TAIPEI, Taiwan — Via Technologies Inc. is hoping to push double-data-rate DRAM technology into Pentium III-based laptop computers with the release of an upgraded chip set code-named Twister-T DDR, the company said Wednesday (Jan. 23).
The chip set is the first to support the 266-MHz DDR standard for Intel Corp.'s Pentium III mobile chips, Via said. It will also support desktop Pentium IIIs, Intel's Celerons and Via's own C3 processors used in laptops.
The chips will likely meet with tepid demand because memory manufacturers haven't yet started volume production on laptop memory modules for DDR, and PC OEMs are still in the design phase for DDR laptops.
Via doesn't expect DDR to become popular in laptops until Intel launches the mobile version of the Pentium 4. That is expected to happen in March, with a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 mobile processor, followed by a 2-GHz chip in the second half of the year. At the same time, Intel will also back double-data-rate DRAM in laptops with the 845MP chip set, supporting a 400-MHz front-side bus and 3.2 Gbytes/second of bandwidth. Via also has a Pentium 4 mobile chip set ready for launch, a Via spokesman said.
Officially known as the ProSavageDDR PN266T, Via's chip set includes an integrated graphics engine with AGP 8X equivalent bandwidth. Via had launched a version of the chip set supporting Advanced Micro Devices Inc. mobile processors in December.
The chip set is made at foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on a 0.22-micron process and is ready to ship in volume.
