one step closer to taking over the world.
Currently Intel and Microsoft are in discussions about a possible merger between the two companies. Intel CEO Craig Barret believes with Intel's hardware and Microsoft's software, the world can become a better place for his two horses, Pentium Prince and Itanium.
All the above is serious and true news. I swear on the 1st of April, it is, and you remember you heard it first from Arcadian. https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif
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Grand Knight
OC Crusaders
